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VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - Antj

Hi All.

I'm considering buying an Economy Tuning Chip Box for my VW Crafter, can you tell me if all the claims are true? More power, 15-20% on fuel economy & can they do any damage to the engine?

Thanks for any help

Antj

VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - unthrottled

15-20% on economy without any mechanical changes?!

The chip box will advance the timing slightly which might improve the consumption slightly (<5%). That's it.

Damage? Depends how much extra fuel the chip demands.The crafter is quite a big vehicle and VW chose to rate the engine at a very low spefic output . Since most manufacturers do exactly the same, there's a pretty good reason for it. Copmmercial vehicles are not passenger cars.

If it looks too good to be true...

VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - Antj

The box of tricks I've seen is on EBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260708780019&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I'm not looking to make it into a racing michine. if on a motorway i try to keep to to 70mph or below. I know it's a big van but thought if i could get a better mpg i would try it.

VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - unthrottled

The link doesn't work.

You just don't see big gains in efficiency from plug in boxes, I'm afraid. Getting more power is easy. Getting the engine to live with more power under sustained use is touch and go.

VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - Antj

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Crafter-35-TDI-Economy-Tuning-Chip-Box-/260708780019?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D1822468177132468936&_qi=RTM742988

VW Crafter 35 TDI - Economy Tuning Chip Box - unthrottled

It's a bog standard fuel dump. It modifies the signal from the ECU to the injectors. So if the ECU requests, say, 50mg/stroke of diesel, the tuning box will increase it to 60mg.

You'll get an apparent gain in fuel economy on the trip computer because the engine is injecting more fuel than it thinks it is. But a brim to brim measurement should reveal no change. Increasing fuelling without modifying the turbo map will increase EGTs and might cause smoking. The increase in power and torque is genuine-but it isn't free!

Overdrive Technology (TM!) is a nonsense. Overdrive refers to gearing, nothing to do with the engine!

It's your call though.