It's called a Celox tuning module.

My mate could explain better than I, but apparently it's just a box with male and female VW connectors and a resistor inside - although they fill the insides with resin, I assume to hide that fact that the fancy module has nothing more than a resistor in there.

I'm at a loss to explain why increasing the fuel injection actually saves fuel although, just by looking at my trip computer, I noticed it does use more fuel when accelerating heavily in first and second gear, but it seems to use far less than normal when driving sensibly.

I remember a similar thing when I disconnected the air mass meter in my old Astra - the power output increased, but with little to no difference in economy.

[edit] My mate also mentioned these things do not produce noticeable results on a car that has had an engine remap, he said they could in fact be detrimental to performance.

It's interesting to me - I have a 'powerchip' for the Camaro, that you can't easily buy now. It's in a box on the shelf, and I probably will never fit it.
Like the Celox thingy, all it does is up the fuel injection in the ECU (although this is actually a full on chip swap). People have read the contents of the ROM and compared it to the stock ROM, and in my case, there's really very little changed apart from an increase in the fuelling.
They also used to recommend a cooler thermostat (160° instead of 180° or something) to help the fans kick in earlier and help the cooling.
It makes just the same promises as the Celox dongle, because it's doing just the same thing. I can't sell it, because over the years it's been available the conclusion has been reached it's just not worth it.

So, instead of fitting it, I'll probably get around to a proper remap, once I've done things like a full set of roller rockers, maybe some headers and a new exhaust.

Small update:
I got it wrong, it has nothing to do with the engine temperature.

It's the fuel temperature sensor, and the module tells it the fuel temp is higher than actual.

After about 350 miles it's settled down to 55mpg - still around 10 more than standard (and the first 100 miles were before I fitted the module).

If it improves fuel efficiency so much, it begs the question "WTF how incompetent were the original manufacturers when they set it up?"

Make sure you check that with a brim to brim to ensure your display is reading accurately.

Fair enough if it works for you, I certainly agree there's a lot of bollocks talked on car forums, but I wouldn't do it myself.

No idea, but my car is eight years old, and the specific engine design could well be 12-15 years (or more) old - is it not feasible that they might have learnt a few things in that time?


I intend to, but I'm still showing half a tank so it'll be at least a couple of weeks.

Because the manufacturers have to have a map that is a jack of all trades and the master of none.
It also needs to be appropriate to many different countries and their various atmospheric conditions which will affect (to a greater or lesser degree I suppose) what the fuel mixture and cooling is doing.

Interestingly, after my Dad's Saab was mapped at Abbot Racing there was a slight increase in mpg.
I guess if you're happy to lose something off the top end of the engine's capacity (and who realistically needs much over 100mph? No, really?) and focus on the areas you're going to use on a day to day basis, you can possibly find a happy medium between better mpg and quicker acceleration.

Woohoo. Pay day!!!

Just spoken to Virgin Media about upgrading my broadband. I've just gone from 10Mb to 60Mb for the grand total of an extra £2.50 per month.

Does that mean you will not be throttled any longer?

I have no idea in all honesty, it's so rarely that I get throttled anyway - usually when I've just installed a shedload of stuff through Steam or PSN.

I updated my iMacs so had 8 Gb of OS updates in one go then add in it triggered a load of other software that was now out of date and so had loads of updates for them.

I was looking to buy my sister a laptop. I'd seen a spec I'd liked on Amazon for £400 but not in stock and no idea when it'd arrive. I'd seen the same spec laptop in Argos for £30 more but in stock at the two local Argos stores. After dithering about a bit, I had a look last night and the Amazon one had rocketed to £480 and came with Windows 8 (which I knew my sister would not get on with). In a panic, I looked at the Argos website - the closest store was a good 5 miles away but in stock. Reserved it and a pop-up was advertising delivery for £15 - ie they would go and pick up the laptop and deliver it to work on Monday. Went ahead.

Laptop arrived around 1130am. Looked in the bag and found there was a laptop case. Adamant that I hadn't ordered it, I looked at the receipt. It was a promotional thing. Looked at website - came with free case + mouse. Laptop had been picked up at 1045 and delivered by 1130. Amazed since I hadn't even had time to leave the surgery yet.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... nformation

his wife will throttle him for costing them an extra £30 a year

Actually for the speed increase it will not that expensive. Especially if it allows more simultaneous users to be online in the household.