Some car chipping questions

[blindswelledrat]

I bought a volvo XC90 at the weekend and want to get it chipped. Does anyone know the answers to the following:
1) Is fuel economy improved?
2) Are service intervals shortened?
3) If so will automatic service warning recognise this?
4) On a 2 tonne (ton?) car will I notice an extra 30bhp?
5) Will it invalidate the warranty?
6) If so would they ever actually realize?
Thanks

[alexkp]

I'd pop this over on General Gassing if I were you...

[blindswelledrat]

Dont need, as true to form, Ted has moved it for me in the blinking of an eye.
I do believe he knew even before I pressed submit that I was going to make this embarrassing mistake.

[paddym]

Have chipped a TD5 110 and ----

blindswelledrat said:

1) Is fuel economy improved?

"day to day driving yes, however you offset the benefit by much better accelaration and top end so get to the brick through custard aerodyamics point quicker and more often"

blindswelledrat said:

2) Are service intervals shortened?

"haven't changed and am 40k odd with the chip (chipped after 60k) with the big 96k in teh middle at LR specialist"

blindswelledrat said:

3) If so will automatic service warning recognise this?

"a wha'?"

blindswelledrat said:

4) On a 2 tonne (ton?) car will I notice an extra 30bhp?

"Empahtic YES"

blindswelledrat said:

5) Will it invalidate the warranty?

"Did mine post back of fag packet LR warranty, but woudl assume so"

blindswelledrat said:

6) If so would they ever actually realize?

Probably if its got a super ECU -- however you can get a 'saddle' system as I have from vanaaken.com which clips on the wires to and from the ecu and so you can remove it and its not there -- in case you don't advise your insurance company -- and want it just for extra grunt off road

[blindswelledrat]

Cheers Paddy
Who did you use for your chip?
I was a little unclear as to your reply to "does fuel economy improve?"

[andy mac]

Is an XC90 a turbo?? If so you will definately feel a difference. If it is an NA, then I'm not sure the difference is that great. I can't be arsed seeing about turbo or not, but the na's normally get a few hp whereas the turbos get 30+, purely due to the fact that they can up the boost.

[paddym]

Hello Tom,

I used www.vanaaken.com - a UK company over near Bracknell . Its eay to fit, but they did it FOC when I brought the landie down, but I know I could easily have done it myself.

On general drivinbg I now get 400miles out of a tank rather than 360miles - however if it involves motorways etc, its as easy rumbling along at 80 now as 70 before and I'd say the 0-60 is improved by 5 secs (well noticeably) as in 'in gear' acceleration -- all these things mean more throttle opening / more boost and so you can drive less economically. When I drove down to S of France we saw 105 leptons full loaded and dropped to 310miles a tank.

Paddy

[blindswelledrat]

andy mac said:

Is an XC90 a turbo?? If so you will definately feel a difference. If it is an NA, then I'm not sure the difference is that great. I can't be arsed seeing about turbo or not, but the na's normally get a few hp whereas the turbos get 30+, purely due to the fact that they can up the boost.

Andy its a T6 which is a twin turbo but I just had in my head 2tons/30 bhp I will barely notice. As it stands it has getting on for 300bhp and is relatively sluggish due to sheeer weight.

[blindswelledrat]

And thanks Paddy- I assume you reccoemend them.

[paddym]

Absolutly -- though now I know its a T6 rather than D5 I don't know how much the improvement will be / can be. For me 140bhp to 170 bhp was THAT significant - for yours don't know, but vanaaken will certainly be open.

Thier 'big thing' is taking the 8 litre US pickups and adding another 200bhp -- the tyres are absolutly shredded when the come of rolling road tests.

[andy mac]

blindswelledrat said:

andy mac said: Is an XC90 a turbo?? If so you will definately feel a difference. If it is an NA, then I'm not sure the difference is that great. I can't be arsed seeing about turbo or not, but the na's normally get a few hp whereas the turbos get 30+, purely due to the fact that they can up the boost. Andy its a T6 which is a twin turbo but I just had in my head 2tons/30 bhp I will barely notice. As it stands it has getting on for 300bhp and is relatively sluggish due to sheeer weight.

Twin turbo.. definately worth chipping then. Its not so much the increase in hp, but the increase in torque. The chip for my A4 would increase it 80ft'lbs... Thats a hell of a lot for 500 bucks!

[225]

I had my old Leon cupra R remapped and it went from a book 225bhp with 207lb torque to 265ish bhp and 290lb tourque, it was an adjustable remap so I could switch it stock if need be as well.
MPG actually went up as I changed down less and used the extra torque, I set mine to stock when it went to the dealers and no one noticed. I would say you would get loads more torque raising the boost which will be alot more noticeable, especially as the engine is reasonably large.