This is from mr. Lucasaee
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Re: BMW diesel remapping
Post Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:23 pm
I have read a fantastic article relating just to this on reddit. I’ll paste it here. It’s a great accurate read so you can make up your own mind.
The truth about Chip-Tuning (VERY long read!)
First off, this is an article from a austrian blog (MotorBlock).
I just took some time to translate it to englisch (as good as i could)
All credit goes to Philipp Stalzer from MotorBlock (article is in german!)
[Source article](
http://motorblock.at/stalzamt-die-wahrh ... otorentod/)
I think many people on here might want to read this, it contains a ton of interesting information on
why chiptuning is more bad than good.
I had the thought of tuning my future car as well, but after reading this i think i'll skip that and just let it be stock, since i plan to drive it several years.
**________________________________________________ ____________**
**The truth about chip-tuning, by Philipp Stalzer**
An often discussed Topic, with almost no real technical background or tangible details to make a decision if you want to mess around with your Engine electronics or not. A text that popped up in the internet and with my understanding of Engines it tells us: Stay away from manipulating your ECU! Unfortunately this knowledge does not come around enough, and this is very important for a specific industry. A lot of money is paid for "chiptuning" that would be better invested in getting the bigger engine right from the start.
**Truth about Chip-Tuning: in almost all cases, don't do it!**
Of course, this text does not apply to all engines out there. There are some Manufacturers that assume that their clients want to get quite more power out of their engines, for example many japanese brands. In a time where cost-reducing was not such a big topic, engineers sometimes used "over-sized" parts in the process. This changed with "Computer Aided Manufacturing" and the growing interest to safe more money in the production of cars/engines.
**Infos from a BMW Engine-Technican**
Although Manufacturers keep it low when it comes to this topics, a reader of this blog took some time to gather quite some statements of a BWM-Engineer posted in various forums etc. and sum it up. A shortened, but technical very informative and detailed version of this text regarding negative effects of chiptuning (based on BMW diesel-engines) is worth reading for everybody who is planning to chip his engine:
*(This part contains some very deep technical info and very specific names wich i can't really translate that well so i simplified this part, some words might sound weird since i could not find proper translations, sorry for that)*
__________________________________________________ __________
I've been working for about 20 years in the engineering of BWM Diesel-engines. The engines of the model series M47/M57 as well as their successors N47/M57 are a bit like my "kids", about 3 patents of those are on my name.
In former times it was possible to engineer an own engine for each car, sometimes even whole lineups for a single car. Today this is not possible anymore. Nowadays you are reliant on so called "equal-parts" - this is the only way to produce engines at a reasonable cost. BMW only produces 6 cylinder engines with 3 liter. To sum up that all of these engines are the same, solely because they have the same displacement, is narrow-thinking and sadly the thinking of the "tuners".
In 1993 the development of modern, direct-injection Diesel-engines began. For this you did not build whole engines, rather there was a so called "master cylinder". For all BMW Common-rail-diesels it was 84mm drilling and a 90mm stroke. Four of those become a 2L Diesel, six get a 3L and eight of them - you guessed it - gets you a V8, that was used for example in a series 7 BMW.
Today there are 3 versions of this cylinder: UL, OL and TOP.
- UL stands for lower-performance, the piston is made out of a simple aluminum-alloy, the crankshaft is simple-forged and uses a sintered connecting rod. It can cover up to 25kw/75nm per cylinder and is used in models like the x16d, x18d and x25d (exept the f10 model after 2011)
- OL stands for upper-perfomance, the cylinder path is honed several times, it has forged connecting rods and the bearings of the rods and crankshaft are sputtered bearing. It can cover up to 35kw/100nm and is used in models like x20d, x30d.
- TOP is for high performance, including a special treated crankshaft as well as laser-treated cylinder-paths. With this it is possible to increase injection-pressure and rated speed. This cylinders are used in models like x23d, 525d (after 2011) and x35d/x40d.
The engines have exact mechanical measuremants, but are different in materials.
For example the OL piston has a higher amount of copper and chrome. The higher amount of copper dissipates heat better out of the chamber into the piston floor cooling. Chrome makes the piston more stable at higher combustion-pressure inside an OL-engine.
Since the pistons are exactly the same sizes, you can however use a OL or TOP piston in an UL engine when doing repairs. This helps saving costs even more by reducing stocks and the prices regarding spare parts are more secondary.
It is correct that manufacturers limit the power output via the ECU (for example in an 25d), but they have to, since the used components are not made for higher hp/nm outputs. Almost every turbocharged diesel-engine is capable of generating more thermal energy than it can handle mechanically, and this is what chiptuning is relying on.
