My Engine and procharger issues
Banned
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,661
Likes: 0
From: east coast
dude..post exactly what they did..Screw them and screw what the mods think..You have a right to protect other consumers from making the same mistake...Your problem was caused by tuning the thing wrong..period!!!You ran WAY lean and it was their fault and you should have had an independant person look at the car first and put on paper what he thought the problem was..(like I said 10 pages ago) You got "F"ed and they knew it..I never seen a superchared car Vibrate and idle rough unless it had a RADICAL cam in it and was a straight up race car...
Improper tuning has blown like 4 motors on these boards and all the installers wouldnt stand behind their work and cost their customers thousands by making mistakes...I personally wouldnt let altered atmospheres tune a banjo after hearing this story.
And Ati Should have covered your engine if AA were certified by them to install their products. If you had 30,000 mile since the install I can see if it was your problem but 300 miles..C'mon now. That was obviously an improper install by a "certified ATI installer".lawsuit,lawsuit,lawsuit!!!!
Improper tuning has blown like 4 motors on these boards and all the installers wouldnt stand behind their work and cost their customers thousands by making mistakes...I personally wouldnt let altered atmospheres tune a banjo after hearing this story.
And Ati Should have covered your engine if AA were certified by them to install their products. If you had 30,000 mile since the install I can see if it was your problem but 300 miles..C'mon now. That was obviously an improper install by a "certified ATI installer".lawsuit,lawsuit,lawsuit!!!!
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 180
Likes: 0
From: NJ
Hey ravaz – I feel for you.
I can almost imagine the dismal circumstances that would cause you to get your car back from the shop in boxes. I envy your self-control. While I possess excellent self-control for most unforeseen events in my life, most people who know me well would tell you that I take my car personally. If I ever get my car back in a box like that, the mechanic responsible better get a good head start on his way to Mexico before I discover what happened! When I saw your pics I felt my blood pressure rising…
Whatever problems you have, I sincerely hope you work them out. I understand that you may not be able to post the details…its cool. Good luck to you.
Dmitry
I can almost imagine the dismal circumstances that would cause you to get your car back from the shop in boxes. I envy your self-control. While I possess excellent self-control for most unforeseen events in my life, most people who know me well would tell you that I take my car personally. If I ever get my car back in a box like that, the mechanic responsible better get a good head start on his way to Mexico before I discover what happened! When I saw your pics I felt my blood pressure rising…
Whatever problems you have, I sincerely hope you work them out. I understand that you may not be able to post the details…its cool. Good luck to you.
Dmitry
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 201
Likes: 0
From: Livermore, CA
i want to hear what happened only in hopes that,
in this instance, the customer beat the crap out of a bad vendor.
please at least say that you are, or have, done the equivalent
of shoving a rod up their ahole.
I know AA has done other cars properly (e.g. dr. bonz) but
they have to stand behind their mistakes too!
argh... please give us a "generic" description of how you got
justice...
in this instance, the customer beat the crap out of a bad vendor.
please at least say that you are, or have, done the equivalent
of shoving a rod up their ahole.
I know AA has done other cars properly (e.g. dr. bonz) but
they have to stand behind their mistakes too!
argh... please give us a "generic" description of how you got
justice...
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 420
Likes: 0
From: United States of America
Don't really need to know what happened. Would like to use this forum for helping others. Please tell us what you have learned from this experience and what you would do differently if you were able to start over at the beginning, of the upgrade in the performance of your Z. Thanks and good luck in the future.
The reason I took the car back from Altered Atmosphere is because the ~10 weeks it's been there, they just sucked.
After it blew, and before dropping the car off, I spoke with the owner and he just didn't have anything to say about it really just
"that sucks" etc.. He said the best thing to do was bring it back to them so they can determine what went wrong,
but I already knew from the leak down test what the problem was. Anyway, after a few days I'm like look what
are you guys going to do for me? They said they wanted to fix it, but everything would be at MY COST, and I would
get no deal or break or anything. I'm like well then why the hell would I bring it back to them? I knew it was a
lean condition, everyone did, and I'm sure it was something to do with their tuning. Well they refused to do anything
for me, so I came up with I pay half labor, and get all parts at cost. I guess they talked about it and finally agreed, I
wasn't 100% happy about this, I just spent $8300.00++ there the week before and only had the car for 24 hours, but
I had to get my car back on the road ASAP, so what was I going to do.
