Diesel engine tuning....

Nastaliq

Well-known member
so has the technology changed much since 2009?
I would guess so.
What is available now for diesel cars, and who has something fitted?
 

GoCart

///Member
I don't think much has changed in terms of engine technology, but for sure more tuning bits available on the market by the look of things.

I've always wondered, what the difference is between efficiency and absolute performance when it comes to software, of course efficiency ends when you start over-boosting and over fueling to get that little extra... but for me efficiency is king, and that is what I want from a tune.

My comments are of course, my opinion only, and not based on fact or personal tuning experience.

Maybe the clever guys can add value here, but one thing is for sure, my tractor is going for tuning very SOON.
 

DieselFan

Honorary ///Member
Not much has changed.... DP, sw, intercooler... Then it depends how far you want to go. Bigger turbo... Etc
 

Ratslaaf

///Member
With turbo cars there's a thing called 'free power'. This number increases once you de-cat and remove the eco-restraints that sit on cars in general.

When tuning a turbo car, you need to consider things like available fuel rail pressure, available boost pressure and the amount of fuel your injectors can supply - as in, can you get enough fuel into the cylinder during the pre-ignition stage when the piston moves upwards to TDC.

On modern turbo cars it's generally safe to get up to 22% more HP and/or torque. Once you step past that you're reaching stress levels of the various parts and can affect the reliability of these components if not compensated for properly hardware wise. I'm referring here specifically to the engine and not the rest of the drivetrain. It may very well be that the engine is detuned from factory as the rest of the drivetrain isn't up to the task of the additional torque.

But this is different from engine design to engine design and takes a fair bit of research to come up with a map that is suitable for that specific design.

Once this is done, you need to factor in things like mileage on the car, or specifically the type of mileage done with the car.

Getting this right differentiates a good tuner from a bad tuner. Anyone can boost the car to get good figures, the hard part is boosting the car while still considering all the various components at play and doing so safely - thus making best use of the 'free power' that is available in a specific engine design. This goes hand in hand with efficiency and can thus result in better economy as well.

It's for this very reason that 'canned' tunes are seldom a good idea.
 

LOW BOOST

Member
Apologies for reviving an old thread..
Just a quick Q on diesel engine tuning..
Once tuning is done, how long does it take for the ecu to adapt?
Just did my tune today, can't really feel a vast difference as expected.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk
 

yush1

Active member
Its quite instant. Majority of the power is immediate, about 80% and the balance after a few km. If you can't feel a difference there may be a problem with your tune. Did you do a before and after dyno?
 

SMRTARSX1

New member
LOW BOOST said:
Apologies for reviving an old thread..
Just a quick Q on diesel engine tuning..
Once tuning is done, how long does it take for the ecu to adapt?
Just did my tune today, can't really feel a vast difference as expected.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

On paper, 100-150km, in person having owned about 6 mapped cars in the last 2 years, its immediate and it refines over a 100km period also known as the "it just gets better and better period" when customers call to say how happy they are.
 

LOW BOOST

Member
yush1 said:
Its quite instant. Majority of the power is immediate, about 80% and the balance after a few km. If you can't feel a difference there may be a problem with your tune. Did you do a before and after dyno?
See it might just be me..
The tune was done this afternoon on my new company van.
Ford transit connect 1.5 tdci.
I think after the tune we expected 105kw 330 nm..
I maybe compared it with my other turbo cars that's why it wasn't what i expected.
But there is a small difference.
Nope didn't do a before and after dyno.
Kicking myself for not doing it now.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk
 
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