There's been a lot of discussion about blown engines lately on here and other forums. One of the common themes, as far as MY opinion goes, is that a lot of guys didn't know they were in danger of major engine damage or complete destruction before it happened. I've been trying to stress logging, and logging often, but not everyone that has the HPTuners hardware is, or wants to be a "tuner". They might just want to have somebody look at what they're logging to make sure it looks "safe". This thread (hopefully) will be for that.
I emphasized "a safe place" because I want everyone from experienced tuners to total rookies that just got their scanners to feel comfortable posting logs, screenshots of logs or even tune files here. This isn't a place for judgement or berating anyone for what their "tunes" may or may not be. This isn't a place for free advice on how to make your dyno numbers higher either. I'm really hoping this is a place that ends up saving a few guys some major cash in engine repairs or replacement.
A lot of the logs I've seen have been super obviously dangerous just by taking a quick look. Those are the ones that I feel really good about seeing and warning the owners to fix BEFORE it's too late. I truly believe at least half of these engine failures can be avoided just by logging and having somebody look at the logs. So many guys leave their tuners or shops and never think about logging or that their tune might "change" over time. Maybe their tuners warned them when they left, but who's actually listening when all they want to do is feel that new found power?! There's also a bunch of people that have PM'd me because for many different reasons, they just want to learn how to keep an eye on their own logs and make minor tune changes even though they know almost nothing about "tuning". That's ok, in fact that's AWESOME! Learning is great, and learning things that are outside of your normal realm or comfort zone are the best! So again, hopefully this can be a place for guys like that to get help. We ALL need help on this stuff, and we ALL can learn from each other, me included.
So if you're that guy that wants to make sure you're not in imminent danger of destroying a very expensive engine, or just wants someone to look over some logs to see what the "experts" think, post away! No judgments. No tuner or shop slamming. No shaming in what your logs look like. Just helpful, constructive criticism and advice. And yes, it's OK if you don't have a wideband! I realize not everyone does, for a myriad of viable reasons. Just try to log everything that's needed, which btw can certainly be included here, Layout files. That's another thing that not everyone knows, and it's TOTALLY understandable. What to log is a question that d@mn near every tuner, new or old has. That advice can hopefully be shared here too. In 3.0 you can basically have it show all the supported parameters of the car you're working on when you connect. If all else fails, log 'em all!
Thanks guys! Hopefully this helps some guys save some money. I must add though, I TOTALLY understand if blowing your engine is the easiest way to get your wife/girlfriend to let you spend a ton of money on a sick new engine build! If you want to post a log to make sure your engine ISN'T safe, I guess that's ok too!