I dropped the car off on a Saturday, and they assured me they would work on it that Monday, well they didn't touch
it until the following Tuesday. OK, so we determine it's a blown piston (we knew this ~2 weeks ago). So with
that finally out of the way, next step is what are we going to do to fix this. Of course, my answer is well since
everything is taken apart, might as well build the engine up, most logical thing to do in my opinion. Well then
we find out that the block is screwed, and cyl 6 sleeve is damaged and we need a new block. I told them to find out
how much a bare block is from Nissan, heard the price of 1800$ or so, so I told them just have it resleeved, it will
be the cheapest solution but they refused to do it, mostly because they didn't know anyone in
the area that can do it. I told them to call around and the Service manager said he knew of a machine shop and had to
run there anyway so he would take the block to see if they can bore it out or see what they can do for it. Well he never
got back to me about that. I told them go ahead and find out how much pistons,
rods etc.. will be. So for a few days, I get no answers, no phone calls, I'm wondering WTF is going on. I call, they say
they are waiting for phone calls from the manufacturers, I say OK. Few more days pass, same thing, I'm like wtf
how long does it take. About 2 weeks goes by, no prices yet. I'm pissed. I get the same BS excuse from them.
A friend and I decide screw this, lets just call around and get prices. I can honestly say, within 2 minutes of
each phone call, we got prices and time estimates. I call them back like what the hell is going on, and they admit that they are just
busy and didn't keep on top of anything. So finally got some prices. So I asked them for a final cost on how
much everything will end up being, till this day I have never got an answer from them. Anytime I call (and I know I'm
not the only one), I get put on hold for an avg. of 10+ minutes, I have cell phone bills to prove it. My conversations
only last a minute or two with them. They say they will call me back, I think in the 50 times I called there, I got
2 or 3 calls back, with a whole shitload of promises. I'll be on the phone with the Service manager, then he tells
me to hold on, and I'm waiting 10 minutes, I hang up. It's usually towards the end of the business day, so I just call
back the next morning, I ask what the hell happened yesterday when I was talking to you, you told me to hold on and never
got back to the phone. He's like, oh really? Sorry about that. That place just sucks. I know I have changed my mind a
few times on what I wanted to do, but that's because they never gave any guidance or anything. As a shop, they should.
Instead I had to play secretary and make ALL the phone calls etc.. Sending the block to AEBS was my idea, why? Because
for 1800$ I get a block that's sleeved and decked and is strong as shiit. They say that the rebuild would have been done already
if I stopped changing my mind so much , but I suggested getting the block sleeved 8 weeks ago, and if it was just sent out then,
yeah it probably would have been finished or close to done. If they would have just called everyone like they promised,
and didn't jerk off for 2 weeks, then yeah maybe it would have been done. I had to call around to AEBS one day and I asked if they ever
received my block, about 2 weeks after they said they sent it, and no they didn't get it yet. AA went off on me because
I was calling manufactures "checking up" on them. I called once, because I was sick of the BS, I don't think I'm at fault,
I'm frustrated. So I decided to take the car back. Them going off on me that day, talking to me like that, plus all the BS and the way
they treated this whole situation, I decided enough is enough. I'd rather just spend the money and get a stock motor, and just use that
for now, and rebuild this whole thing with me and some friends over a few weeks in the winter, then let AA get my money and probably
screw up again. For god sakes, the owner didn't even know that status of my car, just that "it's taken apart",
didn't know anything about our plans really at all. Till this day, I'm not 100% sure why the car leaned out, was it their
install? Was it their tuning? Was it a Nissan part? Was it ATI? No idea. I asked them to find out what it was, and they didn't, even
at my expense I would have paid for it, just to know what the deal was. I'm sure I would have never found out if it was their
fault. So this is why I took my car back. I lost enough money renting trailers, renting trucks, gas money, days off of work and
personal time over this. I was nice, very patient with this. If they were local, it would have been different. Being 300
miles away from me, it's hard to go off on them over the phone when your always on hold...
