T180tuning Box Trial

[Bry]

If anyone is interested I am trying a tuning box on my T180. Its been on a couple of days, I have covered over 100 miles.

A 6 year old could fit it although I would have liked more robust 12v supply wiring. Its well capable of the current, just auto wiring usually carries extra insulation for better protection from abrasion etc

I reset the OBC after fitting and have driven the car roughly as I was before, economy biased, thinking ahead, with minimal braking and using downhills to increase speed etc, used moderate and occasional hard acceleration (you cant help it) and stuck to legal limits on GPS, approx 4mph faster on speedo.

I was getting between 39 and 42 mpg before driving in this style. My OBC is proven to within 1 mpg. I am running on Sainsbury's ULSD.

First impressions... I haven't thrashed it but the Torque is considerably increased, one hell of a punch, it feels now like I expected it to be in standard form! The economy (by OBC) has improved quite dramatically, averaging out at over 46mpg without trying too hard. I feel I am in control of the economy now, if you hoof it it drops if you coast it climbs dramatically! I see figures on the instant mpg like I never had before.

I could be becoming happy with the car :D I need to confirm against calibrated fill up.

[moose212]

If anyone is interested I am trying a tuning box on my T180. Its been on a couple of days, I have covered over 100 miles.

A 6 year old could fit it although I would have liked more robust 12v supply wiring. Its well capable of the current, just auto wiring usually carries extra insulation for better protection from abrasion etc

I reset the OBC after fitting and have driven the car roughly as I was before, economy biased, thinking ahead, with minimal braking and using downhills to increase speed etc, used moderate and occasional hard acceleration (you cant help it) and stuck to legal limits on GPS, approx 4mph faster on speedo.

I was getting between 39 and 42 mpg before driving in this style. My OBC is proven to within 1 mpg. I am running on Sainsbury's ULSD.

First impressions... I haven't thrashed it but the Torque is considerably increased, one hell of a punch, it feels now like I expected it to be in standard form! The economy (by OBC) has improved quite dramatically, averaging out at over 46mpg without trying too hard. I feel I am in control of the economy now, if you hoof it it drops if you coast it climbs dramatically! I see figures on the instant mpg like I never had before.

I could be becoming happy with the car :D I need to confirm against calibrated fill up.

What make of 'tuning box' is this? How much did it cost you? Please keep us updated as to your findings

[okitsme]

Bry

I'd be very interested in hearing your views on the tuning box, I'm at the moment seriously considering getting a "tunit" solution for my t180 Auris. They have an interesting article on their newsletter regarding Redline magazine fitting a tunit to an Auris SR180 they use in the sprint series.

Quoting them

On the road the car has been transformed, meaning the overall driving experience is much easier and more responsive; while the massive torque really makes itself known. Overtaking is now an absolute breeze, and tested against friends cars the Auris is now able to keep up with modified 200SXs and even a porche 996 Carrera 4 from a rolling start up to around 100 mph, which is fantastic for a diesel, though with almost 350 lb/ft it is not surprising

They did have their unit Laptop tuned ( available at tunit dealers) to give a 27 Bhp and an extra 65 ib/ft, Impressive reading though.

However, I'm more concerned with the "whole driving experience rather than out and out power. Has the behavior of your car changed other than the extra mpg and performance ie are there flat spots or "jerky" power delivery ? I don't want to fit a box and sacrifice the smoothness of my standard Auris.

[matty2767]

i recommed the tuining boxes as well. i had one fitted to my previous avensis 116bhp and it made a massive difference. more torque, more power, better fuel economy (+4mpg). it was wired into the loom behind the glove box so not something i would attempt myself but i would have it done to this one if i had the spare cash.

