[trip_ak]

Hey guys,

Thought i'd pick your brains on a problem that Ive been facing for many months now. I own a 2009 Volvo S80 2.5t and a 2007 Focus ST.

On the Focus ST i own 3 Stage 1 tunes - BSR/Bluefin/Dreamscience. All these tunes produce pretty much the same performance in rolling acceleration comparisons and feel significantly faster than the stock tune. The problem lies with the BSR tune, which happens to be my favourite in terms of delivery, as my car can only achieve a top speed of 225km/h. On the stock map i have achieved 245km/h and on Dreamscience and Bluefin I have done 250km/h+. (all this measured via GPS)

The strange thing about the whole issue is that i have done some timed runs between BSR and the stock map and the BSR is definitely faster through the gears and up to 225kmh. The problem is that it stops accelerating completely thereafter and can go no faster no matter how much road i have. It has been brought to my attention that some people in Sweden are also facing the same speed limiter on BSR tunes up to Stage 3. (Focus ST has no built in electronic speed cuts)

I have contacted BSR but they refuse to get one of their technicians to speak to me on the phone and getting to them via the local dealer and also the online support chat has been going on for 6 months with no solution in sight despite them recognizing that it is indeed a problem on many cars. I have read posts on Saab forums about reduced top speeds after BSR tuning as well.

Does anybody here have a technical explanation that can perhaps give me some direction before i give up and demand a refund?

Cheers guys.

[magicaljake]

honestly...why do you need to go any faster then 225/kph?

that just sounds unsafe and a good way to get a ticket.

[1337-850]

magicaljake, on 08 July 2009 - 10:17 PM, said:

honestly...why do you need to go any faster then 225/kph?

that just sounds unsafe and a good way to get a ticket.

Because maybe he lives in a foreign country where there are no speed limits on certain highways...

[DHV70]

1337-850, on 08 July 2009 - 10:25 PM, said:

Because maybe he lives in a foreign country where there are no speed limits on certain highways...

he lives in Vermont.

but, it doesn't really matter why he wants to go that fast...
yes, its a bad idea, and a great way to end up in jail,
but the fact of the matter is that he's getting screwed with a lowered top speed.

[trip_ak]

Hey guys,

I live in Singapore and only drive at that speed on the Malaysian highways and also on the Sepang F1 race track.

The reason iam concerned with this issue is not so much because I have to drive above 225km/h, but rather that it could be an indication of a fault with the tune, perhaps elevated temps that are causing the ECU to back off the power. These issues could potentially result in a damaged turbo or cracked seals so id like to be assured of the reliability of a tune before i run it long term. Here in Singapore a focus ST costs USD$70k and the S80 costs USD$110k and we only have the right to own it for 10 years before it has to be scrapped. I would like assurance from BSR that these tunes are safe to use before i continue running my ST on it and perhaps remap the S80 as well.

Cheers

[AverageVolvo]

I am unsure why your speed would be reduced, however Bsr does not remove the speed limiter, perhaps the ecu map you got is from another country.
Bsr creates really good base maps, however they don't do custom mapping here in the states, afaik.

Get some gauges, Afr, egt, and boost gauge

[shanehutton]

Yeah, it sounds like the tune has a 225kph speed limiter built in.

[trip_ak]

Yeah it would be funny if the Tune had a speed limiter built in. It could well be cos the car actually pulls very hard to that point before losing power.

Iam sure this is the same BSR map that everyone uses around the world. I have it updated constantly via the PPC connection link on their server...

I do agree though that the tune feels very good. It is the best that i have tried and I would be happy running it long term if not for the fear of runninng a faulty map. Are there similar instances of problems on any of the volvos here running the BSR stage 1 maps?

[Johann]

Does BSR recommend any other changes with this tune? Maybe a different type of airfilter?

[trip_ak]

Its a Stage 1 tune for a stock standard car.

