Powergate 4: tuning your own car at home

The Powergate 4 lets us tune a car we never see. We set the tool up for your
vehicle, post it out, you read the original file off the car, we write the tune
and send it back, and you load it. The whole job happens on your drive.

There is no screen on the tool itself. It is a small sealed box with one
coloured light, and everything you do happens in an app on your phone. It will
hold up to four different configurations, so switching between maps later is a
tap rather than another visit. There is more on what it covers on our
Powergate home
tuning page.

Tick each step off as you go. The page remembers where you got to, so you can
lock your phone, come back, and carry on from the right place.

Before you plug anything in

Voltage causes almost every problem we get called about. Most cars are
perfectly fine, but the job runs with the engine off, so the battery is on its own
for the whole write. Two minutes of preparation takes the risk out of it.

• Start the car and let it run for five minutes first. That puts
  some charge back before you begin. If the car has been stood a while, is slow to
  start, or is on an older battery, put a charger on it instead.
• Switch off everything auxiliary. Headlights, heating and air
  conditioning, interior lights, heated seats, heated screens, radio, phone
  chargers. Then ignition on, engine off, and nothing else drawing current.
• Give yourself three quarters of an hour. Park somewhere you
  are happy to leave the car standing. Most of that time is waiting, but it is not
  something to squeeze in between other jobs.

What else you need

• A phone with Bluetooth on and location services on. Location
  is not us being nosy, it is an Android requirement for Bluetooth to work at
  all.
• A working internet connection at the car. The file goes to us and comes back
  over the internet while you stand there.
• If you are on home Wi-Fi rather than mobile data, it must be the
  2.4GHz band. The tool cannot see 5GHz networks. Sharing your phone’s
  connection instead? Turn on Maximise Compatibility on an iPhone, or pick the
  2.4GHz band on Android. This catches more people than anything else on the
  list.

Stage one: reading your car

1. Install the Powergate app (links just below) and create an account. You will
   get an email with a code to confirm it. Register the tool to
   yourself, not to us.
2. Charger on. Plug the tool into the diagnostic socket, usually under the
   dashboard on the driver’s side.
3. Ignition on, engine not running. Dashboard lit, fuel gauge showing.
4. In the app, pick your vehicle from the list we have set for you. You will only
   see vehicles we have allowed, so if the list looks short that is deliberate.
5. Read the fault codes first and screenshot them. Twenty
   seconds, and it means an existing fault cannot later be blamed on the tune.
6. Run the identification, then the read. The light goes red while it is working.
   Leave it alone.
7. The app asks you to confirm that you want to link the tool to this car.
   Read the next section before you tap yes.

The moment it locks to your car

The tool is not tied to anything when it arrives. It ties itself to your car’s
control unit at the point you confirm that link during the read, and not before.

After that it is a one car tool. Unlocking it for a different vehicle means we
archive the session at our end, which costs a credit we have to buy and pass on,
and you then start again from the beginning. So make sure you are stood at the
right car, with the right vehicle picked in the app, before you confirm.

Cars with a tuned gearbox as well: where we are
doing both, the engine unit has to be read and linked first. The gearbox will not
read until it is.

Stage two: writing the file

The read is sent to us automatically, so there is nothing for you to email.
When the file is ready you get a notification on your phone.

1. Charger back on, tool back in the socket, ignition on, engine off.
2. Choose the file and start the write. The light goes red again. Leave it
   alone.
3. When the app says it has finished, switch the ignition off and unplug the
   tool.
4. Wait a minute, then start the engine and check the dashboard. Any light that
   was not there before, call us.
5. Disconnect the charger. That is the job done.

Because the tool holds up to four configurations, you may be given a choice at
the write screen. Where you have options, we will have explained what each one
does before we sent it.

Putting the car back to standard

Your original file is stored against your car at our end, and we normally load
it back into your tool as one of your choices, so going back to standard is just
another write. If you are selling the car or booking it in for a software update
at a main dealer, do that write first and tell us. A dealer flashing new software
over the top breaks the link between your tool and the car.

If it stops part way through

Stop and read this before you do anything

Do not unplug the tool. Do not switch the ignition off. Leave
the car exactly as it is, leave the charger connected, and call us on
01622 321500.

A write that has stopped is usually recoverable while everything is still
connected. The same write becomes a much bigger job once the tool has been pulled
out and the ignition cycled. We would far rather take the call.

Do not contact the tool manufacturer. They only deal with the workshop, not the
end user, so going direct will cost you a day. We are your support.

Two things that genuinely cannot be recovered

We ask this before we ship a tool and it matters: has the control unit ever been
replaced, cloned, or mapped by somebody else, and has any emissions equipment
already been switched off in software. Writing to a unit that has been through
either can leave it dead with no way back. If you are not sure of a car’s history,
say so. It is not a problem, it just changes what we do.

BMW F and G series: the car has to be set up first

If you have an F or G series BMW, the car will refuse to go into programming
mode unless it is set up exactly right, and the tool will look like it has failed
when it has not.

• A proper charger on the battery. BMW want a genuine 50 amps
  available for this, not a small maintainer.
• Key inside the car.
• Hazard lights on.
• Driver’s seat belt fastened.
• All doors closed. If you need to be out of the car, latch the driver’s door
  catch closed with a screwdriver rather than leaving the door open.
• Gearbox in Park, or Neutral on a manual.

Then follow the tool’s instructions as normal. Miss any one of these and the
write will not start.

Have not got a tool yet?

Everything above assumes one of ours is already in your hand. If you are
starting from scratch, tell us the car and what you are after and we will say
honestly whether it can be done on your drive or whether it needs to come to us,
and which of the three tools suits it.

Get a home tuning price
Ask us about your car