[Bry]

Still evaluating, not really any flat spots, just the turbo lag as before although it kicks in earlier and pulls a lot harder, the acceleration is quite dramatic, I think not much short of our 330i. it revs out much more rapidly and hits 5k a bit too easy. To be honest it pays to get to 2nd or 3rd as hoofing in 1st is bang and its all over, I have found as expected, if you get carried away, so does your fuel, but as i said before, take it easy and it soon recovers. The DPNF regeneration still kicks in and out for lengthy periods to spoil the economy a bit but overall still up by a minimum of 4mpg.

I looked at the tunit version but was a little put off by the only moderate gains, this one "Venom" has a claimed 215 BHP (up 40bhp) and 465nm torque (up 65nm) It is self calibrating and has no switches etc to mess about with. Cost = £370 including shipping and was in stock, 24 hour delivery. Lets make it clear before anyone suspects, I have nothing to do with the supplier!!!

I have had a few boxes in the last 3 or 4 years on TDCI's PD's etc, this one is the best yet, up to now?

[tenko]

Bry

I'd be very interested in hearing your views on the tuning box, I'm at the moment seriously considering getting a "tunit" solution for my t180 Auris. They have an interesting article on their newsletter regarding Redline magazine fitting a tunit to an Auris SR180 they use in the sprint series.

Quoting them

On the road the car has been transformed, meaning the overall driving experience is much easier and more responsive; while the massive torque really makes itself known. Overtaking is now an absolute breeze, and tested against friends cars the Auris is now able to keep up with modified 200SXs and even a porche 996 Carrera 4 from a rolling start up to around 100 mph, which is fantastic for a diesel, though with almost 350 lb/ft it is not surprising

They did have their unit Laptop tuned ( available at tunit dealers) to give a 27 Bhp and an extra 65 ib/ft, Impressive reading though.

However, I'm more concerned with the "whole driving experience rather than out and out power. Has the behavior of your car changed other than the extra mpg and performance ie are there flat spots or "jerky" power delivery ? I don't want to fit a box and sacrifice the smoothness of my standard Auris.

[Bry]

Still evaluating, not really any flat spots, just the turbo lag as before although it kicks in earlier and pulls a lot harder, the acceleration is quite dramatic, I think not much short of our 330i. it revs out much more rapidly and hits 5k a bit too easy. To be honest it pays to get to 2nd or 3rd as hoofing in 1st is bang and its all over, I have found as expected, if you get carried away, so does your fuel, but as i said before, take it easy and it soon recovers. The DPNF regeneration still kicks in and out for lengthy periods to spoil the economy a bit but overall still up by a minimum of 4mpg.

I looked at the tunit version but was a little put off by the only moderate gains, this one "Venom" has a claimed 215 BHP (up 40bhp) and 465nm torque (up 65nm) It is self calibrating and has no switches etc to mess about with. Cost = £370 including shipping and was in stock, 24 hour delivery. Lets make it clear before anyone suspects, I have nothing to do with the supplier!!!

I have had a few boxes in the last 3 or 4 years on TDCI's PD's etc, this one is the best yet, up to now?

To conclude:

Very impressed with this unit, having been involved in front end Electrical/Electronic Engineering all my career I have tended to be a wee bit sceptical of the technological claims of these devices ie updated maps etc when the obvious only connection is usually to the common rail fuel pressure sensor which can only logically provide a linear uplift of fuel pressure tracking original map. This one is claimed to provide updated maps and a few other interesting features, maybe, as it has a few more than two wires as previous versions I have used, although still connects to the pressure sensor only, apart from a separate 12v supply.

I have just completed 541 miles of long distance varied driving, town, motorway at good speeds often using very hard exceleration ! from full to light on, the same driving would have returned around 40mpg before fitting unit. The fill up to second click was 52 litres, 11.43 gallons which = an astonishing (for my car, compared to previous) 47.3 mpg. I should also point out that the car was loaded to the brim, dinghy, outboard, luggage etc. Fuel used was Sainsburys ULSD.

During the journey I never came across a car that could stay with it during acceleration, it seems to be getting quicker? granted no big BM's or Porsches were encountered. The best £370 spent, up to now!