I tried to cover up for them because I thought they would honestly take care of me, I figured they had a pretty good reputation, well what an IDIOT I am.
After it blew, and before dropping the car off, I spoke with the owner and he just didn't have anything to say about it really just
"that sucks" etc.. He said the best thing to do was bring it back to them so they can determine what went wrong,
but I already knew from the leak down test what the problem was. Anyway, after a few days I'm like look what
are you guys going to do for me? They said they wanted to fix it, but everything would be at MY COST, and I would
get no deal or break or anything. I'm like well then why the hell would I bring it back to them? I knew it was a
lean condition, everyone did, and I'm sure it was something to do with their tuning. Well they refused to do anything
for me, so I came up with I pay half labor, and get all parts at cost. I guess they talked about it and finally agreed, I
wasn't 100% happy about this, I just spent $8300.00++ there the week before and only had the car for 24 hours, but
I had to get my car back on the road ASAP, so what was I going to do.
I dropped the car off on a Saturday, and they assured me they would work on it that Monday, well they didn't touch
it until the following Tuesday. OK, so we determine it's a blown piston (we knew this ~2 weeks ago). So with
that finally out of the way, next step is what are we going to do to fix this. Of course, my answer is well since
everything is taken apart, might as well build the engine up, most logical thing to do in my opinion. Well then
we find out that the block is screwed, and cyl 6 sleeve is damaged and we need a new block. I told them to find out
how much a bare block is from Nissan, heard the price of 1800$ or so, so I told them just have it resleeved, it will
be the cheapest solution but they refused to do it, mostly because they didn't know anyone in
the area that can do it. I told them to call around and the Service manager said he knew of a machine shop and had to
run there anyway so he would take the block to see if they can bore it out or see what they can do for it. Well he never
got back to me about that. I told them go ahead and find out how much pistons,
rods etc.. will be. So for a few days, I get no answers, no phone calls, I'm wondering WTF is going on. I call, they say
they are waiting for phone calls from the manufacturers, I say OK. Few more days pass, same thing, I'm like wtf
how long does it take. About 2 weeks goes by, no prices yet. I'm pissed. I get the same BS excuse from them.
A friend and I decide screw this, lets just call around and get prices. I can honestly say, within 2 minutes of
each phone call, we got prices and time estimates. I call them back like what the hell is going on, and they admit that they are just
busy and didn't keep on top of anything. So finally got some prices. So I asked them for a final cost on how
much everything will end up being, till this day I have never got an answer from them. Anytime I call (and I know I'm
not the only one), I get put on hold for an avg. of 10+ minutes, I have cell phone bills to prove it. My conversations
only last a minute or two with them. They say they will call me back, I think in the 50 times I called there, I got
2 or 3 calls back, with a whole shitload of promises. I'll be on the phone with the Service manager, then he tells
me to hold on, and I'm waiting 10 minutes, I hang up. It's usually towards the end of the business day, so I just call
back the next morning, I ask what the hell happened yesterday when I was talking to you, you told me to hold on and never
got back to the phone. He's like, oh really? Sorry about that. That place just sucks. I know I have changed my mind a
few times on what I wanted to do, but that's because they never gave any guidance or anything. As a shop, they should.
Instead I had to play secretary and make ALL the phone calls etc.. Sending the block to AEBS was my idea, why? Because
for 1800$ I get a block that's sleeved and decked and is strong as shiit. They say that the rebuild would have been done already
if I stopped changing my mind so much , but I suggested getting the block sleeved 8 weeks ago, and if it was just sent out then,
yeah it probably would have been finished or close to done. If they would have just called everyone like they promised,
and didn't jerk off for 2 weeks, then yeah maybe it would have been done. I had to call around to AEBS one day and I asked if they ever
received my block, about 2 weeks after they said they sent it, and no they didn't get it yet. AA went off on me because
I was calling manufactures "checking up" on them. I called once, because I was sick of the BS, I don't think I'm at fault,
I'm frustrated. So I decided to take the car back. Them going off on me that day, talking to me like that, plus all the BS and the way
they treated this whole situation, I decided enough is enough. I'd rather just spend the money and get a stock motor, and just use that
for now, and rebuild this whole thing with me and some friends over a few weeks in the winter, then let AA get my money and probably
screw up again. For god sakes, the owner didn't even know that status of my car, just that "it's taken apart",
didn't know anything about our plans really at all. Till this day, I'm not 100% sure why the car leaned out, was it their
install? Was it their tuning? Was it a Nissan part? Was it ATI? No idea. I asked them to find out what it was, and they didn't, even
at my expense I would have paid for it, just to know what the deal was. I'm sure I would have never found out if it was their
fault. So this is why I took my car back. I lost enough money renting trailers, renting trucks, gas money, days off of work and
personal time over this. I was nice, very patient with this. If they were local, it would have been different. Being 300
miles away from me, it's hard to go off on them over the phone when your always on hold...
