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Anyone ever 'chip' their XK?

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  #21  
Old 10-01-2015, 08:22 PM
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The chips are a joke. They are a scam, and won't increase HP if any. I went through the chip ordeal on a few cars and mileage and HP never increased. How can anyone expect a $69.00 aftermarket part to increase HP and gas mileage.

I am an actual testimonial to these chips that don't work. Don't waste your money.
 

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  #22  
Old 10-01-2015, 08:42 PM
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I would believe that modifications to the engine management system will affect HP and performance. How much I don't know but as an example I have not read anything that explains the difference between the 5.0L XKR and the 5.0L XKR-S. Where does the extra 40HP and increase of torque come from. I understand the pulley's are the same so it must be in the remapping of the ECM.
 
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Old 10-02-2015, 02:30 AM
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Originally Posted by jagtoes
I have not read anything that explains the difference between the 5.0L XKR and the 5.0L XKR-S.
The press release says:

"Remapping the engine’s fuelling characteristics and increasing exhaust gas flow through the use of an active exhaust system has lifted total output of the 5.0-litre V8 is now 550PS and 680Nm"
 
  #24  
Old 10-02-2015, 07:17 AM
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Originally Posted by u102768
The press release says:

"Remapping the engine’s fuelling characteristics and increasing exhaust gas flow through the use of an active exhaust system has lifted total output of the 5.0-litre V8 is now 550PS and 680Nm"
OK , thanks so those of us who already have the same active exhaust as the XKR-S would only need the remapping to get the extra 40HP? Or does this mean an XKR with basic exhaust is 510HP but with the Active (XKR-S) exhaust package is more then 510 but less then 550. So the "chip" remapping would get an increase of somewhere around the 40HP. This would support a chip upgrade would get improved HP. The question is how much is it worth.
 

Last edited by jagtoes; 10-02-2015 at 07:34 AM.
  #25  
Old 10-02-2015, 08:40 AM
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Ok lets stop this once and for all, THERE are NO LONGER "CHIPS" for ecu upgrades and havent been replacable eprom CHIPS for decades. It is a software upgrade that is loaded through the OBD2 port like most any OTHER car out there. Just like PC software upgrades etc....
 
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  #26  
Old 10-02-2015, 10:02 AM
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Hi again, I was not going to speak up again, BUT, you really muddy the waters when you mix NA tuning with SC tuning.. Some thoughts..
Your lovely blowers spin at roughly 2x engine speed and pump the same amount of air whether cruising or at WOT (wide open throttle).
The ecu controls a bypass valve that will recirculate the surplus air back to the intake side of the SC.
Except at WOT there will always be more air available from the SC than is required to produce the power requested by the throttle position.
With an R, when you open the throttle this valve will start opening more, immediately pumping more air into the cylinders, the ecu will then squirt in the matching fuel and off you roar, lovely..
The ability to adjust boost with ecu mapping is why it is so effective on both turbo and SC motors, it can also likely have a negative impact on reliability. (the factory may have dialled back some high rpm boost for protection).
Regards
 
  #27  
Old 10-02-2015, 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Brutal
Ok lets stop this once and for all, THERE are NO LONGER "CHIPS" for ecu upgrades and havent been replacable eprom CHIPS for decades. It is a software upgrade that is loaded through the OBD2 port like most any OTHER car out there. Just like PC software upgrades etc....
Sorry brutal I use the word "chip" in the classical sense but understand that todays technology is more about software/programming changes to get desired results. I assume others here also recognize the terminology.
 