Thats it.

[gavin146]

Hi Bry

First timer on any forum!

Im the proud owner of a 2004 Toyota Avensis 2.0 T4 D4D 115hp. Great quality car but im not happy with the exeleration especially that diesel flat spot when first pulling away!

Ive been thinking about a piggy back chip for some time. Im form the same background as yourself and as you were sceptical of such impressive claims without blowing out the engine!

Do you recon it will make a big diffence to a my 2.0 D4D and will it kill that initail dead spot!

if so where did you buy this Venom chip form?

[Bry]

Hi Bry

First timer on any forum!

Im the proud owner of a 2004 Toyota Avensis 2.0 T4 D4D 115hp. Great quality car but im not happy with the exeleration especially that diesel flat spot when first pulling away!

Ive been thinking about a piggy back chip for some time. Im form the same background as yourself and as you were sceptical of such impressive claims without blowing out the engine!

Do you recon it will make a big diffence to a my 2.0 D4D and will it kill that initail dead spot!

if so where did you buy this Venom chip form?

Hi gavin,

I think the flat spot your talking about is the obligatory turbo lag which is a characteristic of all turbo cars, petrol or diesel, unless a supercharger is fitted in tandem as some VW engines to eliminate the delay of the turbo spinning up to speed. The lag is also proportional to the size of the turbo versus the size of the engine, I have a T180 and would bet it has a little more lag than your 2litre. You tend to get used to accommodating it with a little more clutch slip/revving to get it going quicker! My T180 has more lag than any TD I have had before, but I expected it to, due to the fact it is pushing 180HP (in theory!) out of a 2.2 litre engine, it can only do this with a turbo big enough to push in the extra air to make it equivement to say a 5 litre naturally aspirated, hence big turbo taking more effort to spin up.

A tuning box wont eliminate this, although it probably wont feel as bad as the engine will develop power quicker than before. I haven't seen the figures for the 2litre but would certainly recommend a "Venom" box

.

[Groovy Mucker]

Bry, I see you added this while I was on holiday. Glad to hear the Avensis is finally returning expected figures. I might try this - but isn't there a risk to the DMF (which is the latest cause of the heebie-jeebies for me)?

[dps10_0]

Hi,

I've put one of these tuning boxes on my 2005 Avensis T4 (116bhp) and it really does what it says on the tin!

I bought the DPT box available from www.dieselpowertuning.co.uk for about £300 quid. Tunit were quoting me over £400 with the only difference being that the tunit box is manually adjustable, (the DPT box can be adjusted via laptop by the dealer you buy it from, however you can easily fit it yourself.)

First....performance - Bottom end my new avensis was crap, serious turbo lag and it took you to get into about 3rd or 4th before you started to notice any speed. Seriously i also have 2.0TD (1998) which the missus now drives and it was quicker in first and second gear.

When you plug this box in the difference is phenomenal - instantly about an extra 25-30 bhp and about 50lbs of torque. The first thing you'll notice is the rev counter. As you were used to accelerating and changing gear the rev counter would go all the way down and have to build back up again until you change gear again and the the whole thing would have to build up.....again!! Not with this thing...with quick gear changes your rev counter will barely move down and you are getting the instant extra power, with less time 'building up'. Not only that but the quick gear changes mean you are getting into the correct gear you need faster and therefore being more fuel efficient. You will notice the difference on motorways as you will physically see the MPG on your OBC creeping up faster than you ever did.

Second...economy - the real reason i bought this thing because my car is a taxi and i can do nothing about the price of fuel, but i CAN try to make it go further.

