I have a Suzuki Swift 1.3 DDiS which I bought in 2007, its fairly brisk but I still wanted it to be that lil bit faster, so i thought of purchasing a tuning box, choices were as follows: 1.Pete's Tuning Box 2.Spider Tuning Box 3.DieselTronic By Race Dynamics I went for the race dynamics because at 20k it was substantially cheaper than Pete's(at 34k), and offers four selectable maps, via a bluetooth enabled remote. There are two power maps, one stock map, and one economy map, you can switch through all of these on the fly(while you're driving), which made it appealing to me. The nice thing about this setup is that anybody with a mechanically oreinted mind can complete installation in a matter of minutes, as its a bolt on part. Theres no need to cut any wires and it looks like an oe kit. After installation, I feared the improvement might not be noticeable, and it was, in the power maps, the part throttle response has increased multifold, in stock the power started to taper off at about 120kmph, but in the power maps its strong all the way till 145kmph. I haven't timed it yet but i will soon. In the economy mode, power delivery is sluggish as it kills the turbo spike but pays off at the pumps, which i got 21kmpl in city which i usually get 17. All in all, i think this has been a good investment. It gives you max bang with minimum invasive work, which i think we all prefer. The unit is detatchable, at which point it will return to stock settings. There is an indicator on the unit to let you know which map is running just in case you are confused. And it works with all common rail direct injection vehicle and is not manufacturer specific so you can retain the unit when you sell the vehicle.
a lot of piggyback units are finding their way into the tuning scene, now you have an array of items to choose from..!
The reason of choosing a Diesel Tuning Box: I am well aware of people who have experienced problems with tuning boxes and one of them is that a diesel tuning box accomplishes the job of getting more power from the engine by over fueling the engine..this is accomplished by introducing a resistance into the circuit of the common rail pressure sensor, so if the pressure in the rail is say 1200bar, the box will misinform the ecu that it is 1100bar, the ecu then over works the fuel pressure pump, so that the pressure maintained in the rail is higher. This causes stress on operational parts of the engine, like the injectors and the fuel pump(which is expensive to replace). Conversely I could have gone in for for a full remap, which would have been better..but unevitably, much more expensive. And plus you have to do that on the dynometer, which I am sorry to say still hasn't found its way into North India. This car has been with me for quite some time, and has done over 80000kms, and completely void of its warranty, and so I am willing to experiment with the risk that something might go wrong. However, I would still recommend that when one does buy a tuning box..please do not go in for cheap/hopeless ones. Bigger names(Branded) will fear bad press which is one reason why they will offer better products.
Hi Dhhawal Can you please share your update on the dieseltronic box> I'm keen to put one in my Swift Vdi...
well that seems like the ideal candidate, i have it strapped on my swift for the past 5 months, have covered over 6000kms on it, not experienced any problems, fuel efficiency is better(in economy mode), power is also upped and the difference is quite noticeable in the power modes, you should be prepared however to face such problems as the check engine light comes on when you disconnect it, and your service guy will tell you that the ecu is throwing codes for fuel pump failure, although no such problem is actually occuring since the ecu discovers the presence of a tuning box, it starts throwing some of these codes, my experience has been quite satisfactory overall, and i think its an investment which is justified...