Long time lurker, first time poster, yada yada

To cut a long story short, I've been struggling with an overheating car for the past year, only to find out that my tuner wiped the base timing setup before he tuned my car, and now it is tuned with the base timing approx 6 deg retarded, which I think it why I am struggling with heat (trust me I have eliminated all of the usual suspects)
My question is, if I was to keep the same ignition timing table but correct my base timing, how at risk of knock would I be? I don't think it is set super aggressive as is.
Ideally, I would like to monitor the next time I'm out using the OEM knock sensor. Is this worth doing or am I better off moving to a Bosch donut style sensor?

For info, BP4W, with Chinese 2871r, at around 16psi. Car was pretty down on power off the dyno too, which is what makes me believe I had a timing issue.

I'm open to suggestions as to why this may not be the cause of my issues, and if anyone would be willing to take a look at my tune I will gladly post it.

 

I don't understand that ignition table at all. Nothing looks right for any car I've ever seen. It's not shaped correctly and the values don't make sense.

 

I would imagine that's because my tuner didn't realize he was setting it up with the base timing completely wrong. To be honest this isn't the only aspect of the tune he did a bad job on, so at this point I am trying to damage control.

 

Considering that the base timing is retarded the boosted areas of the map seem reasonable if you’re on 91/93 octane. Maybe a few degrees retarded under 3500 RPM at the higher boost but that’s not bad. There are some oddities like the big jump in timing from 1000 to 1500 RPM, but other than that I’m not seeing huge red flags. Did the tuner use a load bearing Dyno for the vacuum areas?

I don’t think the base timing is the cause of your overheating issue. What makes you think so? You can fix the base timing and take off 6 degrees above 1500 RPM and it’ll run the same as now. I wouldn’t run this table if you fix the base timing, assuming the tuner did find MBT.

and yes post your map and we can look.

 

Current tune for anyone that's interested!

 

You've got all your tables in MAP, not MGP, you might consider doing the math and converting them all, but that's just my preference. Your afr table is at 14 at atmospheric, that's a bit lean. I'd typically run closer to 13. Same with your first boosted row at 7.3psi, it's at 12.85, I'd run that under 12.5, if not 12. Then you've got a row way up at 36psi at 11, I'd raise that to 11.3ish and interpolate to your new, lower, 7psi row. You can also bring that upper limit down to a more reasonable level to gain some resolution if you'd like it. Your engine will cut ignition at anything above 24psi anyways.

Something is wrong with your master fuel, your fuel table should be around 100 at 100kpa, or 14.5MAP in your case, but you're only at ~45.

 

On the topic of your question, would retarded timing significantly affect coolant temps? I don't think they would personally. At least not in the direction that you're thinking.

My thought process is that the combustion process releases the same amount of energy one way or another. With retarded ignition timing, more of the energy goes out the exhaust in the form of higher EGTs and pressures. This would likely heat up the turbo more, and then that will transfer some heat into the coolant.

With advanced timing, more energy is expelled within the engine itself. The turbo is still heated by the exhaust gas but just not to the same extent.

Which one generates more load on the cooling system? No clue, but if I had to guess, I don't think retarded timing would greatly increase the amount of heat. I might even guess that the advanced timing would create more heat. Anyone smarter than me want to chip in?

 

Retarded timing absolutely contributes to overheating.