Diesel tuning can be quite tough, any exhaust mod you do shoots black-smoke (smog) and the sound is very sub-par. The car doesn’t rely on spark plugs so simple ignition upgrades don’t help, and a cold-air-intake will literally make the car slower.
So… What options do you have when you’re diesel tuning?
Diesel Exhaust Upgrades
To make the meet emissions standards EPA / MOT the manufacturers have to severely de-tune your car, one part of this de-tuning process is adding extra components to the exhaust. Diesel tuning basically involves the removals of these components.
The pollen filtre and catalytic converter are actually major players in this case, removing these are STRICTLY illegal in most states of Australia (probably all), and should only be done if you’re planning on tracking the car.
So I’ve removed the cat and the pollen filtre, but my car doesn’t move…
Of course not! Complying with the EPA also means adding the necessary sensors to detect when a component needs to replaced, is damaged or requires a check-up. You will have to get those sensors blocked-off (depending on vehicle) or of course perform the next modification.
Tuning (Remapping / Reflashing ECU / Pretuned Piggybacks) – Diesel Tuning
Flashing your ECU to stop worrying about co2, to stop checking the pollen filtre and other exhaust backpressure components will give you a signifcant boost.
Some cars do great, some cars don’t do enough to justify the price of re-flashing the ECU.
Here are a few statistics we’d like to share:
So it does depend on how much detuning the manufacturer actually applied to get it pass our regulations. A good way to figure out how much power you could get is to lookup your car on superchip’s website (the UK site does a better job at displaying information) but of course you’ll have to purchase from an Australian distributor. Diesel vehicles aren’t as common in Australia, hence tuning options being a little more limited than they should be.
Keep-in-mind different pre-tuning / re-flash / chip-tuning kits can produce different results, here at Shady Customs we’ve only ever used Superchip and Megasquirt flashes and it’s worked wonders for us!
Some reputable brands you can checkout (unsponsored):