  #28  
Old 10-06-2015, 09:42 AM
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Originally Posted by qcktvr
Hi again, I was not going to speak up again, BUT,
The ecu controls a bypass valve that will recirculate the surplus air back to the intake side of the SC.
there is NO ECU control of the bypass valve, it is VACUUM controled. there are no wires to it, only vacuum lines that either open and close valve as vacuum comes and goes depending on spring pressure in the valve. TURBOS are differant and can be electronically controled from a electronic or mechanical waste gate
 
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  #29  
Old 10-06-2015, 04:41 PM
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Thank you for putting that right Brutal, it is good to know that the drivetrain can handle all of that torque in the lower gears.. my experience has all been with turbos, it maybe time to try a supercharged motor.. how do they obtain those power increases without changing pulleys?
Cheers,
 
  #30  
Old 01-31-2018, 10:25 AM
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This is quite an old topic now but I thought I'd try and clarify a couple of things about remapping and gains. I run the IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) Remapper Certification courses in the UK.

First - a minor point about 'chipping' and 'remapping'. The term 'chipping' does, as pointed out in a previous reply, come from the days when the only way to get new software on an ECU was to change the chip as ECUs couldn't be re-programmed through the diagnostic port. Now, MOST but not all ECUs can be re-programmed through the diagnostic port, though some require the ECU to be opened with temporary contact made to the PCB inside for re-programming and in some rare cases some still require a new chip to be fitted. The method depends on the exact model of ECU fitted, but in all cases, it is simply a process to get the new software into the ECU. 'Remapping' is the final result in all cases.

Now, on to gains and the reason they're possible or, looked at another way, 'why doesn't the manufacturer do it'?

There are many reasons remaps improve bhp, torque and, in the case of diesels in particular, economy. I'll keep them simple but can expand on the points if anyone wants me to in the future.

1. It is common for manufacturers nowadays to use an identical engine in different cars, but tuned differently for differing price points, insurance groups, emissions levels and performance. Taking an non-Jaguar example a BMW 114i can be remapped from 102bhp to 220bhp. Seems impossible or risky? The reason we can do it is that BMW use a mechanically identical engine in the 114i, 116i and 118i. Although the starting point is different for each of these models in terms of their standard bhp, ALL of them remap to 220bhp. There are many other examples particularly in the BMW and Ford world.

2. Manufacturers tend to develop their standard maps not only to take into account good performance and economy, but also the initial government emissions test. Take the recent VAG 'scandal' as an example. VAG submitted their first model with a new engine (or configuration) to the government. Tuned for best power, responsiveness etc, the emissions levels would have been higher than they wanted so, in order to get reasonable and acceptable emissions results, they made adjustments to the potential 'power tuning' to bring emissions levels down and, in doing so, robbed the engine of responsiveness and 'grunt'. This naturally leads to slower acceleration and, for diesels, penalises mpg too. In most cases manufacturers would leave that map in place and the customer pays the price of losing performance in order to get a vehicle with a lower emissions rating. In the case of the VAG 'scandal' VAG programmed the ECU to sense if it was in a government test or normal road use and, if the latter, made the ECU switch to an alternative map so the car drove in a customer-acceptable manner.

Long explanation, I know, but the fact is that nearly every car on the road has been tuned by the manufacturer with a compromise between acceptable performance levels and acceptable government test levels for emissions. A remap can re-program the ECU to focus on the performance potential of the engine. So it isn't that the manufacturer can't remap for best performance, more that they choose not to. So now you're asking 'what about emissions and the MOT if I have a remap?'. The emissions test in the MOT is nothing like the government test. There are only two tests in the MOT, one at tickover and one at a fixed rev point. A remap will not cause an engine to produce higher emissions or soot output at these test points so a properly developed remap is MOT-friendly. Generally, the only time emissions levels will be noticeably higher is during the points where the throttle is used quite heavily such as when fast response is needed pulling out of junctions into heavy traffic or accelerating hard - the exact points that the manufacturer tends to tune the life away from the engine for government test purposes - and the biggest deficiency in standard tuning noticed by most drivers. Although thorough tests are hard to come by there's an argument that says if a remap improves MPG (which it does for diesels and may sometimes do for petrol engines), surely the fact that I'm getting more miles from a given amount of fuel must mean the overall emissions per mile are lower? That's my logic too but it would really take far more extensive and expensive tests than anyone except a government or manufacturer could perform to prove it.

