madking411

I have a setup that I put together using old parts I had laying around...a B16a2 block and a GSR head. I took the b16 block and put new rings in it and honed the cylinders. Just freshened it up. Installed the gsr head on it with some ARP head studs and a factory head gasket. This set up has a Turbonetics to4e, pieced together turbo kit bolted to it and it's running on DSM 450cc injectors and a Crome basemap. My question is, if it's possible that the basemap can cause the engine to want to run hot. It adds up to the engine wanting to almost overheat with almost any type of load placed on it, at any rpm over idle. But once it's idling, it seems to cool back down to where it's supposed to be. I want to go and get it tuned asap but I would like to fix the excessive heat generation issue before taking it to the dyno; Unless if not having a tune is what is causing it.

As an experiment, I pulled the thermostat out of the engine to see if it would run any cooler, and it still rose up to operating temperature and began to climb up past the middle of the gauge. It just seems to be making too much heat!

***an additional side note; the engine was driving around temporarily on an (NA) B20vtec with stock injector map prior to the "overheating" and drove around for miles NO problem. It started having issues after swapping injectors and changing the map. That's what leads me to think it may be in the map.

2kdrift

timing can effect a car getting too hot but sounds like you have other additonal issues.

Im confused you say you had a b20v and all you changed was injectors and map but also stated we are talking about a b16. clarify please.

450cc injectors is not gonna get you very far waste of time IMO

madking411

b20vtec was NA. Removed NA b20v from the car. Installed b16 into car. installed turbocharger onto b16. tune and oem injectors from the b20v used in the b16 to get it to run w/no boost. b16 ran No issues. swapped injectors from stock to 450cc injectors and changed the map to match bigger injectors. Problems begun.

TravisBiggie

You're complaining about a map you have laying around won't work on your custom setup, entirely different than what the tune is for?

Suck it up and buy neptune rtp, hondata, have someone tune it, or buy a remote tune. /thread

madking411

No. Not complaining about a non-working map or anything like that. I'm ASKING if a map that isn't made for the set up will cause problems like overheating because I've never seen it before in that way. I plan to go get it tuned but I don't want it overheating while the tune is going on if there are other things for me to go back and fix. That way I can get them all 100% fixed before its tune time.

LightningTeg

The answer to that is no. Even if the tune was way off it shouldnt overheat like that.

madking411

Hmmmm..I guess the only real way to figure out what's wrong with it would be to do a leakdown test?

2kdrift

leak down test is always helpful, however sounds like something in your cooling system is not up to par. You did not have these issues before your turbo which is typical as any turbocharger car puts extra heat into the cooling system.

definetly not sounding like related to the tune at all

madking411

Right, I'm pretty sure that the radiator isn't up to par as well, I'm going to be upgrading it to at least a dual core rad before tune time comes around as well. It's a single core half size aluminum rad I picked up from a friend for like $40. Lol. Just wanted to see if there was a possibility that there's something else I could dig into before I started throwing parts and money at it.

Aradin

Wouldn't advise anyone to get a remote tune. There's no real substitute for being able to be with the car, check plugs, etc etc.

Short story time. A friend of mine had an RSX-S. Fully built trans, crazy suspension setup, typical bolt on stuff and K-pro. Car made good NA power and was generally pretty quick for what it was. Well he wanted nitrous so he could hang with the turbo boys. Got an e-tune on 100 shot from one of the more "reputable" individuals that do them. Turns out, car had a ton of knock in it and slowly eroded the pistons away over the course of about a bottle. Started losing power until eventually one day it dropped 2 cylinders racing. After looking at K-pro, the timing was advanced a number of degrees at WOT in the nitrous maps and fuel values were all over the place. Dude clearly had no idea what he was doing. Owner ended up parting out the car while it still had a lien on it. The "e-tuner" took no responsibility for any damage. Wouldn't respond to emails or calls either.

Tuning isn't rocket science but it's definitely not for the uninitiated.

Geis

Shoulda got a vit tune. I may not be a fan of it myself, but the etuning seems to be pretty successful with a lot of people.

Xanthias

iTrader: (1)

In my experience a tune may cause overheating issues. When i drove untuned to the tuner 100 miles away, even at low loads with no boost it was overheating. On trip back no issues... This was on stock half rad. An engine running lean will also run hotter, but by how much I'm not sure. I know extra fuel cools combustion but idk if that effect is enough. Tuning definitely helped me.

LightningTeg

Thats not an Etune, thats a basemap. A Proper Etune would be the car in another state on the dyno and tuner remote tuning from a different location with someone operating the car on the dyno. Or sending datalogs back and forth. DRob does it ALL the time.

motoxxxman

^yup, very correct^

the map can definitely cause overheating if the cooling system is barely above par. meaning, yes it can overheat with a inaccurate map and be fine once tuned. BUT, if your cooling system is that close to the edge, I would definitely upgrade it, especially a boosted setup. larger radiator and high flow fan should do the trick. keep a STOCK thermostat installed, do not get anything colder than stock, it will not increase power it will only create poor gas mileage and inconsistency in running conditions.

Aradin

I agree. I tried to talk him out of it. He spent big money on the whole setup and decided to cheap out on the tune and get a certain individual to do it over the internet. The initial file was a basemap, yes, but passes were made and datalogs exchanged. There were 5-6 revisions made to the map before the "tuner" called it good. I believe it was about $400 as well after all the revisions.

Geis

LOL!
400 for an etune he thought was cheap?

Aradin

Some people just don't know any better or can't think for themselves. They'll believe anything they read on the internet or that sounds good. This guy had more money his transmission than I have in my entire turbo setup. He had to have that rebuilt twice as well because it wasn't done right the first time either. Funny thing is...he bought a new car after the RSX. Got some bolt ons and a stage 2 tune for it. Then 2-3-2 money shifted and obliterated the engine on a car with less than 10k on it.

motoxxxman

I charge $300-$350 for a full street tune for turbo vtec motors up to 8psi (sometimes up to 10 or 11). we're talking 5-8 hours start to finish. 400 for an etune like that is ridiculous.