Can the RTEK only be tuned with a PDA? Can it it not be tuned with a laptop like every other kind of modified ECU?

Also, who can tune RTEKs? Any decent tuner? Or do you have to either find a specialist or do it yourself?

I can see how the PDA would be nice for changing a few basic settings, but I can't imagine wanting to tune the whole engine without a laptop.

 

The Rtek 2.1 can be tuned with a computer, but rigging it up takes a little time. I would say don't get the Rtek, it's development is dead and there are many other much better systems available.

 

There is an Rtek section
https://www.rx7club.com/rtek-forum-168/ .and I noticed a couple threads on HOW TO's to hook up the Rtek to a Laptop.
....
I used the M500(130?) series palm pilots when I had my Rtek 2.1.
It was a pain pumping in all the numbers when doing a fuel map..clicky,clicky clicky..tap.tap,tap.
Mind you,for the money it is a great alternative to the Stock Ecu.But it has it's drawbacks.So, I went with a Haltech Platinum.The Haltech is fairly new so it's not "outdated" like the Rtek.Customer service is great too!

 

I like plug and play though...

What happens to A/C and power steering with a Haltech? Do you still lose them?

 

Rteks are mainly a choice for those (like myself) who face class restrictions that only allow flashing stock maps or piggybacks like the RTEK that fit in stock housings and use stock wiring and pinouts. I'm looking for a 2.1 for my S5...

 

Feh, I think I'm better off buying a used FD Power FC while I'm in Japan and buying a conversion kit...

Allows AFM removal anyway.

 

I am honestly not sure as I never Had A/C and I just took the Power steering off.I put a manual rack on..My old car had it,so I went back to that "feel".
The car was a bit wonky with the PS.It would wander when you punched it!.

 

I have A/C with my haltech.

 

The rtek can only be tuned via a palm pilot. These units are long dead. To make matters worse, not all palm units are supported. To use it on a laptop I would have to run the palm emulator with a rom in m$oft windoze (eew) on my Mac. It's archaic stuff. It doesn't seem like a bad unit... But for a company to still be making these units and say that they do not intend on switching to a different platform... Idk. Other than the platform, it seems like a good unit for those with mild mods.

I went the powerfc route.

 

What about OMP? I don't want to premix.

 

unless you have a mechanical omp, you are going to have to premix with a standalone as far as I know

 

Not with a Power FC. Probably...

 

I've got the rtek 2.1. Got tired of switching batteries on my Palm, so I followed the instructions in the RTek forum and got it going on my windows laptop via the suggested free emulator. No problems. Works great!

 

i have the stage 2, it's not bad for the price, and for mild mods and a street car it's a good unit. I'm pretty sure any tuner can tune it. or anyone if they know what there doing with fuel. the only drawback is with the palm pilot, especially mine, if the batteries dies then you have to reload the rtek software back onto the palm. little pain but it is what it is. I could'nt afford a full stand alone at the time nor did i need it so i went with the rtek.

 

Rtek is a good EMS for diagnosis of a stock car. that is about the only real benefit of it, that and class restrictions as mentioned.

in the long run, if you are paying a tuner by the hour you will wind up paying extra for the rock in a box Rtek.

 

You give up too much to go with a stand alone, because thats just what it does..."Stand Alone"...no intergration into anything. No idle up for accesory load,no input for power steering, no body asked about cruise control, and here in Kali if you're driving it every day, no emission control intergration. Then you would have to have a smog man in your pocket and they have deep pockets,too.

I'm going to give RTeck 2.1 a shot, I just recieved mine and I am making some changes to my setup and fixing things while I'm at it.

 

So, according to your sig, you're running no smog?

 

sais who? the standalone engine management systems these days can do what the stock ECU does and much much more.

i just finished up installing a haltech PS1k and the amount of functionality it has can do what the stock ECU managed plus more, all with full control over EVERYTHING.

if we were talking 10+ years ago i might agree with you, there are still some systems that lack current technology like microtech who hasn't stepped up in almost a decade.

hell, even megasquirt is a plug n play ECU and probably can do everything the stocker did plus quite a bit more.

sure, some of them have a rather rough auto tune feature but the stock ECU and Rtek have what? nothing.


i installed 1 Rtek 2.1 to aid in diagnosing an n/a and i would never recommend it to anyone who was really looking for a tunable ECU unless you like wasting gas and tapping your PDA about a million and a half times.

 

Not meaning to get under you fur there, tiger, but, everone I looked at or read about or asked tuners they all said otherwise. But if what you say is true, then maybe after this doesn't work out, I'll look more into it. Meanwhile, everytime I see any of you guys talk about it, the 1st thing that gets thrown away is smog equip. I haven't seen one car that has "stand alone" with smog equipment on this board, if so I would like to speak to them....including you...p.m. me if you like.

 

that's mainly because from a tuner's standpoint most people don't opt to wire and set all that crap up. it took nearly 2 days to build the basic harness, wire it to the car and learn the basics of the software to build a from scratch basic map. that was all with a minimal flate rate of about $400 for the install(generally it takes me less than a day for a microtech with flying lead so i took it in the rear to learn the haltech).

i can't picture anyone willing to pay by the hour to wire up the whole engine bay, set up the auxiliaries and spend the time tuning the auxiliaries as well. this is where the DIYer will be more inclined to spend their own time wiring everything up and tinkering with it.

that said, if you asked me how much it would cost to wire and set it all up i would say "you probably don't want to know". it would be close to or more than $1k.

so unfortunately alot of those bells and whistles are completely wasted if you pay someone to install your standalones unless you are dilligent enough to pay for the rest. more than half the harness for the PS1k was unused for a strip down 13B with simple sensors including O2, coolant temp, injectors, ignition, air temp, TPS and crank sensor.

 

Well, considering that I amd buying a new engine harness, throttle sensor, water thermo switch, radiator thermo switch,idle bypass valve and haven't decided on the knock sensor, I'm already well over that.

I figured since the engine is out of the car and I'm ditching all the the old school hks pfcon and aic, fuel cut and so on, I might as well do all that I can stop the madness and to get a fresh start from the merry go round this car was on. This will be the 5th engine for this car.

 

BTW, how far can you take an S-AFC anyway? Like, 300 HP with a stock turbo? Or just a few pounds of boost and a handful of HP?

Because if it can, I'd just assume go with that...

In Japan lots of dudes use modified ECU's and ROM tuning, and you can find them used pretty cheap, but they're useless if no one in American can tune them. I don't know if they're tunable with computers if if they have to be disassembled and reflashed.

 

the only shop that messes with the stock ECU stateside is digital tuning(Rtek), otherwise it's just easier to install one of the many other standalones and have full control full time.

an SAFC can work but it's a rough tuning device and only controls fuel and the timing is tweaked as a result with little control over timing curves aside from the basic position of the CAS to retard the timing. but some people have made over 350whp from tuning the SAFC and retarding the timing to compensate for the engine grenader, aka fuel cut defenser.