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thatkid, what is your experience with the exhaust crackle after installing the dinan unit? there seems to be varying feedback on that. some saying it greatly reduced/eliminated the crackle, some saying reduced the sound/occurrence by ~20% and some saying it augmented it.
besides that, it seems the general feedback is that the increased performance is noticeable while driving and that the app sucks (ios and android or maybe just ios). however, i would think the app should be able to be easily updated so as long as the device hardware is solid that's all that matters.
Sorry for delayed response. Unfortunately I can't really comment about the exhaust, I never really hear it over the burmester. Maybe I can ask the neighbors and get back to you...
I'm a little over 1,000 miles on the Dinan box, and with 93 octane fills, running the box in 'race' mode, the car feels much better. I put it in 'stock' mode for the drive in today and I was immediately reminded of the power gain difference. Is it a night and day difference? no... But it is noticeable and I still think it was a good buy at $270
I'm going to be very interested in a 'true tune' in the future I think... I've seen a lot of posts about them lately.. just waiting to see what the best one ends up being in the end.
edit: oh, and the iPhone app is as craptastic as they get lol
So I finally installed my Dinantronics Sport piggy-back to my C450...we were having beautiful 80 degree weather, so I thought I'd give it a go.
As for the install, fairly straight forward. Unfortunately there were no instructions in the box, but the box was labelled correctly "Mercedes 3.0T - C400 / C450 / C43 (2015+)", but the part #D440-0035 on the box does not reflect the part number on the Dinan unit (D443-0103). I also had no luck finding those part numbers on the Dinan web site starting at the home page, so I ended up getting the install instructions from a link I found on MBWorld.
With a cool engine, the ignition off, and the engine cover off (for better pictures I took off the front intake portions as well)...disconnecting the stock plug from the pressure sensor on the intake charge pipe at the front of the engine was easy using a long screw driver and a simple twist of the blade to "unlock" the white portion of the plug.
Once the stock plug to the pressure sensor was disconnected, all that's needed is to connect the Dinan unit inline, "lock" the plug to the pressure sensor, then cable tie the wires. This is the location I chose to mount the Dinan so I could see the red LED with the engine cover on.
So now the good and the bad...
The Good: the car does feel peppier and more responsive in comfort mode (the mode I drive the car mostly in), and when I switched the car into Mercedes S+ mode, the crackle was there, and no "Check Engine" lights so far. All in all a nice performance bump for less than $300 that's easy to connect/disconnect.
The Bad: like others have stated before, the app is absolute crap. It seemed to connect a couple of times at first, but then quickly disconnects. Either my iphone 6S plus just can't hold a connection with the Dinan app or the unit itself, or the Bluetooth of the Dinan unit is total weaksause. This sucks because I can't confirm what mode the Dinan is actually in...so I have to take their word that the unit is shipped in "S+" mode...which would be my preferred mode since 93 octane is readily available in Massachusetts.
I'm very surprised a company with the rep Dinan seems to have sells a product that performs so poorly when it comes to what I feel is an important feature. It almost makes me want to return the unit, and in time I just might if I can't somehow confirm what the unit is set at. Did anyone at Dinan actually test the connectivity to their app using this product?
So I finally installed my Dinantronics Sport piggy-back to my C450...we were having beautiful 80 degree weather, so I thought I'd give it a go.
As for the install, fairly straight forward. Unfortunately there were no instructions in the box, but the box was labelled correctly "Mercedes 3.0T - C400 / C450 / C43 (2015+)", but the part #D440-0035 on the box does not reflect the part number on the Dinan unit (D443-0103). I also had no luck finding those part numbers on the Dinan web site starting at the home page, so I ended up getting the install instructions from a link I found on MBWorld.
With a cool engine, the ignition off, and the engine cover off (for better pictures I took off the front intake portions as well)...disconnecting the stock plug from the pressure sensor on the intake charge pipe at the front of the engine was easy using a long screw driver and a simple twist of the blade to "unlock" the white portion of the plug.
