ECU stands for engine control unit. They are fitted to most fuel injected vehicles. Although you may be totally unaware of it's presence, the ECU is constantly controlling the way your engine runs. It controls the engine economy and performance, as well as learning from the information it receives from you, the driver, adapting itself to your driving style so that it can anticipate and react to your driver input.
What is engine re-mapping?
The information contained on the ECU is called the engine map. This is essentially the program that affects the way the ECU controls your engine. It is this program that changes as you drive the car and enables the ECU to 'learn' from your driver input so it can evolve to maintain consistent economy and performance as you drive. Like your home PC, programs can be loaded on to the ecu and can also be modified. By changing the engine map, referred to as 're-mapping' the behaviour of the ECU can be changed therefore altering the performance of your car. In principle this may sound simple enough, but when you consider that virtually every model of car has a different ECU, and every ECU's engine map will evolve differently as you drive your car, then you'll realise that the art of re-mapping an engine takes a great deal of technical expertise.
What effect will engine re-mapping have?
Quite simply, re-mapping your engine will result in:
- more bhp
-
more power
-
more performance
and as if this wasn't enough, re-mapping your engine will also increase fuel economy!
The performance benefits are greater in turbo charged vehicles, but significant improvements in driveability will be achieved in any re-mapped vehicle. Typically a non turbo petrol engine car will have its bhp increased by approximately 10%. With a petrol turbo vehicle seeing bhp gains of 20%, and diesel turbo vehicles greater still with a bhp increase of up to 30% over the standard factory settings.
Can re-mapping the ECU damage my engine.
The re-mapping process is undertaken by skilled technicians, and can be reversed if desired with no adverse affect to the ECU or your engine. It must however be appreciated that any performance modification could have an affect on your engine and other ancillaries by increasing the bhp, power and acceleration. It is therefore important for the driver to exercise their own skill and judgment as to when they are pushing their vehicle beyond it's inherent limits.
Should I advise my insurance company my car has been re-mapped?
You should advise your insurance company of any modifications to your vehicle including the re-mapping of your ECU. Some insurance companies may request you to provide the original bhp and the new increased bhp figure of which we can provide estimates of both. On some occasions an insurance company may request a rolling road bhp test print out as proof of these figures, which we can arrange for you as one of the additional services that we provide.
How long will it take?
This depends on your vehicle, but generally we would require the vehicle for approximately 4 hours if brought to our premises. However, the vehicle can still be driven while we modify your map. This is why we are able to offer a mobile service at your home or work.
What do I do now?
Contact us here!