kiwi_steve
Member
Hi all, so I have a TD5 DII facelift 5-speed truck that I lovehatelove. Mostly I love it. Stockholm syndrome I suspect. This is about one aspect I lovehatelove... the power.
It has from a previous owner (I believe, I've yet to split the computer and look - but there is a giant superchips sticker under the hood) a Superchips 'upgrade', which provides really nice power compared to my previous stock auto TD5... apart from one thing - it's great as long as you've got more than 1800RPM going on - anything below that and it produces massive clouds of thick black smoke (worst by far when its cold, but still does it warm)... and it has no power at all, acceleration is almost non-existent... Towing heavy loads is a nightmare, taking off is a nightmare, trying to get into traffic is a nightmare. It seems the only way to take off is to use major clutch slippage and ride it until you get some motion going. And if I put a heavy load on a trailer its almost impossible to get moving without feeling like I'm destroying the clutch... on a hill? No chance at all without low range (very steep hill, just no chance).
I've never driven a stock TD5 manual to know how they perform down low, nor have I driven a chipped auto to know how good they are, so I don't have much to go on comparison-wise but I'm seriously considering doing an auto-swap just to make it driveable as I do often have a horse float or a recovery trailer on the back... so I have some questions.
First of all, yes I googled it. There is a lot of conflicting info and many peoples uninformed opinions out there (and a very interesting site called td5tuning.com full of awesome information that mostly went over my head), so I'd like to get some first-hand experience answers if possible.
Ok, so thats a lot of questions and I'm getting a bit off-course there towards the end... but hopefully someone has been through this and has some useful pointers to get better usable low-down power out of the truck...
Cheers, Steve (from down under and slightly to the left)
It has from a previous owner (I believe, I've yet to split the computer and look - but there is a giant superchips sticker under the hood) a Superchips 'upgrade', which provides really nice power compared to my previous stock auto TD5... apart from one thing - it's great as long as you've got more than 1800RPM going on - anything below that and it produces massive clouds of thick black smoke (worst by far when its cold, but still does it warm)... and it has no power at all, acceleration is almost non-existent... Towing heavy loads is a nightmare, taking off is a nightmare, trying to get into traffic is a nightmare. It seems the only way to take off is to use major clutch slippage and ride it until you get some motion going. And if I put a heavy load on a trailer its almost impossible to get moving without feeling like I'm destroying the clutch... on a hill? No chance at all without low range (very steep hill, just no chance).
I've never driven a stock TD5 manual to know how they perform down low, nor have I driven a chipped auto to know how good they are, so I don't have much to go on comparison-wise but I'm seriously considering doing an auto-swap just to make it driveable as I do often have a horse float or a recovery trailer on the back... so I have some questions.
First of all, yes I googled it. There is a lot of conflicting info and many peoples uninformed opinions out there (and a very interesting site called td5tuning.com full of awesome information that mostly went over my head), so I'd like to get some first-hand experience answers if possible.
- Are superchips upgrades any good or are they known for smoke (overfuelling?).
- Is there a better upgrade?
- Can they be DIY tuned?
- If there is a better commercial upgrade, what is it, where do I get it? How much is it?
- Can the current map(s) be tweaked, thus keeping the current superchips upgrade and improving it?
- What do you need to reprogram it, or is it a new chip job
- If it can be reprogrammed, I understand the Nanocom can do it - what else can? The Nanocom is not cheap in $NZ, and while I understand its the gold standard of computers for a TD5 I've also got to run this purchase past she who must be obeyed.
- If I go auto, is this all moot since I would need an auto computer (someone suggested a D1 auto would work just fine with the manual computer since its all hydraulic not electronic).
- As a side note, if I am getting a computer for it, it would also want to be able to code new key fobs (and old key fobs) since I only have one key, and one spare key from my spare truck I'd like to make use of - I understand the Foxwell unit says it can, but actually can't (I've emailed them about this asking for confirmation about 10 days ago and had no response).
Ok, so thats a lot of questions and I'm getting a bit off-course there towards the end... but hopefully someone has been through this and has some useful pointers to get better usable low-down power out of the truck...
Cheers, Steve (from down under and slightly to the left)