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ECU Remapping in Shepshed
Shepshed is a town rather than a village, three and a half miles from Loughborough, and it produces two very different kinds of enquiry. One caller wants the car to stop feeling flat when they pull out of a junction. The other wants the fuel bill to come down. Those are different maps.
Two kinds of Shepshed enquiry, two different files
Loughborough is three and a half miles away, so a good deal of Shepshed driving is a short hop that is over almost as soon as it has begun. Leicester is eleven and a half miles in the same general direction, which is a proper run at a settled speed. Plenty of people here do both in the same week, and the balance between them decides far more about what a map should do than the badge on the bonnet ever will.
If most of your mileage is the short version, the useful change sits low down. You want the engine willing from just above idle so you are not working it hard to keep pace with traffic that keeps stopping. If most of it is the longer settled run, the sensible bias is towards using less fuel to hold the same speed, because that saving repeats itself every time you make the journey.
So the first thing we want to know is not what you drive. It is how far, how often, and whether the car spends more of its life crawling or cruising. Performance remapping in Loughborough and economy remapping in Loughborough set out the two biases in more detail, but the honest version of that decision usually takes about two minutes on the phone.
What actually happens to your file
Before anything is altered, the original calibration is read off the engine control unit and saved. That is not a formality. It means the car can be put back exactly as it left the factory at any point afterwards, which matters when a vehicle is being sold, handed back at the end of a lease, or taken to a dealer who wants it standard for a warranty conversation.
Then the engine is logged on the road, so we are looking at what your particular vehicle does under load rather than what its engine code suggests it ought to do. Fuelling, boost and timing are adjusted from there, the file is loaded, and the car is logged again afterwards to confirm the change did what it was meant to and that nothing is running outside sensible limits.
That second set of logs is what separates a written map from a bought one. Anybody can load a file because an engine code matched. Knowing whether it suits the state of health of the car in front of you, and being willing to change it when it does not, is the actual work. It is also why we ask about service history before agreeing to book anything in.
Not sure which way to bias your map?Tell us the weekly mileage and the roads you actually use around Shepshed, and we will tell you which of the two is worth your money.
Call 07773 694570Where the filter fits into this, and where we stop
A diesel particulate filter clears itself by getting hot enough for long enough to burn off the soot it has collected. The eleven and a half mile run gives it that chance. Repeated short hops do not, and a regeneration that starts and then gets cut short when you switch off can leave things in a worse state than if it had never begun at all.
If your filter keeps loading despite regular longer journeys, the driving is not the cause and something upstream is producing more soot than it should. We read live data first: pressure across the filter, the soot and ash figures the ECU is calculating, exhaust temperatures, and how many regenerations were attempted against how many actually finished. Then the filter is cleaned, a forced regeneration is run, and the numbers are checked afterwards.
What we will not do is take a filter out or write software that pretends a missing one is still fitted. It fails an MOT and leaves the vehicle unlawful to use on the road. EGR and AdBlue get the same answer, which is that we diagnose and repair them so they work as designed. If a delete is what you want, we are the wrong people and would rather say so now.
Twenty two miles north, and how we arrange it
Shepshed is a little over twenty two miles north of the workshop in Lutterworth. That is far enough that the trip gets planned into a day rather than squeezed in on the way past, so we agree a proper time with you instead of offering a vague window, and we want the vehicle details beforehand so we turn up with the right equipment for it rather than hoping.
The work happens where the car already lives. A driveway is easiest, a quiet street is usually fine, and a work car park is fine if whoever runs the site is happy about it. The one thing that genuinely stops a job is a tired battery, because writing to an ECU needs steady voltage throughout. If yours has been struggling, or the car has stood for weeks, mention it when you ring.
This page also covers Belton, Hathern, Nanpantan and Ringing Hill. If you are closer in to Loughborough there is a page of its own for that. Either way, a call with the make, model, year and engine, plus a straight description of what the car does in a normal week, tells us more than anything else and costs you nothing at all.
Remapping in Shepshed: your questions answered
I want more power and better economy. Can I have both?
