Time and materials for repair work is one thing, but that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. They may as well add in ASE cert. materials/time/course costs, ect in as well.
When I repair something for someone that I haven't done before, I don't charge them for the time I spent on the computer researching common problems to be had, just wrench turning time. I don't see the need to do anything more.
Besides, now from this point they should have the knowledge from that day forward to work with that same sort of ECM, unless the guy that learned it quit. I doubt they payed him $50, 45, 40, or even 35/hr either. It just seems shady to me.
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In the engineering world that is called NRE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-recurring_engineering)
It doesn't seem unreasonable to charge a customer for all your time. Maybe not the best way to develop a new business or customer base... But certainly no different than a mechanic charging you time and materials for a job.Leave a comment:
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Yeah, but charging your customers for learning how to tune? That's like a mechanic charging a fee for part of his rent and tools.
I would find a new tuner for sure.Leave a comment:
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I would think tuning cost depends on the shop and how much fine tuning they do. If the shop dyno rate is $50/hour you are buying 40 hours of their time.
I'd ask for an itemized estimate.
What strikes me as odd is that the shop already knows how to tune one (from previous customers) so it should save them time and you money.Leave a comment:
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I can see $2k for installing, wiring, and tuning a standalone. But for tuning alone, that's crazy.
So do you already have a Haltech? If so, are you getting a new one, or just retuning the one you have?
TimLeave a comment:
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A base tune is the basically just a very basic starting point just to get the engine to actually start and idle on its own, that way you can start tuning and get it all dialed in.Leave a comment:
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I'm going to start a search for new tuner. I am really new at this, so I have a huge learning curve to work throuh. What do you mean by a base tune. I spoke with the haltech guy about getting a new computer (easier to use/tune) which will wire right up to the current wire harness. I bought the car with the computer wired in, so that is why I'm working with a standalone. I think the current tune will work, but I have a stronger motor with stronger internals so I would like to pull as much power out of the motor as safely as possible.Leave a comment:
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sounds like you need to find a new tuner.... I would also look for someone with a base tune to start with on a 3x00 motor and go from there. Also you can tune the stock ecu which is good from quite a bit of power. any reason you are running a standalone vs the stock ecu and HP Tuners? the stock ECU has all the BS already in there, smooth idle and drivability.. Just a thought.
SLeave a comment:
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Tuning a Haltech E6A
Hey guys, have any of you had experience tuning a Haltech E6A engine managment system with a 2000 3100 motor? I talked to a shop here in WI and he told me that the last cavi they tuned cost over $2000! They said it cost so much because before they could tune it, they had to do the homework to learn how to tune it first. They said that the "homework" was a lot of that $2000. I figure, if I do some of that "homework" now, it could save me money in the long run. Thanks, Brett
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