Thread: les richmond automotive D2 TD5 ecu upgrade

Most tuning efforts to get more power out of an engine are limited by how much air you can get into the pots. With fuel injection getting extra fuel is not that much of an issue. In a turbo diesel getting more air into the pots usually involves more boost from the turbo, this results in more heat in the air which is usually overcome by a bigger/better charge cooler either bigger air to air or a change to water cooled system.

Exhaust issues result from the extra heat produced by burning more fuel with possible distortion of the exhaust manifold and possible broken exhaust studs. It is not uncommon to have people replace the studs for a bigger size and also alter the exhaust manifold by cutting into the webbing between the exhaust ports to reduce the distortion from the extra heat.

A bigger exhaust pipe will also reduce the back pressure and allow the turbo to spool up quicker.

I'd say you will get some improvement from reflashing the ecu however it is likely to be at the expense of having an engine that can harm itself. You need to get an egt monitor to ensure you are aware of what all that extra fuel is doing to the exhaust temperature. Too high and exhaust temp for too long and you could damage the engine and turbo. You would also help the exhaust temps by forcing more cool air through the engine which will require an improved charge cooler. Yes some improvement but more improvement with a greater safety margin would be obtained by improving the charge cooler as well.

Someone that really knows what they are talking about will come along soon and give you the drum.

Mine is chipped by LRA. I have a bigger intercooler and better exhaust. I have had no issues with their chip, found performance and fuel economy to be good. If you get a mild chip to start with and not drive it like you stole it, you should be ok. Exhaust manifold studs break regardless of chipping.

Anyone know who actually does LRAs tuning? Last I knew this wasn't an in-house capability.

To answer the question. Anafter market tune uses some of the factory safety margin to give you more power and torque. This can safely be done with no other modifications. Modifications just give you more safety margin, and thus the ability to get more power and torque.

For no extra money, just some of your spanner time, you can "fix" the manifold. I would be asking LRA who is doing the tune, and is it custom for your car. If not, I would be asking Kelvin (disco thrasher) or mike (tombie) to do it for you. Both will tailor a tune for your needs. I suspect they will also be cheaper, which means either more beer in the fridge for your trip, or maybe you can afford an egr bypass or exhaust afterall.

Nothing against Andrew and the boys at LRA. My preferred landy workshop in Melbourne. Maybe they have developed their own tuning capability.

There’s a lot of info on this site about various chip upgrades Tombie seems always very helpful and well respected.

I’ve done most of the mods mentioned on this forum and there are a lot. A number are easy to do and are more about making life easier on your LR. Also keeps you busy.

Performance wise the two that gave me most bang for buck was the CHIP upgrade (mild).

Removing the cat converter and centre muffler. It seemed to me the exhaust mod actually improved performance but there is always the placebo effect.

If it were me towing I’d do the CHIP upgrade then spend my time making sure the transmission was helped with cooling and make sure your cooling system is up to scratch.

The EGR is an easy do it yourself job even for an idiot like me.

After removing the EGR I had my intercooler cleaned and believe a lot of crap came out of it. I had the radiator roded and the bloke said it was 30 blocked? Motor now runs 5 degrees cooler

Anyhow good luck (Note mines a 2001TD5 Def)

Thanks heaps for the replies. I would love to get Tombie or one of the other boys to do mine but I'm just too far away and I cant do without my vehicle as I use it to get to work each day. As I'm a fair way from a LR mech codeing it in would also be a problem.It something I would rather leave to the experts to remove as I am not very mechanic savvy. I've read a lot in regards to chipping but I was more so interested in anyone's experience with the LRA chipping in particular. As far as I am aware they do it inhouse and takes around half an hour. Qldmike has their one and he's done the intercooler and exhaust so thats probably telling me it needs doing. I'm not convinced its a good thing for my vehicle(As much as I really really want to do it) without doing the other mods as well which I just cant afford to do, so I guess I will just have to let it go. Thanks so much for all your input it is much appreciated.

Thanks Steve

When I went looking for a diesel Landy, I went to a local car dealer who now has lost the land rover dealership.
They had about 10 TD5's in stock and 2 had been tuned, you could tell by associated paper works, one was Coopers as was evident in paper work in owners manual, other had log books stated that tickled by whyalla wizard written in log book around 90k km's.

I can only assume that was tombie?

I drove several that day and must say, they went very hard only problem was the one done by Tombie also had exhaust done and was way too noisy for my liking but seemed very grunty from very low revs, may have even had a different turbo, it was so different.
Another that was obviously done was smoky and motor was noisier but was assured it passed their mechanical inspection.

Others I drove bar one which had absolutely no papers but drove really well were all standard.

Prices than (2.5 years ago) were still pretty high and a great tdi came up but I was very close to getting a bog standard HSE TD5 for just under $30k.
It drove just perfect as far as I was concerned.

Still, here I am witha tdi.

In essence, the chipped ones I drove stood out by having better low down performance. They were noisier which may be coincidnece but thats my experience.

I had to go to LRA to get my ecu. They are the agents in Victoria for TRS.

Since I have a MSB ECU it had to come from TRS overnight. Tombie was not quite ready for changeover MSB ECU's and there wasn't many other options. Even Tombie recommends TRS if you have to go this way. Half an hour in for the changeover and all done.

Originally Posted by Sharkee

.... Qldmike has their one and he's done the intercooler and exhaust so thats probably telling me it needs doing. I'm not convinced its a good thing for my vehicle(As much as I really really want to do it) without doing the other mods as well which I just cant afford to do, so I guess I will just have to let it go. Thanks so much for all your input it is much appreciated.

Thanks Steve

Grasshopper, you give up far to easily in your quest for holy powah!

The tune can be done to suit your car, no matter how many, or few modifications you have. This is why it is important to make sure the tune is for your car, at your level of modification, and not just "A" tune. I dont know enough about TRS/LRA tuning to know if they have "stages" to suit various levels of modification. But you should now be armed with enough information to go back to LRA and get the answers you need.