When hiring a tuner what can i expect them to tune. I mean I plan on driving my car on the street not on a dyno. SO what constitutes a "Tune". There are a lot more maps in my Haltech ECU then the base Fuel and Timing maps. I would like my car tuned to run the same on a cold winter night as well as a hot summer day. I would like my car to run the same from sea level to the summit of a mountain road.

I know it is impossible to tune for everything in the limited short time a tuner has to work on a car AND DON'T EXPECT THEM TO BE ABLE TO TUNE FOR EVERYTHING...BUT, I would like some attention put forth to the additional maps available for tuning IE

Fuel Correction Maps
- Coolant Temperature
- Air Temperature
- Battery Voltage
- Coolant Temperature Prime
- Post Start
- Barometric Pressure
Ignition Correction Maps
- Coolant Temperature
- Air Temperature
- Coolant Cranking
Zero Throttle Map
Full Throttle Map
Injector Phase Map

Seems to me most tuners will only adjust the fuel and timing maps with LITTLE or no attention to the other maps and don't disclose the fact that some adjustments will need to be made to the "correction" maps to safely drive your vehicle in "all" climates.

What I DO NOT WANT is to get my car tuned in the middle of summer on a dyno when it is 125 degrees outside... then when winter comes around and my car goes BOOM because someone didn't bother making adjustments to the Correction Maps or tell the owner that the Correction Maps will need to be altered for Altitude and/or Temperature. Yes I think it is the tuners responsibility to inform the owner that he/she needs to watch these parameters and adjust accordingly to keep from blowing up there motor.

So all this to ask... What does a tuner do????

 

You need to ask your (potential) tuner those questions...
The tuner should be up-front and answer them no problem.
If they don't, I'd suggest going elsewhere.

You're spending your hard-earned cash - hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars - so you're entitled to know what you're getting for your purchase.

I agree that some of the maps are almost impossible to tune - your example about tuning on a hot summer day and then expect COOLANT maps tune for dead of winter.
An experienced tuner should know that the COOLANT map should be similar for almost all 13B's.
I'd suggest for you learn how to tune these things yourself, as most of them are "simple" 2D map.
I've taught most of my customers (who were willing to learn), and they have no problems adjusting things like the COOLANT map.
In fact, they take pride in being able to adjust maps on their Haltech!

I personally don't like the AIR TEMP map, and I adjust them accordingly when I tune the Haltechs.

Other maps like BATTERY VOLTAGE, POST START, BARO CORRECTION, and INJECTOR PHASE don't have to be adjusted.
The base map BATTERY VOLTAGE map is good enough, and if you're fighting voltage fluctuation problems, I'd suggest getting a better electrical system (i.e. bad alternator?) to "correct" this problem.
The rotary engine needs very little POST START enrichment, and the base map 2 seconds is more than enough for most cars.
Haltech recommends not touching the BARO CORRECTION, and unless you're running through extreme altitudes (I've run up to 8,000 feet with very little loss in power), leave it LOCKED.
INJECTOR PHASE is something that doesn't affect the rotary engine significantly, and Hitman confirms this.
So that knocks off 1/3rd of your list.
For more info, the Haltech manual actually has pretty good info - especially the BARO CORRECTION modes and description.

Good luck!


-Ted

 

When i do a car for a client, i usually take a few minutes out of each session to go through the comp maps to make sure that the car will least run decent with different temp and ambient conditions. Its something that almost always gets back to bite you if you dont address. Since customers will call you back more often than not to tell you "hey, i started the car this morning and it was just reving horribly, and poping sounds came from the exhaust" so, since you want your work to be praised not bashed, you should always address these things. I try to take a few days of road tuning the car (in safe areas like desolate highways, or back roads) to clear the everyday driving conditions, as well as full power runs. That way you have a satisfied client that will always refer future business your way. If you dont leave them happy, they'll just go somewhere else, and bash your reputation to a pulp. (been there done that), and like you say, there arent many that will pay for a few days of work, usually they want the thing done in a few hours.

But in general, tuners should address these things, not just making power on the dyno.

 

I see these drivability issues all the time when people pay for a 3 to 4 hour tuning session and only get their maps tuned for full throttle at the temperature conditions of the tuning session. If you want it tuned fully you have to be prepared to pay for the tuner's time. That may mean several days or perhaps several tuning sessions. After a tuner has tuned many cars in summer/winter/etc they typically have good correction factors that can be used for the initial map setup, however, every car is different and if you want yours spot on you may need to have it checked/datalogged/tuned in different ambient conditions.

 

Amen to that brother!