Generally speaking, these files have been stolen from one or another company over the years and been compiled onto CD/DVD. Are the files good? Nobody knows... will they kill your engine? Well, we sure wont be finding out as we wouldn't dare use one on your expensive engine, but sadly lots of these people have done just that and the manufacturers are selling ECU's, engine's and transmissions like hot cakes as a result!

We feel it was worth writing this page to make you aware that the reason for the sudden drop in market price of this product is due to the amount of companies that have suddenly popped up claiming to be experts at remapping engine management systems! It is usually quite easy to spot them, just start asking some searching questions about how the maps work and you will soon find out if you are talking to a man who knows a little bit about computers and will change the file in your ecu for one he found on a CD he purchased from some online shop, or if your talking to an industry professional who has been doing this successfully all his life and actually calibrates the file for your particular car and as a result can tweak it to perfection and ensure all security and chassis coding is retained.

At the end of the day, this is a high technology industry that requires constant re-investment in tooling and skills due to the sheer pace of the technology utilised on modern vehicles. Anyone diesel tuning or remapping at O. E. level as we are needs to be constantly retraining and have access to the best tooling and software that money can buy, and it cannot be bought with mere thousands, you need to invest tens and ultimately hundreds of thousands.

When a professional does the work he will start with your OWN original file and modify that one so that all immobiliser and chassis information is retained, as well as any updates you have had installed from the factory such as personality settings and bug fixes etc.

The cheap remapping file fitters normally install files with no immobiliser software and no factory bug fixes so at best you get a car with more power and a lot of bugs, or at worst one with an immobilised ECU that nobody can access or even one that does run but a thief can take from you in under 10 seconds. (We are not suggesting they tell thieves the address and registration of the car's this was done to of course...)

It is prudent to ensure you are getting good backup and after sales support. Simple things such as:

. 7 day no quibble trial period so you can test in your own time.

. Lifetime warranty on the product against corruption or other product.

. Easy access to your original calibration file if you need it.

. Power and torque improvement guaranteed.

. Fuel economy improvements guaranteed if turbo diesel powered.

. Vat registered file supplier. (No file supplier with quite a few installers could possibly stay below the vat threshold surely?)

Finally, your installer should be able to give you the telephone number of the actual file calibrator if it isn't himself.
That way you can call him and get some information as to their credentials. Please feel free to call Evolution Chips (Tel: +44 (0) 1253 508400) to confirm that AutomotionUk are an approved installer or visit their "find an installer" page where you find us listed. Please take care out there... don't be the next customer whom comes to us to get their ECU working again after someone has damaged it with cheap tools and diesel tuning inexperience.

Remember, tools are cheap, knowledge is invaluable.