Chipping a '97 300TDi Auto...

This will either end up as a huge discussion, or it'll end after 1 reply.

Can I chip a 300TDi auto Disco from 1997?

If so, should i?

If so, why? What would/could it achieve?

Try Seafare.

Seafare appear to be "Producers of marinated seafoods including garlic mussels, chilli mussels, marinated squid, octopus and mixed seafood salad.".

You sure they can chip my Tdi for me?

oh, very funny. i only just got it.

doing too many things at once!

right... on a more serious note, does my 300Tdi auto Disco from 1997 have an ECU that can be modified to give more power, improve efficiency, or anything at all?

As a quickie NO

OK... so the primitive fly-by-wire ECU thing came in later than 1997, presumably... or it's present on my vehicle, but so simple it's untunable.

i assume...

fishsponge said:

OK... so the primitive fly-by-wire ECU thing came in later than 1997, presumably... or it's present on my vehicle, but so simple it's untunable.

i assume...

Click to expand...

zorst fuel pump panel filter.......

done a google search for "zorst fuel pump panel filter" and it's brought up very little indeed.

From what i can work out though, it's a new filter for the fuel pump which will allow fuel to flow more freely and therefore give you more fuel through.

Am I along the right lines?

No you can't chip it as it hasn't got that type of ECU. You can however remove the exhaust catalyst, blank the EGR, clean out the intercooler and adjust the injection pump. All of which will improve the performance/economy to a greater or lesser extent.
Do a search and you'll come up with all sorts of threads on all 4 items.
1st 3 are relatively easy. Last one I'd be a bit careful with unless you know what you are doing.

Ok, decat & EGR already done. I'll look at cleaning the intercooler out next.

I'll probably leave the fuel pump alone...

Ok just to set the record straight YES YOU CAN CHIP A 300TDI AUTO !.. . .
because it has the EDC means that you can't manually alter the fuel pump. but you can chip it and it is well worth doing, there are a couple of places that can do it for you.
TD5alive,twisted performance and the derv doctor are just the first 3 off the top of my head.
http://www.zen19051.zen.co.uk/land_rover_tuning200300TDi.htm
http://www.td5alive.com/remaptuning.php
doesn't really do much for the economy but mine has had it's EGR removed, de-cat,K+N, and now it'll more than keep up with a TD5.
and picks it's boots up quite nicely for an auto.

Have your given a hiflow intercooller a thought?

one like these

Hi Flo Intercooler - Brunel Performance

thanks for the info... so "chipping" a 300Tdi involves basically turning the fuel pump up!

i don't think i'll go for this, purely because I'm not after more power and less MPG, I'm after the same power with better MPG (if possible)!

I understand that the EGR removal may have done both, the decat was done before I bought it anyway, and making air flow through the intercooler more easily must surely improve both!

If air flows more freely, more air will be sucked in, and therefore more fuel will go in for each compression. Therefore I'll have more power when needed, but won't have to press the accelerator as hard to achieve the same result as I do now, thereby keeping the revs lower and improving fuel efficiency (maybe).

make sense?

It's good to see that the intercooler people (Hi Flo Intercooler - Brunel Performance) have a free fitting service - may as well take them up on that if they're not too far away!

Step 1 though, I think, will be to clean my intercooler. I will therefore go on a hunt for some instructions on how to remove it and how to clean it!

fishsponge said:

thanks for the info... so "chipping" a 300Tdi involves basically turning the fuel pump up!

Click to expand...

Did you read my reply ?????

you CANNOT turn the fuel pump up manually on EDC equipped cars. they have to be chipped

on a diesel you control the fuel via the throttle pedal unlike a petrol where you control the air.
so no matter how free flowing the air is you will still dictate how much fuel goes in the only plus side of having a better air flow is that there will be more air so that the fuel that does go into the engine will get burnt hence no black smoke.

jase750 said:

Did you read my reply ?????

you CANNOT turn the fuel pump up manually on EDC equipped cars. they have to be chipped

Click to expand...

yes, I did read your post... and my reply appears to be ambiguous... lol

What I should have said was:

"Chipping a 300TDi basically results in the fuel pump having been turned up, albeit electronically"

Right... i've done a few searches... flushing the intercooler appears to be part of standard maintenance anyway, so it's not uncommon to do it. One that hasn't been flushed for 150,000 miles (like mine, probably) could more than like do with a good clean too!

As for how to do it, some people say use diesel. For this, I'll have to remove the intercooler, which involves removing the fan, the cowling, various pipes and needs two pairs of hands. This doesn't sound like a job for me, but i'll look it up in the Haynes to see how difficult it really is.

The other thing people suggest is either carburettor cleaner (of which I have a small amount) or Land Rover's special intercooler cleaner. I have no idea whether you'd need to remove the intercooler to clean it with either of these.

So... anyone have any advice on that subject??

fishsponge said:

Right... i've done a few searches... flushing the intercooler appears to be part of standard maintenance anyway, so it's not uncommon to do it. One that hasn't been flushed for 150,000 miles (like mine, probably) could more than like do with a good clean too!

As for how to do it, some people say use diesel. For this, I'll have to remove the intercooler, which involves removing the fan, the cowling, various pipes and needs two pairs of hands. This doesn't sound like a job for me, but i'll look it up in the Haynes to see how difficult it really is.

The other thing people suggest is either carburettor cleaner (of which I have a small amount) or Land Rover's special intercooler cleaner. I have no idea whether you'd need to remove the intercooler to clean it with either of these.

So... anyone have any advice on that subject??

Click to expand...

You don't need 2 pairs of hands to do it. I can't remember if you need to disconnect a coolant hose to get the fan cowling out, I suspect so but so what? Just drain the coolant then refill - good time to change it if its murky anyway. If you really don't want to undo the coolant pipe, break the cowling into 2 pieces so its removeable around the pipe.

I did mine by removing the intercooler, then reconnecting 2 of its hoses and turning it flat, so the hoses were vertical, then just poured a couple of litres of petrol in and left it for a few hours, then swished it out and let it dry out. The special intercooler cleaning fluid is a waste of money (I could never find it anyway), asked the question on here and was advised to just use petrol.

It does increase the fueling yes but it also increases boost pressure slightly but that is the only way you will increase power
more fuel+more air = more power.
but when your car left the factory it was set up to run any where in the world on any grade of fuel and so had a very wide tolerance on the fueling.
all that a chip or indeed pump tune does is set your car up to run in this country and use decent fuel .
you don't need to drain the cooling system
as for cleaning out the intercooler using any solvent based liquid meths, turps, petrol or indeed diesel is ok once you have used it though be sure to flush it out with plenty of warm/hot water and let it dry out for a good couple of hours.
if you were to just flush it out with petrol/diesel and then put it straight back on the engine would run on the fumes that were left in the intercooler and would rev to the sky and you would have no way of stopping it until either the fumes were used up or the engine blew up

ok, so in summary, the intercooler must be removed in order to clean it (which does make sense).

I can either break the cowling or drain all the coolant. Either way, I'll have to remove the fan and the cowing. I was hoping that cleaning the intercooler was going to cost me nothing, but given that i'd rather not break the cowling into two, it looks like it'll cost me some antifreeze at least. Never bought anti-freeze before (always had cars fixed at garages), but it can't be that expensive.... can it?? lol

I think i'll have a ponder... i'll find out how much antifreeze I need, how much it'll cost for that amount, and then read the Haynes to figure out how to remove the intercooler.

I assume it's a job that I could do of an afternoon, right?