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Putting a tune on the XE diesel engine

17K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  mosu  
#1 ·
I test drove the XE with the diesel engine and think that it's a great engine, quiet, adequate power, and good economy. However, I would like to add a tune to the engine when I get my XE, probably next month. Has anyone put a tune on the XE diesel yet? I have a Malone 1.5 tune on my VW Sportwagen and love the difference it makes, but I haven't been able to verify that Malone has a tune for the Jag engine. But I found that Race Chip has a tune that they claim gives it about a 25% increase in power and torque and a 5 MPG increase in economy. This really sounds great, but I find it hard to believe. Has anyone used the Race Chip yet?
 
#8 ·
I contacted Malone and they said that if I let them use my XE as the prototype they will develop a tune on my XE at no charge. Since their parent company isn't local they would have to use a local tuner to do the work, so I'll wait and see which tuner they want to use and if I'm comfortable with their capability I'm certainly going to go along with this.
 
#10 ·
The only downside is if they use a tuner who doesn't really understand how the Jaguar engine is responding to tweeking and possibly doing some damage, or voiding the warranty. That's why I'll be looking carefully at who Malone wants me to deal with. But if it's a good tuner I can't wait to have my 2.0 tuned. I know with VW if you have your diesel tuned you also need your automatic transmission tuned to accept the additional torque (my VW is a standard, so I didn't have to do anything with the transmission), and since my Jag will be an automatic they may need to do something with the transmission (torque converter?) also.

Stan
 
#14 ·
Paris, what you're saying would be true, except for environmental regulations. Vehicle makers have to tune their vehicles to meet certain environmental standards, not make the engine run the best that it can. With my Volkswagen Turbo Diesel I had 140 hp and 236 lbs tq, which is shown on the purchase documents and in VW advertisements. And the car was getting around 40 MPG driving up here in the foothills on two lane roads with very little traffic. After getting my Malone 1.5 Tune I took the car to a speed shop and had them put it on the dyno. It recorded 170 hp and 300 lbs tq. My gas mileage with the tune went up to around 43/44 MPH driving over the same roads as before. You can really feel the difference in performance, especially when towing. I tow a small trailer with my motorcycle or my ATV on it and often go over the Sierra Nevada mountains. With the Malone Tune I know which gear I use for different parts of the trip up steep grades (I have a 6 sp standard transmission) and without the tune I had to be one gear lower for that same stretch. I live in a county that does not require a smog check except when you buy and when you sell a vehicle, otherwise a Tune might be a problem, but as it is I'm willing to have the tune and just reverse it if I ever want to sell my VW, which I don't see happening for many, many years.
 
#16 ·
It's not really that simple of an equation to be honest. It could be " more power/torque - better mpg " or it could be " more power/torque - less mpg "

It's really dependent on what your tuning for and what you're looking to get out of it. You can make it a lot more efficient with a bit more kick, or you can add a lot more kick and make it less efficient. Really depends.
 
#17 ·
Sometimes I find that getting a real feel for the car and discovering all the sweet spots is a good start. With some of my past cars that was the case and resulted in me putting off engine performance mods in favor for suspension. That was a decision I thanked myself for times too many to count.

Anyone here taking a similar route?
 
#19 ·
Kingpin, I guess if I was a more aggressive driver I would be more critical of the XE suspension, but driving the XE at a normal pace on a couple two lane twisty roads in my test drive I found the suspension to feel very good. While I wasn't really pushing it there was no noticeable body roll and it felt well planted on turns.
 
#20 ·
I'm in contact with a technician at Malone LTD and he has me working with a VW/Porsche/Audi speed shop to get a base line and begin developing a tune for this engine. My guess is that they'll develop a number of tunes, like they have for the VW TDI. On my VW I have the Malone 1.5 tune, which doesn't require any mechanical changes. The VW advert data says that the engine has 140 HP and 236 lbs-ft tq. With the Malone 1.5 tune I took it to a speed shop and it dyno'd at 162.23 hp and 293 lbs-ft tq. On a motorcycle we figure that the engine is rated at the crank and you lose about 10% at the rear wheel, so I'm guessing that a car would be about the same, so I went from 126 hp and 212 Lbs-ft tq to 162.23 hp and 293.23 lbs-ft tq. Not a bad deal when I also picked up about 2 MPG fuel usage.

If I can gain a similar increase with my XE without making any mechanical changes I'll be one happy camper.
 

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#21 ·
I've been contacted by the auto shop that Malone works with and have an appointment to take my XE in tomorrow morning. They'll read the information on the ECU and do some research on what can be improved. They said that I'll be the Beta Bunny for developing the Malone tune for the XE, hahaha

I've suggested that they do a before and after dyno run to see what the power and torque is now, then do one after the tune is developed. Good advertising for them, and if it works as well as it did on my VW TDI anyone with an XE will be very happy with the results.
 
#23 ·
No, we're still waiting for the company in Italy to do what's necessary to allow us to analyze the Jaguar data. That has to be done before Mark can determine what can be done to improve it. And Italians are never in a big hurry to ever do anything. One of the phrases I had to get used to when I lived there was Au Domani (tomorrow), which was used whenever anything needed to be done.