I would say the 540 is the latest incarnation of the original 12 ltr 500bhp/turbo compound lump, that became the 13 ltr 520.
Hows yours going goaty?
■■■■. Was 8.8mpg. dropped to 7.9mpg. 
Powerchips tweaked it a week ago, something to do with the fuel return, it’s now at 8.3 mpg.
Not good enough yet. The claim was an improvement or your money back.
We’ll see. 
Although in fairness to them the chap that came out to me assured me they will get to the bottom of it!
I told him you lot were watching intently! 
Do you find its pulling better?
a good few guys i know who has used power chips in the past dont have any good words for them, and most see none or worse fuel returns with them, only thing they said they all saw was clouds of black smoke,
No extra smoke coming out of my chimney Fella 
Talking to a Mate whose just had a 420 done by them, he’s had a few done before & he reckons its made no difference the same as me 
Would a drive of something with a 240 Gardener in it for a day or so shut me up d’ya think!!!■■?
Fly sheet
do you guys really think that some bloke with a laptop can tune an engine better than a engine manufacturer with millions of pounds to spend on engine development ?
If you do, I’ve got this hotel in London I’m trying to sell
It’s not quite like that though Denis, in many cases these days the only difference between engine outputs from the factory is in the computer and not actually any physical differences. For example the current FH13 Volvo comes in 420, 460, 500 or 540hp and there’s probably no reason why the 420 can’t be reliably turned into a 540 by a man with a laptop.
There’s probably also no reason you can’t go a little bit past 540, however my concern with that would always be that the more you stress the engine the more quickly everything will wear out. As others have said there’s a reason Volvo went up to 16 litres for their higher outputs, and that is almost certainly that a 13 litre engine putting out 600+hp doesn’t last very long before things start breaking.
Paul
repton:
It’s not quite like that though Denis, in many cases these days the only difference between engine outputs from the factory is in the computer and not actually any physical differences. For example the current FH13 Volvo comes in 420, 460, 500 or 540hp and there’s probably no reason why the 420 can’t be reliably turned into a 540 by a man with a laptop.There’s probably also no reason you can’t go a little bit past 540, however my concern with that would always be that the more you stress the engine the more quickly everything will wear out. As others have said there’s a reason Volvo went up to 16 litres for their higher outputs, and that is almost certainly that a 13 litre engine putting out 600+hp doesn’t last very long before things start breaking.
Paul
Don’t agree with Volvo going up to 16 litres to get the power up the early 16’s where 470’s back in the day now their 12 litres are pushing that out. Also not getting this whole thing about BHP, a 13 litre block is’nt limited to what Volvo or whoever decide to put on the door of a lorry, a 13 litre digger may churn out more same as 1 in marine guise. I’m no engineer like but thats my two penneth.
Fly sheet
What other companies are offering the same service, but actually making a telling difference power wise? Just wondered…
globby 480:
a good few guys i know who has used power chips in the past dont have any good words for them, and most see none or worse fuel returns with them, only thing they said they all saw was clouds of black smoke,
As i type , you can count me among them!
I’ve been running with my “■■■■■” for the last few days and he reckons it’s smoking like a ■■■■■■■■ Not black or white but visible. I haven’t noticed this myself as it has a Volvo stack. He could be winding me up but he’s adamant this is not the case.
I’ve got to ring them on Monday to get them back again. If they don’t sort it this time, they can reset it, I’ll have my ■■■■■■■ money back and get it done else where.
Ran at 44 tonnes for most of last week. Mainly Stone, Tiles, Plastics etc but I’m still empty half the time unless we one way the box and lift on a loaded one for onward delivery.
The computer shows 7.7 mpg for the week. ■■■■. Again the only way to be sure is with a manual check, fill up to fill up, but the card I’m using at the minute limits me to 500 ltrs p/day, the truck has 750 ltr tanks, so if I don’t do this at the beginning of the week then I don’t bother as I like to run them right down at the end of the week and fill up on monday. (Gives me another weeks credit on the payment, pointless paying for the stuff if it’s only gonna sit there all weekend.)
As I said I’ll ring them on monday to get them back again. The chap I’ve dealt with is aware that it’s being followed on here. Good advert for their engineering prowess I would say!
I’ve not noticed the smoke thing Goaty but I do know its not what they said it would be & its not like the last 1 that was chipped, I’d take your 7.7 average though mid 6’s for me, I’ll not have a 13 litre again thats for sure.
Fly sheet
i wouldn’t use power chips to tune a wheel barrow let alone a truck ok a few guys and it seems only a few seem to like what they do?? most people who has used them have them back more times and at the end of the day they normally have em put back to stock, i cannot comment on volvo well i can if you want a Volvo chipping like we did with my old F12, a lad at Pickering did it for us called Clive richardson “vol trucks” this guy is the dogs dangler bits when it comes to Volvo’s plus he was a fitter for years at Volvo xcross road Bradford, but there is only him what i would recommend after the main man who does all my scanias i have had
we had a down hill racer chipped a few months ago and it did a piston and liner a few weeks ago was it down to chipping?? no one can give the real answer to that i guess we can all have a say on it but we will never know unless it does it again then i would say it was,
but john at scania tune does all my scanias as i say i let someone else do the down hill kettle boiler,as i didn’t know john could do these, but he will be doing the other down hill racer for me very shortly but for fuel the down hill racer “sorry spanky i still cannot say that terrible work of the make of truck it is” has gone up to over 9,5mpg and that is figures not the trucks computer but the computer isn’t that far out to be honest its around .6mpg out
so in a nut shell lads and lasses use trusted chipping people like scaniatune or voltrucks at Pickering you shouldn’t be disappointed with either of these guys,
Now admittidley not knowing one bit about this-
Does the age of truck make a difference to the end result after chipping.
i.e you will never get a 54plate to run as good as 09 plate if you have them both chipped to the same standard or vice versa or does age not make a difference■■?