I tried to cover up for them because I thought they would honestly take care of me, I figured they had a pretty good reputation, well what an IDIOT I am.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 331
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore/DC Area
Damn dude! That really sucks. I'm glad you got that off your chest and hope it feels a little better although I'm sure it doesn't help your wallet. To me this is just stupid of AA. Why let something like this get out of control when your reputation is on the line? So it cost $2-$4000 to help you out. That alone is worth your reputation and a shop like that can easily expense something out. I know because I run a large shop. Now $2-$4k is going to cost them tens of thousands because who is going to go there now? They are forever scarred. No it won't put them out of business but I am sure it will hurt their business. The right thing to do was help you out one way or the other. Just not worth risking your reputation over this much money. The way the internet works these days a post like this can make it onto every website and if you don't think that the internet can affect you then your pretty naive. Best of luck to you bud! It's nice to know the truth, something we've suspected all a long anyway.
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 531
Likes: 0
From: maryland
sorry to hear about that. i know you said that we need to talk so hit me up sometime. glad to see that you got your car back and don't have to get headache over them not doing the work. don't feel bad for checking up on the status of your car.
I want to say more, but I'm going to wait. There's more.. Bottom line is they didn't take care of me like they should have.
Damen, I dropped you a msg on MSN, when you get a second respond to that..
I ordered the engine, going to be here in a week, then I'll just put it in on a Saturday morning. I don't think I'm going to put the SC back on right away, probably wait a few days make sure everything is cool with the car, then throw it back on. I'm still going to go on with the rebuild of the other engine, that hopefully will be finished by the end of Jan. Good think about NC, the track is open almost all year. We'll see what happens.
Damen, I dropped you a msg on MSN, when you get a second respond to that..
I ordered the engine, going to be here in a week, then I'll just put it in on a Saturday morning. I don't think I'm going to put the SC back on right away, probably wait a few days make sure everything is cool with the car, then throw it back on. I'm still going to go on with the rebuild of the other engine, that hopefully will be finished by the end of Jan. Good think about NC, the track is open almost all year. We'll see what happens.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 201
Likes: 0
From: Livermore, CA
geez, ravaz, i feel for you.
if you were close to me, i'd help you for free just
because it's such bad luck.
Good news is that MaxHax
won his small claims case against FFP. I think your
case is more straight forward and worse.
We should have a sticky thread of "when irresponsible
tuners go bad", although this board's mod would probably
never allow it. another idea, after your case is settled,
is to simply created a simply website (9.95 per year!) that
hosts these horror stories... hmm, wonder if one already
exists!
best of luck,
rob
if you were close to me, i'd help you for free just
because it's such bad luck.
Good news is that MaxHax
won his small claims case against FFP. I think your
case is more straight forward and worse.
We should have a sticky thread of "when irresponsible
tuners go bad", although this board's mod would probably
never allow it. another idea, after your case is settled,
is to simply created a simply website (9.95 per year!) that
hosts these horror stories... hmm, wonder if one already
exists!
best of luck,
rob
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 331
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore/DC Area
I think everyone that can help out ravaz in this situation should stand up and see if they can give a brother a hand. This is just way messed up! I wish I worked at a nissan dealership because if I did I'd hook you up. (I work for Dodge). Any dealers that read this post I would hope extend a hand to help out. Hopefully a few handy techs could help you out as well. Any interest in getting a little kitty together? I'm not saying we should all give hundreds of dollars but a little bit from a lot of people can add up. Maybe we should start a new thread from this. Suggestions?