Schoonigan

So I have a 2004 msm with the Hydra Nemesis 2.7, along with many other things. I went to get it tuned the other day (I know nothing about tuning) and the tuner noticed some issues. First the hydra was stuck thinking the car was in 3rd gear. So, it was pulling a constant amount of timing, somewhere in the 20* range. He "solved" this issue and continued on for about 1.5 hours. The only comments I got throughout this time was he mentioned that he thought my fuel pump was worn out as it wasn't getting as much fuel as he thought it should, but later claimed he was mistaken due to as he asked more fuel he kept getting more fuel. There was some concern with the IAT sensor as it would drop off, but come back later. He said that the sensor wasn't giving indications of being bad, just acting funny. Finally after the 2 hours of tuning he came to me and said that the ecu has determined the car shall have a 5.5k rev limit, no matter how high he turned up the rev limit on the hydra. Also the hydra was jumping around between gears at random. He thinks that the hydra either needs a software update, or hardware internal to the hydra has gone bad. It also may be a damaged wire in the loom, or bad grounds. Since this I have replaced and made sure my crank sensor is properly gaped, cleaned my engine ground connections, and inspected the wire loom, all either seem and have had no effect on the issues. Anyone have any other suggestions on possible problems. I am hesitant on updating the software on the hydra as I have heard this can go very poorly.

fredb

iTrader: (1)

Find someone that knows the Hydra and has a clue as to what they're doing. You can do it yourself , but update to the current firmware and start with a current base map from Jeremy . The LTT will dial in the fuel prettty well all by itself . If you're he sensors are behaving erratically it's almost always a grounding issue .

Schoonigan

The tuner I went to is a professional auto tuner that is experienced with Hydras. I updated not too long ago, and just verified and my hydra is up to date on the firmware.

fredb

iTrader: (1)

From your description of the 2hrs of "tuning" I seriously doubt he is expiernced with Hydras. Hydras are a bit of an orphan in the engine management world . Some of the Subaru world use them. But how much of their knowledge base can be applied to a Miata , I'm not sure. Short of making a trip to FM you maybe stuck with sorting it yourself, depending on your location. Oh yah , make sure you have a fresh fuel filter , I've had issues with a partially plugged filter affecting high load fuel mapping.

Schoonigan

I'm working on troubleshooting the issue now, the fuel filter is new, less than 1k miles on it. I'm in virginia, so a trip to CO is not something i can easily make. The tuner claims to have started using hydras with subarus, and has since tuned some miatas with them. I am going to try and contact Ken Hill at Oracle Tuning, a recommended installer by flyin miata, and see what he has to say. I wish I just got a megasquirt.

fredb

iTrader: (1)

Ken Hill is probably a good choice , he has a good rep and a long history with FM and Hydras. Good luck please post up found issues and solutions as found , it'll help us all. Good luck. Fred B

Schoonigan

Emailed Ken Hill at Oracle Tuning and he was amazing help. He reviewed my current map and identified the problem to be the massive amount of fuel the fuel tables are dumping at the specified rev band. I feel really dumb now for not realizing it, but he will assist me in online tuning at a fantastic rate. The tuners at my shop seem to not be as knowledgeable as they claim to be, and I know nothing of tuning, so am just going to take this as a learning experience.

Ken Hill

Thank you for the recommendation fredb. I appreciate it. I have been talking to schnoonigan and have the map out of his Hydra. It's not pretty. Its safe to drive, but I can make some improvements. I'll be tuning the ECU remotely via datalogs in about 2 weeks because I'm swamped with work right now. If I find anything weird I'll share it here, but after a quick cruise through his map, it looks like a disappointing tune.