The bottom line is that a remap can, for most engines, improve the responsiveness, pulling power, flexibility and acceleration over and above standard manufacturer's tuning without risking MOT failure or significantly increasing overall emissions. As to whether it is safe in terms of the engine or drive-train, that is down to the quality of the remap which should be developed with the tolerances and reliability reputation of the vehicle concerned in mind. Would I want to try and take most engines (as in the case of the aforementioned BMW 114i) from 102bhp to 220bhp? No - absolutely not. In the case of the BMW 114i though it is a totally different answer with a totally different consideration due to the multi-purpose use of the same engine (gearbox etc,) in different vehicles by the manufacturer themselves.

I hope this has helped put a bit of understanding into all the questions and comments around remapping. Every vehicle has different potential. Some may gain only 4% extra torque and bhp but be totally transformed in the areas those vehicles are lacking, such as responsiveness and low-rev flexibilty, others may have the potential for adding 20%, 50% or even 100% more power, transforming them from shopping cars to hot-hatches. It is rare that a remap will not give a worthwhile improvement, it is just a matter or scale and whether or not it meets customer expectations, and customer expectation is the one thing that is hardest to remap!
 
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  #31  
Old 01-31-2018, 12:10 PM
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I have looked into remapping my car (XKR-S) and have contacted many, many tuners. NOT ONE OF THEM have any meaning full data about what their "tunes" offer. The standard answer is "around 50hp for the supercharged cars" IF these "tuners" really did develop the tunes they would surely have dyno graphs of before and after the tune with the same dyno being used with similar weather conditions. How could they possibly re-map the cars without any dyno records ?? Not one tuner publishes any improved performance figures. Why ? Because any gains are almost imperceptible at WOT.
I think all of the tunes, as far as the supercharged cars are concerned, is simply a download of the standard Jaguar XKR-S tune (which Jaguar developed and not the tuner) and it is installed on an XKR. There might be some improvement (maybe 15 or 20 hp with the tune alone)but no way is there 50 hp difference with the tune like all of the "tuners" claim. Even with a pulley change I very much doubt that there is 50hp to be had on the XKR-S, XKR and not even 15hp on the N/A cars.
Until someone proves otherwise, my opinion is spend your money on stickier tires and better brake pads if you want to go faster. There are proven result to be seen with tires and brakes and not with any of the tunes for our cars.
If any tuners want to back up their claims of around peak 50HP or even 50hp under the curve, I will buy their tune and do a before and after dyno test and publish the results on this forum. Any takers ?
 
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  #32  
Old 01-31-2018, 03:21 PM
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In process for before and after dynos for the following (same dyno):
XKR 4.2
XKR 5.0
XKR-S 5.0

The 3-Claw puller method, I highly recommend to steer clear from. I've tried various pullers that are available on the market for the 5.0 and I am not pleased with using any of them.

I resulted to the cutting method and I'm waiting to receive the tool I designed for removal. Hopefully with the proper tool , this job on the 5.0's will go much more smoothly.

See the attached image, this is from a 3 claw method. As I expected it can cause more load on one claw if it starts to walk, thus deformation.

I should have extraction tool by friday.

With dyno data, we will finally see some solid valid results.
 
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  #33  
Old 01-31-2018, 05:05 PM
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  #34  
Old 01-31-2018, 11:21 PM
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Originally Posted by paulsdunford
This is quite an old topic now but I thought I'd try and clarify a couple of things about remapping and gains. I run the IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) Remapper Certification courses in the UK.

First - a minor point about 'chipping' and 'remapping'. The term 'chipping' does, as pointed out in a previous reply, come from the days when the only way to get new software on an ECU was to change the chip as ECUs couldn't be re-programmed through the diagnostic port. Now, MOST but not all ECUs can be re-programmed through the diagnostic port, though some require the ECU to be opened with temporary contact made to the PCB inside for re-programming and in some rare cases some still require a new chip to be fitted. The method depends on the exact model of ECU fitted, but in all cases, it is simply a process to get the new software into the ECU. 'Remapping' is the final result in all cases.