Ben yes you wont get a 54 plate to run as efficient as a 09 mainly the miles on the truck plays a big part on that, but then again you can after chipping a truck achieve better fuel “sometimes” than a standard spec truck, there is a main part to chipping and its the driver who is on the truck same as a std spec, i dont really chip trucks for better fuel i mainly chip them for better pulling if they are better on fuel afterwards thats a bonus to me. most of my trucks i have chipped haven’t really achieved better fuel well nothing to write home about, but the last scania has gone up to near a mile to the gal “work pattern pending” but the down hill racer has made a fairly big difference to fuel return by a good bit as well. even with me driving it it will return a weekly figure of 9.3~9.4, with the other driver on it will return over 9.5 + before we chipped this down hill racer you was lucky to get 8.1 out of it so the answer to your question ben has to be yes on some occasions it can be better then a newer truck but its such a grey area is chipping as to weather you can get better or not etc? everyone has a story on chipping be it a good one or a bad one. as i said in my earlier post i only ever use one man for my scanias won’t consider anyone else for these even if it was free of charge etc i would only use john at scania tune “he knows the product 1st hand” and that is a help to start off with, and volvo again it has to be Clive richardson, and now john can do down hill racers i will only use him for them as well,
Quinny:
I fail to see how companies can claim to change the characteristics of a factory fitted unit.An engine still has the same bore and stroke as before, and in ye olde days, the only way to do any serious tuning, would be to change the engine internals. Sure you could gain a few extra bhp by induction kits, carbs etc, (Petrol engines.) but how is it possible to claim an engine that came out of the factory sporting 480bhp, now having 610bhp. That’s roughly a 25% gain?
Ken.
The way I understand it is they have changed the BHP not the cc’s just shows what a con it is buying the 610 it may be an all siging all dancing jobby but it’s basically a 480 or 550 re-mapped as in the electronic brain that tells the engine what to do tells it something else like the ECU on ya car, think about it “formula ford 2000” the sport uses for x flow 2lt engines but it’s the tech guys that makes one go faster than the other same as formula 1 all tecnical ■■■■ to make faster but i think they all have same size bores …right thats i’m gonna buy a lada take it to tech guy and tell him i wanna beat a ferrari with this get it sorted! 
recently bought a scania 164 480bhp on an 04 plate and was so dissapointed with the performance. mpg was ok but pulling power was none existant.
i rang john at scan-tune and explained the problem, he came out (09/10) changed air and fuel filter worked some more of his magic, plugged his laptop in fiddled around and then announced ‘job done’.
i paid by switch and with great sceptisism set out hoping more than believing, that my unit had undergone the same type of change that clark kent does in the phone box. i instantly noticed the engine pulled away at a lot lower rpm. finally got some weight on 12/10 and am still over the moon with the difference. from j28 m1going north down sliproad and up the hill towards tibshelf with at 40000kgs it used to crest at about 38 maybe 40mph, now its climbing on the limiter.
i was prior to this possibly the biggest doubter of remaping or chipping, but now, if you get the right man it can and for me has worked miracles. john came highly recommended and now i can confirm the myth that ‘if you have a problem and nobody else can help maybe you can hire john @ scan-tune’
i am now saving about 5% on fuel so on my normal 1000lts aweek its about £50.
fly sheet:
a 13 litre block is’nt limited to what Volvo or whoever decide to put on the door of a lorry, a 13 litre digger may churn out more same as 1 in marine guise. I’m no engineer like but thats my two penneth.
Your comparing 3 different types of engine there, your motor, digger and boat use different types of engine.
B1 GGK:
fly sheet:
a 13 litre block is’nt limited to what Volvo or whoever decide to put on the door of a lorry, a 13 litre digger may churn out more same as 1 in marine guise. I’m no engineer like but thats my two penneth.Your comparing 3 different types of engine there, your motor, digger and boat use different types of engine.
So if Volvo build a dump truck & decide to use a 13 litre engine they design a brand new 1 do they? Or do they use the same block with modifications for whatever purpose its use will be?
As stated I’m no engineer but the Marine 150 Gardner in our workshop looks just like the one out of a lorry barring some bits & pieces or do they have a block for every occasion now? 
yorkshireborn:
recently bought a scania 164 480bhp on an 04 plate and was so dissapointed with the performance. mpg was ok but pulling power was none existant.
i rang john at scan-tune and explained the problem, he came out (09/10) changed air and fuel filter worked some more of his magic, plugged his laptop in fiddled around and then announced ‘job done’.
i paid by switch and with great sceptisism set out hoping more than believing, that my unit had undergone the same type of change that clark kent does in the phone box. i instantly noticed the engine pulled away at a lot lower rpm. finally got some weight on 12/10 and am still over the moon with the difference. from j28 m1going north down sliproad and up the hill towards tibshelf with at 40000kgs it used to crest at about 38 maybe 40mph, now its climbing on the limiter.
i was prior to this possibly the biggest doubter of remaping or chipping, but now, if you get the right man it can and for me has worked miracles. john came highly recommended and now i can confirm the myth that ‘if you have a problem and nobody else can help maybe you can hire john @ scan-tune’
i am now saving about 5% on fuel so on my normal 1000lts aweek its about £50.
Glad it’s worked out mate! Have fun on those hills!