4x4 Action Group

Gents, Ladies and Manny,

My Cruiser 200 puts a smile on my face daily however, when I look at the Fuel Consumption graph I get stunned.... I have a heavy foot and I see the need to get pulled into my seat from Robot to Robot.....

In saying this. What are your opinions on remapping? Let me be clear on a few things:

1. I believe Toyota's engineers are far more intelligent than a West/East-rander who cashed out his pension to buy Dyno tune equipment.
2. Mapping comes at a cost: more fuel, decreased lifespan etc. ( or as Chas would say: etc..... etc..... etc.... etc....)
3. Reliability. When things go South, how do you fix it quickly....

The remapping is just an idea I have and most definitely not a given, purely to save on Diesel. I know this topic is controversial, but I would love to read peoples' opinions.

I did my GD6 and I'm extremely happy.

I read up on eveeything I could find on the topic and opinions were obviously spread between those in favour - and those opposed to it.

Yes, the guys from Toyota know what they are doing but they have a "one size fits all" map.

Unfortunately there can be a huge difference between motors - so I see it as a "fine tuning" - so to speak.

My goal was to fine tune and improve reliability (difficult to measure - I know).

But if I have more power and improved consumption - I accept that the motor is better tuned.

The trick is finding the correct person to do this.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

I don't like chips and maps and stuff. I am sure they have their place. However, any map / chip etc on the TB45 that I have can be considered a reliability downgrade.

Because I am the anti-map guy, I'm not totally familiar with how these things work. However, I've read several disaster chip/map related things previously.

One thread was related to a Hilux as well as a cruiser too. I seem to remember that they were two vehicles belonging to a touring outfit which both experienced catastrophic failure during some tour. Both were chipped or mapped at more-or-less the same time. I'll see if I can find that thread somewhere when I have time.

I have friends, colleagues and acquaintances who are either running chips or maps and are super happy with the results. But I'm just not very comfortable with these things. That is me, though.

Wessel, don't be a scruffy.

Only knob heads and pig farmers tune the reliability out of their Toyotas.

Next thing you know you'd want to fit godlights and a drawer system.

Hi have been down this road before and have done a little bit of research.,
Firstly its important to know the difference between chipping and mapping.
Secondly you need a VERY reliable tuner.
Thirdly, pushing the limits will result in as ass biting of note

So in short. You can remap, safely, without compromising on reliability.

The two best chips on the market are Lays and Doritos.

Ricof4e wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 26, 2022 12:22 pm

Wessel, don't be a scruffy.

Only knob heads and pig farmers tune the reliability out of their Toyotas.

Next thing you know you'd want to fit godlights and a drawer system.

And a Toyotaholics sticker on the windscreen as well as a John Deere sticker on the back.

FWM wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 26, 2022 12:28 pm

Hi have been down this road before and have done a little bit of research.,
Firstly its important to know the difference between chipping and mapping.
Secondly you need a VERY reliable tuner.
Thirdly, pushing the limits will result in as ass biting of note

So in short. You can remap, safely, without compromising on reliability.

The two best chips on the market are Lays and Doritos.

I am with Ian on this one - never understood the reason why anyone would want to chip or map their car - sacrificing reliability for speed and/or better fuel consumption.

There is no such thing as a safe remapping in my view. The OME ECU is programmed with certain parameters in mind, predominantly for the longevity of the mechanical components. Any fiddling with it decreases the longevity.

So according to the tuners...
Vehicles are built with lower emissions being the main objective, thus compromising on reliability. Think EGR
So by removing some of these things and fine tuning the parameters will give you a vehicle that has more power, more reliable and lighter on fuel.

I agree about cats and EGR etc. I don't necessarily agree about maps and similar.

In fact, the earlier thread I alluded to I seem to recall that the causes for the failure of the vehicles was overfuelling resulting in burnt pistons after whatever mods they did to the poor things.

I will honestly find those posts and post the link to them when I have the time.

Hence the importance of a reliable tuner and not pushing the limits

Right. In the case of the thread I was alluding to earlier, it was three Hiluxii. All three broke down at a similar time (one getting further than the others). All three with plug-and-play chips. All three holes in pistons (presumably over-fuelling).

The thread I was referring to is here: https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/sh ... lug-n-Play!

Whilst searching for that specific post, I opened up a quagmire of other folk whining about cracked heads and pistons and similar. All were mod'ded vehicles - chips or maps.

I know that not all chips are equal to other chips.
I know that a chip is not a map.
I am sure that there are people who can build maps which work well.

However, I don't like the idea of over-riding the parameters my motor was designed for.

There are people who map, or chip, or whatever and swear by it. There are people (like me) who don't. I don't know who is right and who is wrong and I accept that thing about different strokes for different folks.

To the OP: If you opt to go this route, do your research uber carefully first and please keep us up to date.

There is no map on earth that will reduce fuel usage while retaining performance.
You can have one or the other. Luckily, a diesel doesn't mind running extremely lean: in fact, that is the preferred status.
HOWEVER: the less fuel, the less ponies.
Your only option is to drive like an adult. If that is impossible....don't commute with a luxury barge..........

iandvl wrote:I agree about cats and EGR etc. I don't necessarily agree about maps and similar.

In fact, the earlier thread I alluded to I seem to recall that the causes for the failure of the vehicles was overfuelling resulting in burnt pistons after whatever mods they did to the poor things.

I will honestly find those posts and post the link to them when I have the time.

Ian there is a difference between a chip - and a smokeless tune.

The guy who did mine did a smokeless tune/map - and ALL the safety functions of the vehicle were maintained.



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I commute with an off-road barge. I'd say "luxury barge" as the GRX is (was) super-luxury spec for its time. However, considering my vehicle is 21 years old, one cannot equate the "luxury" of a 2001 Patrol GRX with a 200 cruiser. I cannot classify it as a "luxury barge" anymore, although it is a fantastic drive for a live axle vehicle.

I have a daily commute of about 12km to and from the office / school etc. I do the fortnightly trip to Brits and back on Fridays and Sundays to collect / drop off the kids. This is fine. It's fondness for petrol does disappoint sometimes, but I budget for that - especially for when I pull the long haul trips. Driving my truck makes me happy.

I am sure I could improve consumption and performance. There are a few viable turbo options for the TB45 as are various aftermarket chips running around. I see them all as "reliability downgrades". My truck is modified (lift, larger tyres, a bit of protection for the under-bits etc) but I'm not going to mess around with things that will have a direct impact on longevity.

I drove the LF's Mitsu ASX for a longish drive (~400km round trip) this weekend past. I like it. much lighter on juice and a great drive.

But I prefer driving my truck.