Is putting your car on a dyno good for it or potentially harmful?

[berg]

I have had my car dyno'ed 4 times now - twice at Awesome, twice at PDT(Sedox)

Each time I always have that excitement of potentially knowing how the mods i have done might affect torque/hp but that is always offset by the dislike of seeing the nuts revved off your beloved motor and it not actually going anywhere. In fact I have not yet had a run which did not highlight problems.

Is there any evidence to show dyno runs can actually damage your car?

My distrust of them is in part is fuelled by fact that after my last one my car was fooked and i had to have new gearbox, slave, master and DMF! 

Now, there was no evidence that the dyno was in anyway responsible for this; how could it be? Merely, that the dyno run highlighted the problem and exacerbated it accelerating its demise.
 
On the other hand should you view a dyno run as a health check, as it highlights any problems before they get out of hand eg boost leaks, issues with EGTs, timing etc?

[xjay1337]

Why would it cause any more stress on your car than driving it on the road in the same manner?

The fact you've not had a run that did not highlight problems just meant your car had problems.. ?

Your car doesn't know that it's not moving, as far as it's concerned it's on the open road. It's not going to go.. "right, we are on a dyno, let's break!"

 

[berg]

Why would it cause any more stress on your car than driving it on the road in the same manner?

The fact you've not had a run that did not highlight problems just meant your car had problems.. ?

Your car doesn't know that it's not moving, as far as it's concerned it's on the open road. It's not going to go.. "right, we are on a dyno, let's break!"

 

True, but is more stress not caused by the fact that you dont take your car up to the rev limiter on the road repeatedly? (well i dont anyway and never give it any beans until the Polar Fis says oil is up to about 80 degrees).

[xjay1337]

Your car won't instantly break if you redline it a few times, after all, it's a maximum SAFE rpm for the engine. As I said it's no different to driving on the road, infact I'd argue there is slightly LESS stress due to air resistance and the fact the rolling road won't completely and exactly replicate the drag the car would get on the road.


Neither would they drive it aggressively on the dyno with cold oil!

[berg]

Your car won't instantly break if you redline it a few times, after all, it's a maximum SAFE rpm for the engine. As I said it's no different to driving on the road, infact I'd argue there is slightly LESS stress due to air resistance and the fact the rolling road won't completely and exactly replicate the drag the car would get on the road.


Neither would they drive it aggressively on the dyno with cold oil!

Yes I know it would not be driven from cold, especially when 9/10 car is warm from your journey getting there. So in a nutshell, in your opinion there is no downside at all to a dyno run. I have my final few mods going on so would potentially like to have another one, as I say I just dont have a good track record with them at all..

[xjay1337]

I would say personally no.
My old TDI probably had 35 dyno runs in its life across various states of tune, never had any problems.

I'd say the most dangerous thing about dynoing the car is making sure it's secured properly, we have all seen the Youtube videos 

[PDT]

With the right level of cooling and a good dyno it actually puts less stress than a full throttle run on the road, you are not dragging any weight anywhere, not having to push through the air, the car is being monitored etc...

I have used some dynos with inadequate cooling where exhaust hangers have got so hot they have melted the rubbers and oil temps, intake temps and gearbox temps have got so high they could cause damage.

While developing the BMW 335d software we did 118 runs over a 2 day period as well as lots of steady state mapping (where you hold a given rpm against a high load) and 3 years on and 30k miles later its still perfect.

In 8 years of having our Dyno Dynamics we have only had 3 memorable component failures; propshaft on a cossie, turbo on a pd130 bora and a boost hose on some jap high powered thing that made a LOUD bang, 2 where due to incorrect fitment, one was due to a KKK turbo.

Cooling and monitoring are the most important factors.

[berg]

Cheers Dave, I was hoping from some input from a tuner. I will be back for next one on your dyno seeing as last two runs made 319 and then 361 horsies after you sorted pesky boost leak. It such a shame that my joy at how well the car was pulling was so shortlived that never made it home before clutch pedal was slow to return which turned out to be far more serious than could have thought at the time.

[bigeyd]

If you are asking the question then you should not even dream about dyno'ing it.

[GrayMK5GTI]

I read something in a Jap car magazine where a tuner had done over 1000 dyno runs with a Civic Type-R developing hardware etc. As PDT says though, it's ness harmful than doing a full throttle run on the road where the engine has to shift the weight of the car, you & your passengers and also wind resistance 

If you consider all that, it's actually a LOT less stressful to the car than a hard drive on the road. Providing the cooling is adequate 

[dmac1969]

Ive only had my car dyno'd once (at a Forum meet at PDT) - as its a standard car it maybe under a bit less strain than a Golf putting out 300 plus BHP , but my car has been perfect since it ran on the rollers there.

[aslz78]

It is if your this guy

[rich83]

With the right level of cooling and a good dyno it actually puts less stress than a full throttle run on the road, you are not dragging any weight anywhere, not having to push through the air, the car is being monitored etc...

I have used some dynos with inadequate cooling where exhaust hangers have got so hot they have melted the rubbers and oil temps, intake temps and gearbox temps have got so high they could cause damage.

While developing the BMW 335d software we did 118 runs over a 2 day period as well as lots of steady state mapping (where you hold a given rpm against a high load) and 3 years on and 30k miles later its still perfect.

In 8 years of having our Dyno Dynamics we have only had 3 memorable component failures; propshaft on a cossie, turbo on a pd130 bora and a boost hose on some jap high powered thing that made a LOUD bang, 2 where due to incorrect fitment, one was due to a KKK turbo.

Cooling and monitoring are the most important factors.

Doesnt the dyno put a load on the engine though?

TBH... there are thousands of cars dyno's across the world every day.... i dont see a problem, unless there is a physical issue with the car in the first place.

[divweir]

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[Jussa]

Only if u put it on this dyno 

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