FAO Doggy - Remap questions

[fitzy89]

I'm fairly new to modding but have a moderate mechanical and electrical understanding of cars and I've now been tempted with mapping and some other bits.

I've been recommended to chat with Doggy on here and I hear he's a top lad!

I've got a 2002 406 HDi 90, currently with 172k on the clock and completely standard. I recently saw a 110 at a breakers yard and got tempted with the intercooler, haven't bought it yet but just looking for opinions really.

I understand to get the full advantage of an intercooler I would need to be remapped and have it all adjusted to suit, I also blanked off the EGR a long time ago so having EGR delete at the same time seems like a good idea.

I'm not looking for or expecting massive performance gains but just give it a little push would be nice and any fuel economy improvements are always welcome too. I guess my main questions are, at 172k miles is it getting a bit too old to be playing with things like this? And which remap is the most suitable for it, from reading up I would think a stage 1 120bhp would be suitable but I've also read that you need a stage 2 to support the intercooler. Is it possible to have an intercooler with a stage 1? I don't plan on upgrading the clutch or anything else major or expensive (at least not for the foreseeable future due to finances) so I wouldn't want to push it too far really, I suppose a decat probably wouldn't cost much if needed.

What are your thoughts?

[Doggy]

Hi & welcome aboard.

First off, I don't know a lot about HDi 90's.
Yours will almost certainly have a Siemens fuel system, so it's not as easy to tweak as the others with their Bosch systems.
A few owners have remapped these cars, (I think using HDI Tuning, but you should be able to find some references if you search the site).
IIRC Bailes1992 had his done.
About 120 bhp is doable without any mechanical mods. You don't need the intercooler etc. to do this - (it won't help with power anyway, just saves it tailing off as heat builds up).

Hope that helps?

[Welly]

Doggy's reply make me feel like a young Welly at Christmas again, opening my presents:

Happily expecting a new Bike, a remote control car and a years supply of Curly-Wurley's and all I got was a Jumper, some blue trousers, and a book about Lorries.

[fitzy89]

Hi Doggy thanks for the reply.

Welly that cracked me up!

Indeed it is a Siemens system, from the little I've looked up on mapping, I soon felt unfortunate for having a Siemens system. Have you mapped any Siemens ones before or do you know of a fairly cheap cable I can use to download the firmware to send to someone? I see some Bosch users have the Galletto cable which is cheap enough to buy, do you happen to know of a similarly priced cable compatible with Siemens?

I guess my main objectives are to get as much "bang for buck" while keeping fuel economy the same if not better than it currently is so if I can squeeze a bit more performance out of it I'd love to.

Would you say it's worthwhile doing decat and intercooler or does the cost outweigh the benefit?

[Doggy]

LIke I say, I've never had anything to do with a Siemens ecu, they may need to be programmed off the car, I don't think you can buy a lead. least not a cheap one.
Commercial remaps are pretty cheap, definitely < £100 and tend to get more reasonable as the car becomes less 'fashionable'.

I would go for the decat, (cos its cheap and they do sometimes block). I'd hang fire on the intercooler until you are reasonably sure you need it - it may give you a bit more efficiency, but it could give you a little bit more turbo lag.

Doggy's reply make me feel like a young Welly at Christmas again, opening my presents:

Happily expecting a new Bike, a remote control car and a years supply of Curly-Wurley's and all I got was a Jumper, some blue trousers, and a book about Lorries.

Sorry to make you relive those days, welters old chap, didn't realise it had affected you so deeply.

Was that why you got the Volvo?

[GingerMagic]

Hi, if you can get an intercooler and all the pipes for a few pound then I would say its worth it - its easy to fit and will help in the long run.

As for mapping, HDI Tuning do a Siemens remap which will help a great deal - based in Bristol and I have only heard positive comments about the service

As a side, I had one of those piggy-back tuning chips on my old 90 - it worked well for £70 but not a patch on a proper remap.

Hope this helps...

[fitzy89]

Hi again, I think I'll go for the HDI Tuning remap when I've got a few quid saved up in that case, like you I've only heard good about them so must know their stuff.

Will decat bring on limp mode or check engine light? From what I understand the correct procedure is to take if off and bash it about and shake everything out of it but I'm fairly new to all this so I'm not sure if it's more involved than that. It'll be a good starting point.

I'll give the breakers a call and see how much they want for the intercooler, depending on the price I might hold off as it's lower on the priorities, I only considered it because I saw it there.

Hi Ginger, nice to see you on here as well, you've helped me with some bits on another forum a while back

[Doggy]

Will decat bring on limp mode or check engine light?

No, it'll be fine

[Sonia406]

Glad the boys could advise you, next time pop it into the conversation you had a siemens!