TDC Technologies CR-Plus Power Module

[xrdave]

True Max you should be able to feel the extra power straight up. I know when i pluged mine in for the first time and took it for the first test drive made me very happy indeed.

[Hilux Max]

Ok, here is the final chapter in this saga - just received an email from TDC saying the following -

"Sorry for the trouble. I should be the one thanking you for your patience.

What's frustrating for us is that we've had great success with Hilux models that have had the 3-pin connectors. I'm confident now that the anomaly of your vehicle requiring a 6-pin connector indicates that the ECU programming, tolerances, and signal ranges are far different than other Hilux models. Remember, your vehicle was the first Hilux that we have come across that required a 6-pin connector, instead of the usual 3-pin connector. Because you were feeling a difference in power at a setting of "9" with the original unit, it seems very likely that your vehicle has a limiter (maybe a torque limiter) that was preventing the faster acceleration. The most recent unit we sent you was programmed to work with a more limited signal range, and we were hoping that your vehicle's ECU program settings would be consistent with those signals. I won't be using this hypothesis anymore.

Unfortunately, the only way we can remedy this problem is to take some measurements and conduct a few tests with your vehicle in our shop facilities, and this is obviously impossible.

If you return the most recent unit we sent you, we'll give you a full refund. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is all we can offer for the time being. "

Therfore Ill be getting my money back after all the to'ing and fro'ing and the upgraded Toyota ECU looks like a tougher nut to crack than the pre-07 models were.

Guess in the end what you can take from this is that pre-07 Hilux TDC Powerbox's work fine but if you have the 6pin connector 07 onwards hilux's you cannot use this unit and must look elswhere instead.

I think Ill be looking into an exhaust for the hilux once the refund is in.

atleast it made for a great read for you guys....bummer for me thou

[9W6VX]

Maxi,

Well at the least, they tried but could not get it to work.

Why don't you look at other brands? Dtronic, Dpchip etc?

Cheers

Brendon

[bushpig]

Maxx

Once again thanks heaps for all your research. Sad story but helpful to others. Those that purchase this 3 pin unit should remember that if they upgrade to a newer model sometime in the future then this unit will not work, so maybe dtronic or some other animal would be more appropriate.

Cheers
jack:x

[Hilux Max]

Correct Bushpig, but do your research first, I have heard of other brands having similar problems, so just check before you purchase, maybe ask for a trial priod first or something, I dont know if they would give it to you.

Im over ECU upgrades, next time its just gonna be an exhaust system, then regearing to suit the tyres and Im staying with that.

[jogal]

ARB here in Perth offered a week trial for the chip they sell i think it might be the DP. Once you,ve had a chip that works you,d never look back.

[shane308]

ARB here in canberra also offered to get in a chip for me to try for a week or so to see if i wanted one, pretty good of them i thought, anyway could somebody post a pic of the plug so i can check if mine is a 6 or 3 pin, mine is late 06 but it does have the upgraded engine with the couple of extra kw and the other 07 extras.

[Hilux Max]

shane, theres a pic on the previous page of the plug.....its the black one on the front side of the common rail.

[DLMITTON]

Any body used one?

[Hilux Max]

Mate, do a search, I covered this topic very in depth at the end and the start of this year.

I tried one out, and had problems, due to the newer hilux s having the 6 pin common rail connector and they couldnt get a unit to suit the 6 pin connectored hilux. I recently, like 2 weeks ago emailed them ago to ask if they had happened to have any follow up information on this product, and unfortunately they did not.

BUT, if you have the 05-early 07 hilux d4d's with the 3pin connector on the common rail, then they do have units for them and Ive heard they work very succesfully.

Toyota went to the 6pin connector to satify new euro 4 emmission requirements and thus has made the engines more temperamental as a result.

Your best option is either the Steinbauer or the Tunit modules, both of which piggy back the injector plugs and do not increase fuel pressure at all, but injection duration instead.

just make sure you do your homework before you spend the big bucks.