The difference is instant. It goes without saying if you drive like a maniac you'll not get better fuel economy - you'll just be a faster maniac. However if you normally drive your avensis with a bit of respect and continue to do so after you've fitted this box you WILL notice anything between 4 - 10 mpg increase. I'll give you an example: When i first got my avensis the Fuel Refill Range on the OBC was showing up as 440 miles when i completely filled the tank. It now shows up close to 500 miles (498 if i'm honest) - thats 58 extra miles per tank. Now as i said i'm a taxi driver so i use at least 2 tanks per week - so thats 116 'free' miles per week, which is about 6000 per year.

I've had this on for about 4-5 months now and have had absolutely NO problems and no indications that it is doing any sort of long term damage to the car. It has made it into the car it was supposed to be. My only regret is that i didn't buy the 150bhp version that was sitting beside mine on the forecourt and strap one of these onto it!!

hope this helps anyone thinking of this, and by the way there is a video on the DPT website with Quentin Wilson endorsing this product. Apparantly these make an unreal difference to anyone driving a 4x4 or for anyone towing caravans / trailers.

Damien

[Parts-King]

We do a tuning chip kit for any D4D EXCEPT T180, all the 1.4 2.0 and 2.5, 3.0 Hilux

TOC members price is £375 delivered to any UK address. PM me for details

Kingo

[Groovy Mucker]

Kingo, why not for the T180?

[OldSkoO1]

Hi,

I've put one of these tuning boxes on my 2005 Avensis T4 (116bhp) and it really does what it says on the tin!

I bought the DPT box available from www.dieselpowertuning.co.uk for about £300 quid. Tunit were quoting me over £400 with the only difference being that the tunit box is manually adjustable, (the DPT box can be adjusted via laptop by the dealer you buy it from, however you can easily fit it yourself.)

First....performance - Bottom end my new avensis was crap, serious turbo lag and it took you to get into about 3rd or 4th before you started to notice any speed. Seriously i also have 2.0TD (1998) which the missus now drives and it was quicker in first and second gear.

When you plug this box in the difference is phenomenal - instantly about an extra 25-30 bhp and about 50lbs of torque. The first thing you'll notice is the rev counter. As you were used to accelerating and changing gear the rev counter would go all the way down and have to build back up again until you change gear again and the the whole thing would have to build up.....again!! Not with this thing...with quick gear changes your rev counter will barely move down and you are getting the instant extra power, with less time 'building up'. Not only that but the quick gear changes mean you are getting into the correct gear you need faster and therefore being more fuel efficient. You will notice the difference on motorways as you will physically see the MPG on your OBC creeping up faster than you ever did.

Second...economy - the real reason i bought this thing because my car is a taxi and i can do nothing about the price of fuel, but i CAN try to make it go further.

The difference is instant. It goes without saying if you drive like a maniac you'll not get better fuel economy - you'll just be a faster maniac. However if you normally drive your avensis with a bit of respect and continue to do so after you've fitted this box you WILL notice anything between 4 - 10 mpg increase. I'll give you an example: When i first got my avensis the Fuel Refill Range on the OBC was showing up as 440 miles when i completely filled the tank. It now shows up close to 500 miles (498 if i'm honest) - thats 58 extra miles per tank. Now as i said i'm a taxi driver so i use at least 2 tanks per week - so thats 116 'free' miles per week, which is about 6000 per year.

I've had this on for about 4-5 months now and have had absolutely NO problems and no indications that it is doing any sort of long term damage to the car. It has made it into the car it was supposed to be. My only regret is that i didn't buy the 150bhp version that was sitting beside mine on the forecourt and strap one of these onto it!!

hope this helps anyone thinking of this, and by the way there is a video on the DPT website with Quentin Wilson endorsing this product. Apparantly these make an unreal difference to anyone driving a 4x4 or for anyone towing caravans / trailers.

Damien

If you got the 150bhp version and fitted this box you would need to offer free neckbraces to every customer.

Good to see a taxi driver give it the thumbs up. If there were ever a problem with a car (chipped car in this case) a taxi driver would know about it. You must have covered a fair few miles in the 5 months it has been fitted.

