E53 X5 3.0d ECU Re-map

[X5Sport]

Have a quick look at xdrivers in the UK as there's a remap provider in that group. A number of folks have had it done to various X types.

[Sunny_wales]

Originally Posted by huntertec

Hi X5H.
I had my X5d remaped about 18 months ago, best mod I've done, it was done by EVOLVETECNIK the performance went to 193Kw & 580Nm with the exhaust mod as well ( tips straight out of rear of existing silencers)
200Kw & 600Nm. The ZF in a 05 can handle this torque with no problems I however wouldn't spend money to save on fuel economy, how many Ks will you have to do to get your outlay back because if your like me you'll want to use all that extra power. My cost for the remap was $1750 AUD

1750 AUD ive been quoted £250 GBP ($400 AUD)

[X5H]

Ive been quoted £225 for a custom ECU remap....

To be honest I was focusing fuel eficiency rather then power especially in the current climate with fuel proces being very expensive in the UK!

[huntertec]

Obviously we're being ripped off in Aus with remaps as well, nothing new, I understand your point with the high fuel prices to be honest I didn't notice any fuel improvement with the remap at a constant 100klm I still had the same reading 7.0 litres per 100klm after the upgrade mabye others had better results. I will stand by my original point though, good luck holding yourself back from using the extra torque not easy. I would suggest modifing your exhaust as I mentioned in my earlier post it made the engine feel far freer and the method I used is quite cheep.

[Aidan]

Originally Posted by huntertec

Obviously we're being ripped off in Aus with remaps as well, nothing new, I understand your point with the high fuel prices to be honest I didn't notice any fuel improvement with the remap at a constant 100klm I still had the same reading 7.0 litres per 100klm after the upgrade mabye others had better results. I will stand by my original point though, good luck holding yourself back from using the extra torque not easy. I would suggest modifing your exhaust as I mentioned in my earlier post it made the engine feel far freer and the method I used is quite cheep.

Actually No, your not been ripped off in Aus with remaps. I work closely with some tuning shops in Sydney. One thing I admire about the Australians is the fact they opt for quality over Price where as in the UK and even more so here in Ireland people overlook the product and only get interested in Price tags - This is until somebody becomes a victim and their car blows up, then they start with telling everybody DO NOT GET YOUR CAR REMAPPED!

In Ireland and the UK the tuning scene is really corrupt - You will find that only approx 10% of tuners are actually tuners. The rest are IT geeks who are good with copy and paste buttons.


Reading your Dash display for MPG after a remap is completely inaccurate. MPG are calculated by the Air Intake via the MAF sensor and map sensors / boost sensors. When an ECU knows how much Air is entering an engine then it knows how much fuel to supply. This is how MPG are calculated for the dash display. This is how people are Fooled when they fit a tuning box - There air intake remains the same but because extra fuel is forced into the engine the ECU does not know this because it is fooled. Therefore, because you have that bit of extra power, your car will get to X amount of revs quicker = USING less air which fools the dash display into increasing its MPG where in reality it is not really happening.

[Helmuth]

No ripping off in AUS :-) Here in AT I was quoted €600 for the remapping. Given the fact that he had my X on his testbench for several hours and he did a great job (look at the diagram and the torque I have now) I think it is a fair price.

Also not really saving fuel with my lady but enjoying the extra power.

Take care,

Helmuth

[huntertec]

Thanks for the reassurance with what I was charged for the ecu tune, although I was quoted $2300AUD by one performance centre so $1750AUD isn't bad. The 3.0d still amazes me for a vehicle over 2 tonnes with excellent fuel economy and brutal torque its got all the bases covered.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by X5H

Hi,

Im looking to get an ECU re-map in order to get better fuel consumption. The place i went to told me how it works and wanted to check whether it was worth doing. Basically they read the ECU and download its contents. Once downloaded from the vehicle they send to a company in Italy who alter the values in the file and the updated file is then uploaded to the vehicle.

I would appreciate any comments on whether this actually works and the gains one might notice

Thanks in advance

Hi X5H,
Sorry been away for a few days and just sent you PM with elaborate information.
As I said in the PM,I am bit like the company in Italy !I receive ECU files from some small car repair & maitenance companies and some individuals with equipment to read/write ecu files (remaps),I then alter the values to the required specification and send a "modded" file back ,to be loaded in ECU.
The prices that these companies and individuals will then charge, is anything from £200.00 to £350.00 (individuals will have practically no overheads, so will be cheaper!But sometimes its worth to pay extra to a small company as they will generally have more mechanical experience about your car,than an individual that just does maps).Furthermore , the files I supply to these companies,are crypted for security reasons.Turn around for this is 30-45 mins.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by Helmuth

Hello X5H,

from a logical standpoint this is hard to believe. I think all X5 have the same data in their ECU. Remapping means that your X is put on a testbench and the data in the ECU is optimized to exactly your engine. At least that was done for mine. No need to send always the same data to Italy (why Italy ?).

At the end you should get something like I got - a document that proves what power and torque is available now.

You are right ,my friend,all 2001-2003 x5 have same ECU engine data.Only thing that changes is the HW and SW versions of the ECU.
Should it be an X5 that hasnt been done on a rolling road before,then its always best to "map" it on the rollers.However ,if its an ECU that the "mapper" already done a number of times ,be it a economy or a power file or even a file with different harware,like the gt2260 turbo of a facelift X5,then its just a matter of modifying the original file.In a few cases,after the "mod "file is loaded,it may need some fine tuning,but that easily done and quickly.

What X5H is saying ,that the file needs to be sent to Italy,is because the people he contacted can ONLY read/write to ECU and need a 3rd party to actually make the file(Hei..X5H ..you can give them my contact..I dont mind)

Looking at your graph ,I find that 683 Nms torque figure very worrying..its way over the "reasonable torque increase for you car!I dont know If your car is auto,but if it is ,I hope that the figure is not realistic and actually a dyno error as sometimes this happens with an auto box.

Bmw quote figures of 184hp/410Nms for the 2001-03 X5.However,all the ones we have dynoed,always have more!The true figures are more like 195hp/480Nms.Your Hp figures ,tells me that its a nice soft remap and your car shouldnt be smoking much but that torque is worrying.....I like to just map the facelift(218hp/500 Nm) X5 to 600 Nms which has a stronger gearbox and turbo ...but not the pre-facelift!