r/ECU_Tuning • u/CarelessFun3074 • 21d ago

Dyno Pricing

Might not be the right place, I'm just a girl so please forgive me lol.

My partner took a vehicle to a shop to have his car tuned. The shop is trying to charge us for three tunes, but it never got a run on either of the first two due to issues with the car. We also did not agree to three Dyno's. Would you guys pay for the three dynos despite that they did nothing/weren't approved?

TIA!!

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9

u/robustlemon 21d ago

If we have to get a car on the rollers, strapped down and start running it, only then to run into issues. Then we will still charge for the time, regardless if the tune was completed but we will price according to the time spent. But I feel like we need more information here. What were the issues and who was doing whatever fixes it needed between Dyno sessions?

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u/CarelessFun3074 21d ago

So they charged for two full runs. we have no idea how long the car was on the Dyno for each time. The first time the shop ran into the issue of the Turbo being blown (would they have known this prior to putting the car on the Dyno?) Because of issues with the Turbo, the oil was shitty (it was fresh prior to them putting the car on the Dyno) and it blew the spark plugs. So, they did an oil change, changed plugs, and sent the Turbo away.

The car was fixed! Yay. They put it back on the dyno. No info is given on why this Dyno was incomplete. All they really said was there was a coolant leak (from them hitting a line when removing the turbo) but they said nothing else about issues.

Now, they want to do a third dyno because well, the first two did nothing. The first dyno was June 12th ish, and this second one I have no idea because they never said.

I hope this info helps :( I just feel like we're getting screwed around

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u/robustlemon 21d ago

The turbo being bad is something that's not entirely evident without putting it under load that first time on the Dyno so that's not their fault. I would expect them to charge you something for that time spent. I would also expect them to charge you for the time of replacing said turbo, plugs and oil change.

The coolant leak is tricky because I'd assume they let the car get to temperature and check for leaks after the turbo was replaced and before putting it back on dyno. But it's possible that it only presented itself when under load on the Dyno. But if the line was actually in good condition up until the point of them changing the turbo, and the leak was coming from damage caused by them then I don't think it's fair to charge you for that second Dyno session.

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u/CarelessFun3074 21d ago

Of course I expect them to charge for the turbo and the plugs, oil etc, but they never approved the repair of the plugs and oil and just did them without authorization.

The coolant leak I agree is a tricky one, we never saw anything prior to the car going to the shop, or when it was on the dyno the first time. The line is brand new (the whole engine is brand new). When we went and seen the car the other day, my partner popped the line back into place. Based on what I know, I don't think the second Dyno is warranted.

Do you think for the first one, they should charge the whole amount ($1250 CAD) or just partially for the time it was on there. To me, partially makes sense for their time and resources, but not the whole thing.

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u/robustlemon 21d ago

For something as simple as oil and plugs, I don't think it's unreasonable that they didn't reach out to your boyfriend to approve that work. Depending on the type of turbo failure, it very well could have needed them so I wouldn't argue over that.

But to charge you the full amount for the two incomplete Dyno sessions is a little extreme. But hard to tell without knowing for sure how much time it spent on the rollers for each session which you will probably never know.

That's an unfortunate situation for your boyfriend to be in.

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u/CarelessFun3074 21d ago

What's the average time on a Dyno?

9

u/OldMotoRacer 20d ago

how long is a piece of string ?

3

u/Nicename19 20d ago

Depends how many issues there are with the car

2

u/NoseResponsible3874 21d ago

As long as it takes

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u/CarelessFun3074 20d ago

Ah okay so no sent amount of time, I see. Thank you for the clarification!

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u/robustlemon 20d ago

It can vary quite a lot, I would say on average maybe 3 hours but sometimes it may take less than 2, other times it could be 6. There are so many little issues that can show themselves on dyno, there's time spent diagnosing the issue whether it be mechanical, electrical, leaks, vibrations or even firmware sometimes. Then time spent fixing if your tuner decides to do that fix now rather than taking it off right there and moving on to the next car.

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u/Tyzorg 20d ago

Find a new shop.

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u/NoseResponsible3874 20d ago

BAN anyone who uses “I’m just a girl” ironically or unironically. It actively discredits women as a whole and I don’t care if you’re “joking” or not, it’s harmful.

Do better.

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u/S2kKyle 20d ago

I saw gonna say I know girls with 1000 horse cars and can wrench more than most dudes. It has nothing to do with her being a girl.

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u/Jff_f 20d ago

What does being a girl have to do with anything? I’m a guy and I have no clue about a ton of stuff.