Now here come the tuners with their chips, because they can fetch data/part numbers from After-Sales-Programs (at BMW you can access it without any further requirements) and think all 3L engines are the same. It is true in terms of repairs, but not with newly shipped cars. You can use a piston of a 535d in a 316d and it will fit and work perfectly (same size) but is indeed "overpowered" in terms of materials. In this particular case it will be no problem since a 316d puts out less power than a 535d.
To get a sense of how much money can be saved by using a master cylinder for a complete engine lineup: if a piston "148" for the upper performance costs 12€, an M124 only 8€ that this makes about 24€ per car. For a production capacity of 200.000 cars 525's with 6 cylinder you're looking at a whopping 4.8 Million Euro. And the piston isn't the only thing where money is saved. Because of this, the customer pays less for a 116d as for a 123d, even though they both have a 2L engine wich are basically built the same way. The 116 just has less heat resistant and cheaper materials built in.
No manufacturer limits the power only by electronics. It is the media and especially the tuning-scene that spread this rumor. The differences nowadays not only come down to engine size, it also goes as far as material and single production processes. Same-Part strategy does not mean that the parts are exactly the same, only that the measurements and weights are the same. Also the thermal characteristics are different.
Interesting from a different area: Bosch does the same thing with their machines. You have the green series (for the little handyman at home) and blue series (professional). Products look the same (expept housing color) but here we also have different materiels used. A drilling machine from the blue series has a better hardened transmission, switches are built for far more cycles, overload protection is higher, thicker cables.
Regulating the power output via electronic serves the purpose that the engine with it's simple materials doesn't get overused. Through supercharging you can give any amount of power to a engine, but it will not be able to handle it. So when you think your 118i with its 170hp could do way more, but the stupid people at BMW are just to lazy to get more power out of that engine let me tell you: a 118i is capable of over 300hp, even keeping all emissions in the green zone, but he won't make that for long.
Basically in the automotive industry you can say:
- not everything is at it seems
- wenn there is a way to save €, it will be done
- espacially in the automovie industry many facts from media or magazines/books are incorrect
The statement "how long does my engine last when I chip it" can't be said in miles/km, because a engine does not know the term miles/km. If a M124 operates on the potential of a 30d, but you never or only rarely request the full power, the life expectancy won't change at all. If you floor it a lot and request the full power often, it will come to slight structural changes. Depending on further circumstances your engine can fail after a few minutes, or maybe 1.000 operating hours.
The combustion inside the engine can reach up to 2000°C, aluminum melts at 660°, so it should totally melt, right? Not really, since the peak temperature only last for a very short time and then the piston has an about 10 times longer period to cool off. Above 400°C aluminum looses a lot of its strenght, so the piston temp should be under 400°C at all times. How much it heats up depends on the intensity of the combustion. It peaks at full load and maximum torque, and with chiptuning this only gets much higher. To compensate this you do the following: you increase the amount of copper and chrome in the piston, this gives it better strenght at 420°C. So you can say, that in stock motors with more power there are better alloys used. A quick "tune" via ecu or plugging in a "race chip" can't do that. The thermal capacity of the engine is exhausted, the piston gets weaker the more power you give it in overload range. Worst case is that the top land breaks, and your engine is complete toast.
Regarding damage, these mostly occure long time after the tuning. Usually after 50k-80k km the problems start. Many people do not own the cars anymore by that time, and the subsequent owner doesn't know about the bad suprise that might happen. If a damage is found in the repair shop, they often just change the part and thats it. Often nobody suspects a tuning chip as the main reason (you know.. tuners say "its all good man!)
Also many tuners (and others) love to say the damage comes from weared parts, for example a turbocharger. But that's not it!. Turbos do get damaged by tuning and wrong handling.
I can understand the side of the customer. There comes somebody and puts a little thingy in your car, not even that expensive and suddenly you have a lot more power and more fun. You don't see it, but you feel it. With the thought in the head, that all engines are the same, you think that nothing could go wrong. The tuners do their part to the story... why should they report any damage caused by their tuning, that would ruin their business.
Chiptuning has somewhat in common with smoking. Cigarette-Manufacturers won't tell you that smoking causes lung-cancer. Smokers argue that they know people that smoked for long time and got 80 years old. Is that the evidence that smoking is unhealthy? Also here: Business with curing diseases related to smoking is huge.
All this statements should be valid for almost all Car-manufacturers, i personally don't know any brand that does not use the same-part strategy. Better safe than sorry.
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Originalmente Colocado por Master7
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