Diesel Tuning?

[matt h]

I was looking through the Berrima website after hearing that the do a magic job of tunning your engine and the extra performance you gain.

I am in Adelaide and can anyone suggest anyone local that does a similar job to Berrima or are Berrima Diesel one of the best or is Berrima the best option?

Cheers Matt H

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Hey Matt, I'm here in Adelaide too (well, the Hills, anyhow!) and I've found it WELL WORTH the time and effort of driving to Canberra and leaving the vehicle with Cooma Diesel for a day - same sort of guys as Berrima, only they have a very impressive set up including clean rooms for Injectors, pumps, flow benches, a 4WD Dyno, and a reputation second to none for being diesel tuning guru's! These fella's do all the static stuff first, setting your pump and injectors up pre-running, then they 'fine tune' those settings on the dyno (sometimes taking a few 'runs' to get it right), then they do some on-road testing just to make sure that it is all EXACTLY how it should be, and that it is giving you the best performance/fuel economy balance in the manner you've requested. They maintain records of everything they do, and they still have records of every adjustment that they've made to ALL of my vehicles over the last 15 or so years.

The fellas at Berrima diesel are very good too, only their set-up doesn't yet include a 4WD dyno. Not a major shortfall, as they have a very good hill nearby that they use as a 'road test' to do all the same sort of stuff that Cooma Diesel use the dyno to do! All up, either of these places will make your diesel jump up and perform tricks and provide fuel economy & performance that others just don't seem to be able to coax out of your engine!

They are WELL Worth it! And in the past I have used many of the local Adelaide guys, and regardless of how good the vehicle is when it comes back from them , I STILL find that Cooma manages to improve on it!

[matt h]

Thank Peter appreciate the excellent feedback. I think I will just do that and plan the trip.

What sort of extra performance did you get with your vehicles when it was done?

Matt h

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Without chasing down my copies of the results, I don't have the exact figures handy, but it was more than just a handful of kW, and that was AFTER everyone here in Adelaide had already done their best! And I got better fuel economy at the same time, too! Not saying that you wouldn't/couldn't get the same or greater benefits from other things either, but in terms of your existing diesel injection system, these fella's can tune it to give you the best that your set-up can provide, and they can do it without needing to spend $000's on extra bits/mods/changes, it's all in the way the pump and injectors are set up properly and tuned to what your car needs to give it's best. Basically, I guess that it's really just 'blue-printing' the diesel injection system!

[sudso]

What about in SA Peter?
Was it you who told me that Bridge Diesel? at Murray Bridge are guns at diesel tuning. I hear they have a 4wd dyno now too.
And roughly how much does a diesel tune start at (excluding any parts or injector work)?
If they are one of the better ones in SA I'll drive the 200 kays for them to do mine after I get a cav filter on and see if it's worth putting a 12mm plunger in but my turbo set up might not require it.
There is a guy here too who is very good but no dyno. He's the supervisor of the Ag workshop at Wickys. He won SA diesel mech. of the year or something not too long back. I'll have to ask him if he'll look at my rig.

cheers.

[ROBSKI]

I'm interested to know also sudso, a trip to Canberra is way off atm...

Robski

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Yeah, it would have been me who told you they were one of the best in SA, and they certainly are that! I hadn't heard that they actually had the dyno in yet, altho I knew that they were aiming to get one. They are very good, but I still feel strongly that Cooma & Berrima Diesel are that much better again! Maybe it's just the years of experience they've had working at the pointy end of the business?! That said, I DO use Bridge Diesel for any work that needs doing during the year, and Cooma Diesel just gets a bi-annual visit these days! Cooma Diesel did the initial set-up, tho! Went in on my last trip that way, got some mods to the fuel filtration and small gain in fuel economy as a result, with no apparent cost in terms of power or driveability.

The dyno isn't really essential to the 'perfect tune'; it is only really an aid to getting the tune as close to correct as possible thru being able to carry out repeatable runs under load without any interference from traffic or other external inputs apart from ambient temp & barometric pressure etc! But they DO genrly make for a better attempt at getting it right!