To a degree, because every road map is a compromise anyway. What we do is tip that compromise towards whichever matters more to you, so it helps if you are honest about which one it is. Asking for maximum economy and then enjoying the extra pull every time you pull away is a reliable way to end up with neither of them.
How do you decide which way to bias mine?
By asking about your week rather than your car. Somebody whose mileage is mostly the short run into Loughborough gets a different answer from somebody covering the eleven and a half miles to Leicester and back daily. The first wants willingness low down, the second wants to hold a steady speed for less fuel. Tell us the pattern and the decision makes itself.
Do you come out to Shepshed, or do I drive to Lutterworth?
We come to you. Shepshed is a little over twenty two miles north of the workshop, which is far enough that we build it into a day and agree a firm time rather than offering a loose window. A driveway, a quiet street or a work car park all work. If you would rather bring the car down to Lutterworth, you are very welcome to.
How long will you be at the car?
Usually about an hour, sometimes ninety minutes. That covers reading and saving the original calibration, logging the engine on the road, writing and loading the map, and then logging again to check the change did what it was supposed to. Some vehicles are slower to read and write than others, and we will tell you in advance if yours is one of them.
Is a file bought in for my engine code not the same thing?
No, and the difference shows up on the road rather than on paper. Two cars wearing the same badge and the same engine code can be in very different states of health, on different fuel, with different histories behind them. A file that matches a code has taken none of that into account. Logging the car before and after is how you find out whether it actually suits it.
Will a map make my filter block more often?
A properly written one should not, and on a car doing the longer runs it often runs cleaner, because the engine is doing the same work with less effort. What a map will never do is unblock a filter that is already loaded. That is a diagnostic job first, then a clean and a forced regeneration, and the map comes afterwards if it comes at all.
Do you remove DPFs, or blank EGR and AdBlue?
No, on any vehicle and for any reason. Removal is an MOT failure and leaves the car unlawful to use on the road, and we will not write software that pretends a missing filter is still there. EGR and AdBlue are the same. We diagnose and repair those systems so they work as designed, which is a different job from making the warning go away.
Can it be put back to standard?
Yes, and it takes very little time. Your original file is copied off the ECU and kept before a single value is changed, so the car can be returned to precisely the state it was in when we arrived. People ask for it when they are selling, when a lease is ending, or occasionally because they want to drive both versions and decide for themselves.
Does my insurer need to know?
Yes. A remap is a modification in the same way a set of wheels is, and it should be declared rather than assumed. Most insurers deal with it without any fuss at all once they have been told. The only time it causes real trouble is when it was never mentioned and then comes to light in the middle of a claim, which is the worst possible moment.
What does it cost, and what should I have ready when I ring?
Car remaps from £129. Vans and commercial vehicles are quoted per vehicle, because the work genuinely differs between them. Have the make, model, year and engine size to hand, roughly where in Shepshed the car sits, and any warning lights or recent garage work. If we think a map is not worth the money on your car, you will be told that on the call.
What people say
★★★★★ 5.0 from 18 Google reviewsHad my car remapped by Mark, great friendly service. Took the time to explain to me what he was doing & gave me options on which kind of remap I’d like. Car feels so much quicker & feels a lot more responsive. Highly recommend.
Reece Bennett · Google review
Top guy, sorted some issues out on my Jag, it also drives so much better and faster than ever. Would definitely recommend
jeff Slade · Google review
Took my rs3 to be mapped here and the difference is night and day so much faster and when your not going fast the fuel economy is better great service great people would highly recommend
Morgan Mather · Google review
Read all of them on Google · work done in Shepshed? leave a review
Get a price for your vehicle in Shepshed
Tell us the vehicle and how you use it and we will come back with a straight answer, including when a map is not worth doing.
Quickest way is to ring:
- We come to you across Shepshed and the surrounding villages
- Usually about an hour to ninety minutes on site
- The original file is kept, so it can always go back to standard
Book a visit to Shepshed
Twenty two miles north, so we agree a time rather than guess at one. Ring with the car details and you will get a straight answer.
Call 07773 694570