Once the stock plug to the pressure sensor was disconnected, all that's needed is to connect the Dinan unit inline, "lock" the plug to the pressure sensor, then cable tie the wires. This is the location I chose to mount the Dinan so I could see the red LED with the engine cover on.
So now the good and the bad...
The Good: the car does feel peppier and more responsive in comfort mode (the mode I drive the car mostly in), and when I switched the car into Mercedes S+ mode, the crackle was there, and no "Check Engine" lights so far. All in all a nice performance bump for less than $300 that's easy to connect/disconnect.
The Bad: like others have stated before, the app is absolute crap. It seemed to connect a couple of times at first, but then quickly disconnects. Either my iphone 6S plus just can't hold a connection with the Dinan app or the unit itself, or the Bluetooth of the Dinan unit is total weaksause. This sucks because I can't confirm what mode the Dinan is actually in...so I have to take their word that the unit is shipped in "S+" mode...which would be my preferred mode since 93 octane is readily available in Massachusetts.
I'm very surprised a company with the rep Dinan seems to have sells a product that performs so poorly when it comes to what I feel is an important feature. It almost makes me want to return the unit, and in time I just might if I can't somehow confirm what the unit is set at. Did anyone at Dinan actually test the conductivity to their app using this product?
I have a few thoughts on your post.
Regarding the instructions, although mine didn't include any either, I had no problem finding them on Dinan's website by clicking on "technical resources" then searching for part # 440-0035 (same as you referenced.)
Your mounting location seems to work but I'd be a little concerned about the excessive heat in that area of the engine compartment, especially with the engine cover on. I'm sure the unit is designed to withstand heat but you never know. I've attached a pic below of an alternate mounting location with less heat and easier visibility.
Regarding the app, I agree it's absolute crap. But having owned a myriad of tunes from different companies, ALL their apps suck. Clearly these companies invest the bare minimum in app development just so they can say they have something.
Having said that, I don't see the need to ever open the app more than once, to set it and forget it. In the instruction manual, they advise to move in front of the engine compartment if the app is not connecting from the cabin. That worked for me, so I switched it to race mode and never have to worry about it again.
If you're one of those people who likes to constantly change settings, play with the boost gauge, etc., then yeah you're going to be disappointed.
All in all, at 300 bucks, this is probably the best performance value I have ever come across. I have had several Dinan Performance Tuners at $1500 - $2000 a piece on other cars and from a performance perspective there is no noticeable difference between those and this $300 unit.
Regarding the instructions, although mine didn't include any either, I had no problem finding them on Dinan's website by clicking on "technical resources" then searching for part # 440-0035 (same as you referenced.)
Ah...that works. I was searching for the number printed on the unit itself, "D443-0103" which does not work.
Your mounting location seems to work but I'd be a little concerned about the excessive heat in that area of the engine compartment, especially with the engine cover on. I'm sure the unit is designed to withstand heat but you never know. I've attached a pic below of an alternate mounting location with less heat and easier visibility.
I thought about the potential heat issue too, but I was more concerned about wire movement after reading how Dinan wants you to mount the unit and how they made a big thing about not routing the cable tie over the harness "as this could stress the internal circuit board and damage the module" (top of pg. 3). The way I mounted things there is minimal wire flexing since everything is mounted to the engine...no engine to body wire flexing when you mount the module to a part of the body like you have it.
Regarding the app, I agree it's absolute crap. But having owned a myriad of tunes from different companies, ALL their apps suck. Clearly these companies invest the bare minimum in app development just so they can say they have something.
Agreed, but in Dinan's defense, I was able to finally "connect" to the unit's Bluetooth by turning off the phone, and turning it back on...and I was able to verify what setting it's on, "S+"...which is only displayed as a boost setting of "3.0 psi" since the actual button is not highlighted when selected.
04-05-2017, 02:13 AM