Ive even tried to install an aftermarket ProAlloy Intercooler to no avail

[RZT5]

Its easy to make more torque at low RPM, just throw more boost at the motor, its not always easy to carry that torque all the way to redline though. This is why an MBC can make you over 300 ft-lb easy, but not much more HP than stock. So if you have a crappy tune that just ups the boost it will make more torque than stock, but wont carry it up into the higher RPM and might actually fall short of a stock tune at high RPM. These tunes will accelerate you faster than stock in lower gears where your RPM dosnt hover around redline but when you get up to high speeds and your in 5th or 6th close to 6000 RPM you will be making less torque than stock and will hit terminal velocity sooner than you will with a stock tune.

Just one possible explanation...

[trip_ak]

RZT5,

I think your explanation makes sense. We did a few rolling runs and noticed that after 200kmh, the stock car actually started to close in on the Stage 1 car. I certainly did not expect a big company like BSR to create such a bad tune if this was indeed the case.

Thanks for you input. I will probably ask for a refund if they can't sort it out.

[°°KOLBAS°°]

Hey Trip, Welcome to VS,thanks for joining mate, hope these guys can sort it out for ya, other than a refund, as I said before, they should give you a remap for free to try and sort it out, I was thinking, that you might have got it for the wrong country as the other person said, i know down here in oz most cars are speed limited to about that mark. Also, just wondering, if soemthing like a HKS speed fuel cut defender would work on the focus. I know that tuners use them down here but not sure how the ECU will react?

[TryingBe]

trip_ak, on 08 July 2009 - 08:34 PM, said:

Here in Singapore a focus ST costs USD$70k and the S80 costs USD$110k and we only have the right to own it for 10 years before it has to be scrapped.

Ouch and double ouch.

[trip_ak]

°°KOLBAS°°, on 09 July 2009 - 08:59 PM, said:

Hey Trip, Welcome to VS,thanks for joining mate, hope these guys can sort it out for ya, other than a refund, as I said before, they should give you a remap for free to try and sort it out, I was thinking, that you might have got it for the wrong country as the other person said, i know down here in oz most cars are speed limited to about that mark. Also, just wondering, if soemthing like a HKS speed fuel cut defender would work on the focus. I know that tuners use them down here but not sure how the ECU will react?

Thanks for the warm welcome mate. Ill certainly check on the speed limiter issue with BSR. They did say before that there was no limiter on the map though, but i guess ill check again just to be sure. HKS might be an option though iam not sure it will agree with our sort of ECU. There is a HKS Technical Factory here in Singapore and GTR's, Evo's and STI's are so common you see 1 every hour!

[T5Manual850]

i would contact bsr, my bsr rep said that they don't increase the top speed, but they definitely don't reduce it either.

[°°KOLBAS°°]

T5Manual850, on 10 July 2009 - 02:20 AM, said:

i would contact bsr, my bsr rep said that they don't increase the top speed, but they definitely don't reduce it either.

No worries Trip, i'm addicted to VS like Justin is too dropping his ballsacks, you'll learn later, lol, Definitely, its says they can increase the speed on some models by upping the RPM cutout but they are actually updating their maps to remove the limiter altogether on some models and it's actually already available on some models.

[trip_ak]

Based on the responses so far and with my correspondence with BSR its definately not a speed limiter issue. My suspicion would then be an overly aggressive map that is either overboosting or generating too much heat that triggers the ECU to pull back power, resulting at a lower top speed. This would be even worse as it would mean that the mechanical strain would be greater.

BSR has responded saying that they will look to sort it out when they get a chance and its been 6 months with them refusing to give me a timeline... not good.

[°°KOLBAS°°]

Just wondering also Trip, have u got the ECU spacer mod done, i heard alot of guys were having problems with cut out n shit due to the ECU, forgot to mention that, i see alot of the Aussie members have got them and you guys would have even more heat and humidity than down here.

[trip_ak]

°°KOLBAS°°, on 10 July 2009 - 09:53 AM, said:

Just wondering also Trip, have u got the ECU spacer mod done, i heard alot of guys were having problems with cut out n stuff due to the ECU, forgot to mention that, i see alot of the Aussie members have got them and you guys would have even more heat and humidity than down here.

I dont have the ECU spacer. Purchased a ProAlloy Intercooler sometime ago and it has not solved this problem...