[adamtitto]

Are there any such mods available for us petrol engined members?!!! I have the 1.8 petrol, and now im looking at this device for my '07 1.4d Yaris, but just wondered if anything similar was available?

Cheers

Adam

[Parts-King]

Kingo, why not for the T180?

The chip kits we use are the same right the way across the range (apart from the wiring looms) however the T180 works in a slightly different way, and the kit that was produced by our supplier would keep going into failsafe mode if you happened to over rev the car. We tried it extensively with the company, but felt that due to the intermittant nature of the fault, it would be unwise for us to supply the kit for T180 at this time. It is perculier to the T180 and until the supplier comes up with a fix, we are holding off selling the T180 kit

Kingo

[dps10_0]

Hi,

I've put one of these tuning boxes on my 2005 Avensis T4 (116bhp) and it really does what it says on the tin!

I bought the DPT box available from www.dieselpowertuning.co.uk for about £300 quid. Tunit were quoting me over £400 with the only difference being that the tunit box is manually adjustable, (the DPT box can be adjusted via laptop by the dealer you buy it from, however you can easily fit it yourself.)

First....performance - Bottom end my new avensis was crap, serious turbo lag and it took you to get into about 3rd or 4th before you started to notice any speed. Seriously i also have 2.0TD (1998) which the missus now drives and it was quicker in first and second gear.

When you plug this box in the difference is phenomenal - instantly about an extra 25-30 bhp and about 50lbs of torque. The first thing you'll notice is the rev counter. As you were used to accelerating and changing gear the rev counter would go all the way down and have to build back up again until you change gear again and the the whole thing would have to build up.....again!! Not with this thing...with quick gear changes your rev counter will barely move down and you are getting the instant extra power, with less time 'building up'. Not only that but the quick gear changes mean you are getting into the correct gear you need faster and therefore being more fuel efficient. You will notice the difference on motorways as you will physically see the MPG on your OBC creeping up faster than you ever did.

Second...economy - the real reason i bought this thing because my car is a taxi and i can do nothing about the price of fuel, but i CAN try to make it go further.

The difference is instant. It goes without saying if you drive like a maniac you'll not get better fuel economy - you'll just be a faster maniac. However if you normally drive your avensis with a bit of respect and continue to do so after you've fitted this box you WILL notice anything between 4 - 10 mpg increase. I'll give you an example: When i first got my avensis the Fuel Refill Range on the OBC was showing up as 440 miles when i completely filled the tank. It now shows up close to 500 miles (498 if i'm honest) - thats 58 extra miles per tank. Now as i said i'm a taxi driver so i use at least 2 tanks per week - so thats 116 'free' miles per week, which is about 6000 per year.

I've had this on for about 4-5 months now and have had absolutely NO problems and no indications that it is doing any sort of long term damage to the car. It has made it into the car it was supposed to be. My only regret is that i didn't buy the 150bhp version that was sitting beside mine on the forecourt and strap one of these onto it!!

hope this helps anyone thinking of this, and by the way there is a video on the DPT website with Quentin Wilson endorsing this product. Apparantly these make an unreal difference to anyone driving a 4x4 or for anyone towing caravans / trailers.

Damien

If you got the 150bhp version and fitted this box you would need to offer free neckbraces to every customer.

Good to see a taxi driver give it the thumbs up. If there were ever a problem with a car (chipped car in this case) a taxi driver would know about it. You must have covered a fair few miles in the 5 months it has been fitted.

I only Taxi at the weekends, and work in an office during the week - but use the same Car to travel to and from my everyday job. The car puts in a minimum of about 500 miles every weekend and i've put about 12500 miles on it from I got it, and to date i've had no problems. Unfortunately I can't comment if the tuning box makes for a jerkier or uneven ride because this was the first thing i did when I bought the car so i wouldn't know the difference. (I'd been researching these for a while before I bought the car!!) All i can say is that the ride in my car is very smooth and i can't imagine it being any better. In fact a lot of 'petrolheads' i've lifted whilst working at the weekends are very impressed with the performance from my motor.

