ECU Remapping FAQ's

Whilst a remap will add a small amount of extra strain to the vehicle, all of our files are well within the safe parameters of the vehicle’s components (such as the engine & transmission/drivetrain) capabilities. We would only increase engine output to what we deem to be safe as it wouldn’t be beneficial to us or you to push your vehicle to anything beyond that.

It is not in our interest to push your vehicle past its limits. We simply wouldn’t have a business if we blew cars up on a daily basis.

There are a couple of ways for a remap to be detected. The most cost effective and most commonly used method by manufacturers is to check the CVN with diagnostics tools. If an ECU has a different CVN than it should, a manufacturer’s diagnostic tools will be able to detect this.

A remap can also be detected with manipulation DTC’s that appear within various modules in the car. 

Some dealer tools can even detect that changes have been made to the original software but don’t show exactly what has been done.

With most modern vehicles, our industry-leading remapping software and tools can successfully flash an ECU whilst keeping the original CVN and not throwing any manipulation DTC’s. This means most dealer diagnostic tools would not be able to detect the remap.

That said, a remap is NEVER undetectable. If someone wants to dig deep enough, they will eventually find it.

A good workaround for this which covers most instances is to have the vehicle returned to stock which we are able to do for £60 including VAT. Depending on the method of tuning for your particular car, we can mitigate the chances of it being detected.

A very common question with very common misconceptions. Ultimately, there is no such thing as a generic map. ‘Generic’ implies that we could use any tune file on any vehicle. Every tune we apply has been custom calibrated for your vehicle make, model, drivetrain, ECU and software version.

For stage 1 and most stage 2 files, we can use dyno tested, safe and proven solutions without having to make any tweaks. Why? Because we know it’s a safe calibration that we’ve used before on an identical drivetrain that’s been developed on the dyno and on the road. 

We can apply calibrations at our Bedfordshire branch for heavily modified vehicles with the use of our rolling road.

There is a common misconception that a tune made ‘on the fly’ is both much safer and will produce better results. This isn’t necessarily the case, the quality of the tune is down to the tuners ability to tune on a particular platform of drivetrain and ECU combination.

There is no tuner in the world that writes completely custom software from scratch every time. In most instances, they’ll either use a tried and tested solution OR use that solution as a base to work from and apply very minor tweaks. 

The only time this differs slightly is for heavily modified vehicles, i.e. uprated fueling, uprated turbos etc. In this instance, a heavily modified car will likely have a unique combination of modifications. What usually happens is the tuner will, again, apply a base map from a tried and tested solution and then modify that calibration with a few revisions to suit the modifications.

What you need to be looking out for is not the ‘custom vs. generic’ argument at all. You should be looking out for companies that offer remapping but use clone tools (which have a high likelihood of killing the ECU) and apply untested £1.00 calibrations from a CD they bought on eBay.

A good way to be sure you’re talking to a good tuner is to look at their reviews, digital presence and importantly, how much they’re charging. If they’re only charging £150 for a remap, the chances are they don’t have the funds to afford insurance or to pay to fix the car if it goes wrong.

TLDR;

There’s no such thing as a generic map. Don’t cheap out. Choose your tuning company based on reviews, presence and trust.

This is always a tough question. The reality is, modifying your vehicle will always affect a manufacturers’ warranty.

At our Bedford branch, we are able to provide customised calibrations for heavily modified vehicles with the use of our rolling road. You can also request before and after dyno runs when booking online or you can opt for a custom tuning session if your vehicle is heavily modified.

In general, at Phantom Tuning, we mainly cover stage 1 and stage 2 ECU remapping.

When it comes to relatively basic requirements such as stage 1 and stage 2 remapping, a dyno is not always needed. The reason for this is our remapped files have already been tested on a dyno where a slave or donor vehicle was remapped.

This means that we’ve already stress tested and proven the figures that our remaps can provide on a well-maintained vehicle.

For stage 1, the donor vehicle is identical to yours, so there is no need to dyno test the file again. For stage 2, the need for a dyno depends on whether or not there are any discrepancies in modifications.

As part of our service, in most cases, we will before and after road test a vehicle when possible, to ensure the remap behaves as intended.

This means that we’ve already stress tested and proven the figures that our remaps can provide on a well-maintained vehicle. For stage 1, the donor vehicle is identical to yours, so there is no need to dyno test the file again. For stage 2, the need for a dyno depends on whether or not there are any discrepancies in modifications.

As part of our service, in most cases, we will road test a vehicle when possible, to ensure the remap behaves as intended.

Ultimately, a remap will optimise the engine. Therefore, it is common to expect improved fuel economy under normal driving conditions.

If you’re expecting to be able to drive spiritedly and still gain another 20% fuel economy, your expectations are unrealistic.

Under normal driving conditions, most of our customers see slight improvements in fuel economy, anywhere from 5% to 15%.

Manufacturers restrict the performance of a vehicle for multiple reasons. An example would be warranty lifespan. It’s in a manufacturer’s interest to ensure their vehicles underperform to reduce the number of warranty claims during the warranty period. It also enables them to extend the time and mileage in which a warranty can be offered.

Increasingly now, manufacturers are saving costs by limiting the number of engine sizes they offer and instead using different versions of the same engine. This enables them to not only save money on research and development but also to charge more money for a vehicle with a higher power output.

For example, the Ford Transit Custom is available in: 100BHP, 125BHP and 150BHP. However, each of them uses the same engine, transmission and drivetrain. The interesting thing is that each of the versions are capable of 180BHP. They simply charge more for the higher-powered versions.

Manufacturers also need to bear in mind that their vehicles are being sold across the globe with various tax brackets, insurance groups and environmental conditions. As a result, they need one universal map to suit all scenarios whilst ensuring maximum sales of the vehicle in question.

Nothing. Typically, all that the different driving modes tend to do is change your throttle mapping. Some vehicles also add weight to your steering and tighten the suspension.

With a tune, the power is changed across all modes. your existing modes will still behave the same and each mode will have its own custom throttle calibration.

If your vehicle goes in for service work at a main dealer and it’s in warranty, we would advise you to bring the vehicle to us first to remove the map and then come back to reapply the tune.

If your vehicle isn’t in warranty or you’re not visiting a main dealer, you don’t have to worry about taking the map off and reapplying.

However, if you do have your car serviced at a main dealer, whether it is in warranty or not, they may need to apply a software update to your vehicle. In this event, there is a chance you may lose your map. If you do, we can reflash the modified file on to your car for a small fee of £60 inc. VAT.

We do. Stage 2 requirements are: upgraded intake & decatted or sports catted downpipes.

An average car will gain an extra 20-50bhp for stage 2, depending on the vehicle. 

The calibrations for stage 1 and 2 are quite similar, however, most of the additional gains will come from the physical modifications rather than the tune itself. For example, if you’re already running a stage 1 tune and have already applied stage 2 modifications, it’s unlikely that you’ll feel too much difference in changing the map to a stage 2.