Toyota Hilux

It's time for a quick history lesson. 16 years ago Toyota decided to replace the ageing 1KZ engine with a D-4D common rail turbo-diesel. It produces 17% more power with 11% less fuel consumption than the 1KZ. These results were achieved by implementing a smarter 32-bit ECU which controls fuel quantity and boosts pressure at different engine parameters, increasing efficiency and performance at any given RPM. The new engine was named 1KD and Toyota had good reasons to keep it for 15 long years, it had great potential to be unlocked. And that's exactly what we do on this engine.
The mighty 1KD Hilux has been serving the owners reliably for years, but it is time for some steroids to match the rough look. With our abilities to add extra 30 horses (factory 174HP) and 100N.m (factory 343N.m) later, she's ready to work much harder for years to come.

Full Specifications

year:2006 - 2015
make:Toyota
model:Hilux
series:D-4D
engine:1KD
ECU:Denso
power:174HP
torque:343N.m

what you get

  1. We can add 30HP to the factory 174HP - resulting 204HP
    This helps the car in maintaining the top legal speed, which is typically a challenge for any vehicle on a hilly road. This is a result of horsepower utilization at the high end.
  2. We can add 100N.m torque to the factory 343N.m - resulting 443N.m
    Currently, a strength of modern diesel is torque. The vehicle will have heaps more grunt down low, will have more aggressive city drivability, especially at intersections, green lights, etc. In addition also better towing abilities since torque is responsible for getting the dead weight moving until you reach travel speeds.
  3. We can extend the dynamic RPM range which is responsible for delivering maximum power and torque in specific revs. By widening this range the engine will have no chance to get outside of the top performing torque range, meaning no more lag while shifting gears.
  4. We’d also recommend increasing the boost pressure, optimizing the acceleration mixture (ARF) by fine tuning injection timing & injection duration, keeping Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) down, review the torque limiter settings and adjust e-throttle. These will ultimately give you that smooth power delivery that you’re after throughout the whole RPM range.

fuel efficiency

Fuel consumption is another beast altogether and since everyone loves fuel efficient vehicles it’s worth to mention how and why engines can save dollars. There are 5 main factors that determine fuel consumption and these are:
  • engine controlling maps in ECU software
  • condition of engine
  • customized rims and tyres
  • driver’s driving style
  • terrain
What we can change is the engine maps and it increases fuel efficiency dramatically, but never forget about the other 4 factors.

How it is done

Click if you are interested in the detailed procedure...

The 3.0 Hilux Engine Control Unit (ECU) has 3 protection layers.
  • a 16 bit password
  • locked OBD port
  • encrypted file system
Without being too geeky let’s just say the first stage of our work is getting through these protection layers one-by-one. Once that’s done we can start backing up changing the map files that are responsible for controlling the engine. We do it by modifying the turbo pressure, the ignition, the injection timing, the acceleration mixture and the lambda sensor values, which will enable us to increase the performance of your model by the following: The procedure is the following:
  • removing the ECU
  • establishing a connection to ECU
  • taking a full backup of the map files (recovery point)
  • modifying the map files (the actual tuning process)
  • uploading the map files to the ECU
  • re-fitting the ECU
  • test driving
This is a STAGE 1 tuning, meaning no hardware modification or mechanical alteration to power trail needed - it is purely an software programming work.

cost of service

NZ$ 1150
Cost excludes GST.

Payment is done on job completion – after making sure that you’re happy with the result. FYI, we do accept Credit Cards, but there's a 3.95% surcharge for it.
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