[jackolux]

A mate of mine has just had a Steinbauer fitted to his 3lt HiLux, the model before our D4D and he cant tell any difference

I was going to get one for mine if he was happy , but now I don't think I will bother

Whats the go , do these things work or not

Jacko

[9W6VX]

Threads on this topic will be merged to make it easier to read.

[Roy]

Hi all,

I have had a CR Plus fitted to my 2006 Lux for about 5 months now. It has the 3 pin connector on the fuel rail.
Definately feel a power increase and fuel economy is relatively the same, about 10-10.5l per 100 on average.
Had it set at 9 at first but after going into limp mode once I wound it back to setting 7 and have had no troubles since.

Picked it up for about $480 delivered straight from TDC Tech.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Roy

[Hilux Max]

thanks for rubbing that in. Ive heard of some other new hilux owners who have the CR Plus unit fitted to their 3 pin connectored vehicles and they repeat your praises of the product. Bloody shame that they havent got it to work with the 6 pin connectored hiluxs. for the cash outlay of the product the performance gain aint at all that bad. maybe one day.

I might try and send em an email and see what updated info they have.

[Roy]

Sorry Mmaaxx, didn't mean to rub salt in the wounds.


Cheers
Roy

[Hilux Max]

Got an answer from dave Chandler regarding the Power Box and our current model hilux's, heres what he said-

Hi Max,

Thanks for the email. It's been a mixed bag with the 6-pin Hiluxes. I think you were one of the unfortunate customers. We haven't changed the programming of our units since you purchased. We believe it's due to slight variations in ECU programming from year to year and model to model. The only way to determine the problem is via a ODBC/CRecorder device. This device measures signals/performance with the Power Box. There is a special software to download the data. With the results we can produce a customize unit for vehicles such as yours. The device has to be hooked up to your vehicle (tested 1x with the PowerBox installed and 1x without the PowerBox installed).


Regards,

Dave Chandler
TDC Technologies, LLC

so by the way it sounds, nothing has changed and we still cant use their units on our hiluxs

[olcoolone]

The going into limp mode problem is nothing to do with the add on chips, it's to do with the factory ECU.

As the guy from TDC said it varies from vehicle to vehicle for no reason.

I think there is a bug in the factory ECU programing that does not show up in vehicles that have not got a chip fitted, when the chip is fitted it highlights the fault and brings the vehicle into limp mode.

What I believe it is a power disruption either from the ECU or a sensor that interrupts the signal to or from the ECU or the suction throttle valve on the fuel injector pump causing the aftermarket power chip to shut down and not reset, in a standard vehicle with no aftermarket chip the only hint that it may of happened may be a millisecond drop in RPM or a splutter...something we would not pick up on whilst driving.

The fault that appears is a excessive fuel supply fault (this code relates to either a large fuel leak from the pump to the injectors or a too much fuel entering the fuel rail/injector.

We have tried to log and record what happens with our scantool but like most things it never happens when you want it to, we have even tried simulating the problem with no luck.

Toyota will not address the issue either as it is not a warrantable problem in factory spec vehicles and it may cost the hundreds of thousand of dollars to fix a problem that does not cause anything.

[Hilux Max]

I think you may be right there, Dave from TDC also commented at one stage to me about a possible fault in the factory ECU programming. Funny how there was no problem with the pre-07 models ey?

It also has to do with new emmission control regulations which forced toyota to change the programming and injection side of things on the d4d's from 07 onwards.

What you've said, and what I experienced is making me think that toyota may have rushed through a fix to meet emmission requirements, that like olcoolone said, is within factory specs but not for any other mods.

Im curious bout this even more now.

[9W6VX]

Hmmm..... very interesting development.

A friend of mine had a DP31 Dpchip with the 3 plug connector for his late 2007 model and it went into limp home mode easily even without giving the go-pedal a big one!

I would tend to agree with you guys on this.

[jayjaylux]

hi there.
I have a tdc cr chip in my pre 2007 hilux, late 2005, and no problems so far and fuel consumption is great.
no prblems so far and its been in for almost a year now.
just fitted a 3 inch exhaust and see how it reacts to the new addition when I get to drive it in a month.
hope that helps in some way.