Now, on to gains and the reason they're possible or, looked at another way, 'why doesn't the manufacturer do it'?

There are many reasons remaps improve bhp, torque and, in the case of diesels in particular, economy. I'll keep them simple but can expand on the points if anyone wants me to in the future.

1. It is common for manufacturers nowadays to use an identical engine in different cars, but tuned differently for differing price points, insurance groups, emissions levels and performance. Taking an non-Jaguar example a BMW 114i can be remapped from 102bhp to 220bhp. Seems impossible or risky? The reason we can do it is that BMW use a mechanically identical engine in the 114i, 116i and 118i. Although the starting point is different for each of these models in terms of their standard bhp, ALL of them remap to 220bhp. There are many other examples particularly in the BMW and Ford world.

2. Manufacturers tend to develop their standard maps not only to take into account good performance and economy, but also the initial government emissions test. Take the recent VAG 'scandal' as an example. VAG submitted their first model with a new engine (or configuration) to the government. Tuned for best power, responsiveness etc, the emissions levels would have been higher than they wanted so, in order to get reasonable and acceptable emissions results, they made adjustments to the potential 'power tuning' to bring emissions levels down and, in doing so, robbed the engine of responsiveness and 'grunt'. This naturally leads to slower acceleration and, for diesels, penalises mpg too. In most cases manufacturers would leave that map in place and the customer pays the price of losing performance in order to get a vehicle with a lower emissions rating. In the case of the VAG 'scandal' VAG programmed the ECU to sense if it was in a government test or normal road use and, if the latter, made the ECU switch to an alternative map so the car drove in a customer-acceptable manner.

Long explanation, I know, but the fact is that nearly every car on the road has been tuned by the manufacturer with a compromise between acceptable performance levels and acceptable government test levels for emissions. A remap can re-program the ECU to focus on the performance potential of the engine. So it isn't that the manufacturer can't remap for best performance, more that they choose not to. So now you're asking 'what about emissions and the MOT if I have a remap?'. The emissions test in the MOT is nothing like the government test. There are only two tests in the MOT, one at tickover and one at a fixed rev point. A remap will not cause an engine to produce higher emissions or soot output at these test points so a properly developed remap is MOT-friendly. Generally, the only time emissions levels will be noticeably higher is during the points where the throttle is used quite heavily such as when fast response is needed pulling out of junctions into heavy traffic or accelerating hard - the exact points that the manufacturer tends to tune the life away from the engine for government test purposes - and the biggest deficiency in standard tuning noticed by most drivers. Although thorough tests are hard to come by there's an argument that says if a remap improves MPG (which it does for diesels and may sometimes do for petrol engines), surely the fact that I'm getting more miles from a given amount of fuel must mean the overall emissions per mile are lower? That's my logic too but it would really take far more extensive and expensive tests than anyone except a government or manufacturer could perform to prove it.

The bottom line is that a remap can, for most engines, improve the responsiveness, pulling power, flexibility and acceleration over and above standard manufacturer's tuning without risking MOT failure or significantly increasing overall emissions. As to whether it is safe in terms of the engine or drive-train, that is down to the quality of the remap which should be developed with the tolerances and reliability reputation of the vehicle concerned in mind. Would I want to try and take most engines (as in the case of the aforementioned BMW 114i) from 102bhp to 220bhp? No - absolutely not. In the case of the BMW 114i though it is a totally different answer with a totally different consideration due to the multi-purpose use of the same engine (gearbox etc,) in different vehicles by the manufacturer themselves.

