Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 21.08.2020  ·  #1
I'm just wondering, has anybody contacted their insurance company regarding ECU remaps?

In particular, Dolmen & Stuart in the south, who seem to be the only players in town. As they seem to charge a blanket fee for their camper policies, then surely the engine BHP is not factored in to the fee. So what difference would adding extra BHP mean to the policy?

Have any of you contacted either of these companies and go the go ahead without any penalties?
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 21.08.2020  ·  #2
Jason...I have no idea regards insurance but if you do remap the engine, dont buy a tuning box, a proper remap is done specifically to your vehicle on a rolling road.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 21.08.2020  ·  #3
Quote by panda

if you do remap the engine, dont buy a tuning box, a proper remap is done specifically to your vehicle on a rolling road.


+1
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 21.08.2020  ·  #4
Quote by panda

Jason...I have no idea regards insurance but if you do remap the engine, dont buy a tuning box, a proper remap is done specifically to your vehicle on a rolling road.


So what you’re saying John is to just keep it to the ECU reprogramming and not install an external box? Yeah that’s the plan.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 21.08.2020  ·  #5
Yes jason...remap your ECU on a rolling road. Those plug in tuning boxes with switchable maps are not the best thing to do for your engine.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #6
Ok John, I got you now. I didn’t know what you meant by rolling road I must admit but I have since googled it and then all made sense. So obviously then these parameters are tweaked on a vehicle by vehicle basis and not a one size fits all (for a particular model).

It was the guy that recently did my injectors who offered to do the remap. I’m really not sure if he has a rolling road. Should that be a deal breaker? He is experienced and I trust him. I doubt he would apply parameter settings without getting some form of feedback, i.e. a test drive .
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #7
I've seen it done a load of times without a rolling road, some guys know what's best for a certain model of an engine. I had my 2.8jtd remapped, the difference was great. A much nicer drive with loads more power in fifth and no apparent fuel difference. Without a rolling road.

Rolling road is an ideal scenario, but not easy got and for a Motorhome (height) sometimes harder.

Had a couple of BMW's done on a RR, well worth it.

As John says, a remap is far superior to a tuning box.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #8
Jason....There is tons of info online as to the pro's and con's and I'm certainly no expert on mapping diesel vans. I do however have experience of my own classic porsche 944 turbo which was remapped on a rolling road by the company who built the tuned engine over in the UK. It is still going strong since I bought it back in 2004 ,whilst I know of many fellow enthusiast's who just bought off the shelf chips and then had engine failures with holed pistons etc. I'm not saying that will happen to your van and I'm sure your guy is very competent but the fact is, unless he has it on a dyno ( rolling road ).....He cant possibly write an accurate map under all load conditions.

It's a thorny topic wish I'd never opened my gob now! :P
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #9
Think of it like this Jason.....You are a sound engineer and every venue you work in will require different settings on the mixer to get the optimum sound for that particular gig right?.....Yes you can get away with a one size fits all setting but its not the ideal thats why you tweak the bass, mid, treble etc to get exactly the right sound.....Same thing with engines...they are all in various states of wear etc and to get the best will require fine tuning which can only be done reliably and accurately on a dyno.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #10
Not at all John, I appreciate your input. I would never have known anything about tuning on a Dyno otherwise. Nothing is ever black and white. Whether this guy has the rolling road or not, at least he is still applying his own judgement as he tunes unlike the off the shelf solution. Obviously it would be optimal if he did have all the gear. I will talk to him.

Cheers again
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #11
Quote by panda

Think of it like this Jason.....You are a sound engineer and every venue you work in will require different settings on the mixer to get the optimum sound for that particular gig right?.....Yes you can get away with a one size fits all setting but its not the ideal thats why you tweak the bass, mid, treble etc to get exactly the right sound.....Same thing with engines...they are all in various states of wear etc and to get the best will require fine tuning which can only be done reliably and accurately on a dyno.


Nicely put.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #12
Quote by panda


It's a thorny topic wish I'd never opened my gob now! :P


Is it? I was agreeing with you :*

But I reckon it'll be hard to find a business that can put a Motorhome on a Dyno. I think if the guy is very good and you cant get a dyno, a remap without one is better than no remap at all.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #13
I have had my MH chipped twice. The first one was a plug in and came on song about 2200rpm. You could feel the power kicking in. I had it for about 14/15 years until water got to it. It definitely helped on long drags and climbing the Alps and it helped the fuel consumption. I tried 2 other plug ins without success and got it remapped last year. I’m not totally convinced maybe because the power is over the whole range and doesn’t kick in like the plug in. The fuel consumption has dropped. I’m going to take it back to the guy to see what he thinks. The long 5th gear on the 2.8 JTD Ducato doesn’t help. The revs drop 1000rpm when you put it into 5th
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #14
Quote by Ally

Quote by panda


It's a thorny topic wish I'd never opened my gob now! :P


Is it? I was agreeing with you :*




I know....Hadnt seen your post till after I posted O-)
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #15
Tommy just raised another thing to consider.....There's no free lunch with extracting more power, It's simple physics folks....More energy out requires more energy in and fuel consumption will rise.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #16
@TommyS

When I got my 2.8jtd done I was able to go up the hill on the M2 to Sandyknowes in fifth.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #17
Panda. I agree but the old chip definitely helped, the theory that you were not changing gear as much and could stay in higher gears longer. The theory is the same is for the remap and it’s harder on fuel Ally, Must give it a spin up to Sandyknowes, I would imagine I’ll have to go into 4th about Bellview, it’s 4500 kg.
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Re: Remapping ECU & your Insurance Company

 ·  Posted: 22.08.2020  ·  #18
That tall 5th gear was my only gripe with last camper. Changing to lower ratio 5th gear was a huge improvement, especially on hills :up:
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