Genrly, a diesel tune up costs somewhere short of $1000 (full 'retail'); $600 not being impossible, altho if they have to play with 'everything' and spend absolutely all day on it, $900 might be closer to the mark. You can usually get a pretty good idea from the fella's concerned, just ask them up front; and they genrly like to do the tappets themselves just to make sure that they are exactly spot on, rather than just close enough, but it's worth the ask to see if you can do them and save a little time & $$! Altho it's surprising how much difference loose and rattly tappets can make! Any major mod work to pumps/injectors is usually on top of that sort of price, but the cost is fairly quickly recoverable from the savings in terms of better driveability and fuel economy savings!

Sudso, don't forget that I've got a Cav filter adaptor head here that could easily have your name on it! And while the fella's in Murray Bridge are very good on Adelaide standards and you can be pretty sure that they'll do a good job for you, you should try your local guy, that's the only way that you'll ever be able to know if he's as good as he sounds he might be, and it's the only way he'll get the rep that he needs to start getting business from all across the state. Bordertown isn't really all that far to travel for a good diesel tune up, it's not as if you need to do it every 5,000km - do it properly once and you are pretty right for the next 100,000km or so!

Enjoy!

[sudso]

Yeah, it would have been me who told you they were one of the best in SA, and they certainly are that! I hadn't heard that they actually had the dyno in yet, altho I knew that they were aiming to get one. They are very good, but I still feel strongly that Cooma & Berrima Diesel are that much better again! Maybe it's just the years of experience they've had working at the pointy end of the business?! That said, I DO use Bridge Diesel for any work that needs doing during the year, and Cooma Diesel just gets a bi-annual visit these days! Cooma Diesel did the initial set-up, tho! Went in on my last trip that way, got some mods to the fuel filtration and small gain in fuel economy as a result, with no apparent cost in terms of power or driveability.

The dyno isn't really essential to the 'perfect tune'; it is only really an aid to getting the tune as close to correct as possible thru being able to carry out repeatable runs under load without any interference from traffic or other external inputs apart from ambient temp & barometric pressure etc! But they DO genrly make for a better attempt at getting it right!

Genrly, a diesel tune up costs somewhere short of $1000 (full 'retail'); $600 not being impossible, altho if they have to play with 'everything' and spend absolutely all day on it, $900 might be closer to the mark. You can usually get a pretty good idea from the fella's concerned, just ask them up front; and they genrly like to do the tappets themselves just to make sure that they are exactly spot on, rather than just close enough, but it's worth the ask to see if you can do them and save a little time & $$! Altho it's surprising how much difference loose and rattly tappets can make! Any major mod work to pumps/injectors is usually on top of that sort of price, but the cost is fairly quickly recoverable from the savings in terms of better driveability and fuel economy savings!

Sudso, don't forget that I've got a Cav filter adaptor head here that could easily have your name on it! And while the fella's in Murray Bridge are very good on Adelaide standards and you can be pretty sure that they'll do a good job for you, you should try your local guy, that's the only way that you'll ever be able to know if he's as good as he sounds he might be, and it's the only way he'll get the rep that he needs to start getting business from all across the state. Bordertown isn't really all that far to travel for a good diesel tune up, it's not as if you need to do it every 5,000km - do it properly once and you are pretty right for the next 100,000km or so!

Enjoy!Yeah I think that cav has my name on it lol.
I cant find the flyer advertising that cav adaptor I told you about. I think it was a Lucas adaptor? Does that sound right, a Lucas?

Yes Vaughan has an excellent reputation here but as Wickham Flower are John Deere dealers as well as Nissan, Vaughan is the head Ag mechanic and Michael is the head Nissan mech but he doesn't get many 'modded' td's to mess with as far as I know.
Shouldn't matter though, both are well up to speed with it all. Vaughan is pretty good with petrols too, he's got a sweet XY GT 351 copy that he built up himself and I've been sideways in that in 3rd gear! I'll hit him up during the week and see what he can do or suggest.

cheers

[Spoony's Nightmare]

hey guys.. does anybody know of a place with a great reputation like this in Brisbane??

[GQWILLO]

And in Vic Too?

[MattyK]

So, is diesel tuning etc is something that only older vehicles need? I have an '04 turbo Hilux (1kz-te). It has an electronically controlled pump I believe. What is there to tune? Sure an expensive "chip" modification can be done - I have read about them, but is there anything to actually 'tune up'??