I hope this has helped put a bit of understanding into all the questions and comments around remapping. Every vehicle has different potential. Some may gain only 4% extra torque and bhp but be totally transformed in the areas those vehicles are lacking, such as responsiveness and low-rev flexibilty, others may have the potential for adding 20%, 50% or even 100% more power, transforming them from shopping cars to hot-hatches. It is rare that a remap will not give a worthwhile improvement, it is just a matter or scale and whether or not it meets customer expectations, and customer expectation is the one thing that is hardest to remap!
Paul - Excellent and informative insight. Thank you for sharing your expertise with the forum.

With that said, I'm a "brass tacks" kind of fellow, so ... how many HP can you get out of a 4.2L Jaguar XK engine with a quality re-mapping of the appropriate ECU? Inquiring minds would like to know!

Thanks in advance for your response.
 
  #35  
Old 01-31-2018, 11:49 PM
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My limited understanding was that remapping worked much better on turbos because it allows the turbos to develop much higher pressure (which then is a reason why they can affect warranty). I had it done to my manual s60R and the difference was quite amazing, it was like the difference between an XK and an XKR. That said, the car lost the smoothness of its acceleration - it would really snap your neck back when the power came on. When I wanted to take the family out for a drive I pretty much had to drag them out from under their beds.

I've also remapped the TCT in my daughter's MiTo. It also had a massive improvement, changing the transmission from execrable and dangerous to acceptable.
 
  #36  
Old 02-01-2018, 02:03 AM
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Originally Posted by LoudHogRider
how many HP can you get out of a 4.2L Jaguar XK engine with a quality re-mapping of the appropriate ECU?
Unless you change the XKR's Eaton, not much because it's maxed out already.
 
  #37  
Old 02-01-2018, 02:23 AM
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Some examples;

My 4.2L XKR

Not long after I got the car, gave it a big service and put on new tyres, i went to the track. Did 13.184 @ 106.68mph, 1.950 60ft

Then I realised the cats were choked, so I changed the cats, put on the straight through exhaust with x-pipe, had the tune corrected to compensate for these changes. Did 12.943 @ 111.57mph with a 1.998 60ft

Then I got the tune re-worked to squeeze a bit more out of it. Did 12.646 @ 113.97mph with a 1.975 60ft (pretty much the same as a 470hp 5.0L XF SC)

Steve_K's 4.2L XK

Did a 14.5 @ 95mph stock, after doing the exhaust, cats & engine tune, it's now 13.7 @ 101mph

Our German friend with the 2010 XKR

100kmh to 200kmh runs recorded with a V-Box, the results from those runs;

Stock XKR tune, stock XKR exhaust, 9.8s
XKR-S tune and exhaust, 8.6s
Modified XKR-S tune and XKR-S exhaust, 8.2s

So yes there are improvements to be had from these cars, but seems that not everyone can acheive it though.
 
  #38  
Old 02-01-2018, 08:01 AM
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Just an observation here as I am not a tuner nor did I ever claim to be an expert on it. While watch the various auto type programs on the velocity channel I have seen times where these custom cars were taken to the dyno where they were tuned. Now whether there was some magic going on you could see the differences (increases) in HP and torque. In some cases significant differences from the initial runs. Then again almost all of this has either been on the Chevy or ford platform the numbers told the tale. As far as Jag the implied info is the difference of the tune from a similarly optioned 5.0L XKR to an XKR-S appears to be the remap tune. So my bet is there is more stretch on the 550 hp tune but not known to the tuner world. Some speak of 600hp which could be possible but for me show me the data and I'll believe it.
 
  #39  
Old 02-01-2018, 10:08 AM
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Originally Posted by JagV8
Unless you change the XKR's Eaton, not much because it's maxed out already.
Appreciate that, but I have an XK (naturally aspirated 4.2L) vs. an XKR (super-charged 4.2L). So I'm still curious if any performance enhancements can be gained via this process.
 
  #40  
Old 02-01-2018, 11:12 AM
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Well you already have higher compression and I don't think anyone tunes the NA car (non-existent market). It's cheaper just to change to the SC and a lot more HP.
 


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