Diesel Tuning Fundamentals

Learning how to tune diesel engines has been notoriously difficult. The diesel tuning industry is unique as there’s no formal qualification path you can take that will make you a recognised diesel tuner. This makes it hard if you’ve got an interest in diesel tuning and want to learn more. It also means that many of those tuners out there in the industry right now don’t have a proper understanding of what they’re doing and the results are predictable - Poor engine performance, terrible driveability, and of course, needlessly damaged engines.

Modern diesel engines already offer impressive power and torque in many instances straight off the show room floor, but it’s what these engines can deliver with some basic modifications to the factory tuning that is really exciting. It’s not uncommon to see improvements in power and torque of more than 25% without even making any mechanical changes. Like any engine though, unlocking the potential from a diesel engine while ensuring the engine remains reliable requires in depth knowledge of the principles behind diesel operation, as well as how the tuning parameters affect the engine.

The Diesel Tuning Fundamentals teaches you the core principles behind the operation of a common rail diesel engine. You’ll learn how the diesel engine operates, how the combustion process occurs, and how engine torque is controlled by the fuel delivery. You’ll learn how a modern common rail diesel fuel system works and in particular how the fuel pressure affects the engine’s performance. You’ll learn about injection timing and see how this affects both performance and emissions. With emissions becoming increasingly important, you’ll also learn about the emissions from a diesel engine and see how these emissions can be dealt with, both with hardware such as EGR systems and Diesel Particulate Filters, as well as how the Nox emissions and exhaust smoke are affected by our tuning changes. You’ll also learn about pilot injection events and see how these can be used to reduce that knocking sound that diesel engines are so well known for. In each instance you’ll also see the concepts being demonstrated in real time on our dyno to really reinforce the topics being taught.

This course isn’t specific to any particular engine or any particular ECU. Instead it focuses on the core principles that are applicable to any engine and ECU. Understanding these will allow you to apply your knowledge regardless what type of diesel engine you’re personally interested in. So regardless whether you’re reflashing the factory fitted ECU in your Ford powerstroke or GM Duramax, or you’ve fitted an aftermarket diesel ECU to your Toyota Hilux, this course will be perfect for you.