I do have a message for 'parts-king' - I had a similar problem when getting my tuning box fitted (i.e. putting the car into safe mode when i took it for a test drive) - but it was down to the programming of tuning box. As the DPT boxes are all more or less the same - only with the correct program installed for each car, and obviously with different wiring harnesses - the one i was originally supplied (by the guy who fitted it - his mistake) was for a 2.2 150 and not for my 2.0. The result was the chip & ECU providing too much boost and throwing the car into safe mode - the ECU reset itself when the chip was removed. Having said that a neck brace WOULD have been required just before it went into safe mode!! I'm only saying this purely as a precaution to people, that you ensure when you order one of these that you order the correct one specific to your particular car. If you arn't sure ask someone who does know!!! I got the correct one a couple of days later and it's been great ever since with no problems.

Damien

[Parts-King]

Yes I do know about these different types available, but ours just does not like being hooked up to a T180. The manufacturers say there is something different to the way the T180 ECU works

Kingo

[Bry]

Bry, I see you added this while I was on holiday. Glad to hear the Avensis is finally returning expected figures. I might try this - but isn't there a risk to the DMF (which is the latest cause of the heebie-jeebies for me)?

Hi Groovy, sorry been away myself, I can do nothing but heap praise on this box, no problems at all and it makes the car do what it should have done without it! That said after using a standard 150 Vectra recently it took the shine off it a bit, the Vectra goes well without a box, nicer more refined engine and god forbid, possibly the whole car! mid 50's to gallon was comfortable!

[Adyone]

I fitted a Venom unit to my T180 on Friday.

Done just over 150 miles over the weekend.

Can't say I've noticed a big difference yet either in performance or economy.

I could get 46 mpg over a long journey (say 200 miles or so) before I fitted this unit.

I'm being wary of not being suckered by Kidology (spend £000's and you think the car IS going better and the economy IS better). :(

I shall keep trying it but the gains as yet are not striking. :(

We shall see....................

Regards

Adrian

[Bry]

I fitted a Venom unit to my T180 on Friday.

Done just over 150 miles over the weekend.

Can't say I've noticed a big difference yet either in performance or economy.

I could get 46 mpg over a long journey (say 200 miles or so) before I fitted this unit.

I'm being wary of not being suckered by Kidology (spend £000's and you think the car IS going better and the economy IS better). :(

I shall keep trying it but the gains as yet are not striking. :(

We shall see....................

Regards

Adrian

You must have a duff one mate, the difference on mine is the most impressive of any I have tried, it transformed this dissapointing car into a one that performs power and economy wise as it should without it!

That said, if you can get 46mpg out of a T180 Avensis, the way you would have to drive to achieve that, I dont think a a tuning box will make any differnce unless you change your driving style! and that's rich coming from me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OldSkoO1]

That said, if you can get 46mpg out of a T180 Avensis, the way you would have to drive to achieve that, I dont think a a tuning box will make any differnce unless you change your driving style! and that's rich coming from me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed :)

[matty2767]

check the box is fitted correctly you should notice the extra 35bhp easily.

[Adyone]

Well!

Over 400 miles with the Venom unit fitted.

Fuel economy average is JUST a little better than the previous average (42.4 mpg against 41.1mpg).

Performance MIGHT be better. ;)

Two work colleagues drive my car last week and thought how well it went but they had not driven it before.

I will disconnect the unit from the car and let them re-road test it.

Am I being too sceptical? :(

I was hoping for an easy 46mpg instead of having to drive like a saint for over 200 long distance journey miles to get 46mpg!

[chandler32]

so how much has your insurance gone up by? When i had a celica, i used a specialist insurer as it was modified. these days i use churchill and don't fancy 'hoping i get away with it'

I assume these kits need to be declared?