Ok, correct me if I'm wrong... but this thing sux the royal azz.

Here's why (IMHO):
1) The instructions that shipped with it where wrong
2) The wires shipped with it are about 1 1/2 feet to short
3) it's a ***** to find the correct pins on the ecu (not really J&S's problem, but better instructions would help)
4) Set the dip switches wrong and you'll blow fuses you didn't even know you had
5) Costs to much
6) The updated timing curve in my ecu stops the unit from ever even kicking in
7) After it's finally installed I keep getting check engine light
8) After it's installed I keep getting dumped into safe mode
9) The install support offered by J&S was useless
10) The installer I bought it from now denies even knowing me
11) $1500 later and I'm still not convinced

oh well, one of these days I'll learn not to be a Guinee Pig... until then oink oink.

 

I think the problem is

1) the person/shop you bought it from
2) the person/shop that installed it.

those might be the same person/shop.. either way.. no one else has complained about any issues with the J&S unit.

 

Dude, what the hell are you talking about. I'm sure it's not installed right, I guarantee it. I think you need to rename the title of this post to "MY INSTALLER SUCKS D!CK AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I'M TALKING ABOUT" How is it too expensive? And how the hell did you spend 1500$ on this? And your not a Guinea pig, you know a few of us have this unit installed, and have 0 problems with it, including me. The unit kicks *** and does it's job, period.

 

Where do you have your J&S unit mounted? Do you have any pictures?

 

1) One of the colors was wrong, if the installer knew what he was doing, he'd have gone off the ECU pin numbers, not the colors. The colors are just there to point you in the right direction. If you noticed there were a couple of wires that were the exact same color on the same ECU connector.

2) Huh??? My wires were long enough. There's always the option of splicing in a longer wire. Probably only cost $5 in supplies.

3) Not a problem with the J&S system.

4) Huh?? Sounds like the installer messed something up. No way should you be blowing fuses unless he wired something up wrong.

5) See answer to #11

6) If you updated your ECU, why did you get the J&S in the first place?

7) See #4

8) See #4

9) The support J&S has offered has been superb. John has answered dozens of questions on this very forum, and has contributed his extensive knowledge to several threads to raise the forum's collective IQ on timing issues.

10) Doesn't seem like something you should be blaming on J&S. If you bought a Bridgestone tire from Walmart and the tire fell off from bad installation, would you blame Bridgestone????

11) No wonder you think it's too expensive. The company charged you $1000 more than it costs if you had purchased it from John directly.



Personally, I have had zero problems with the J&S unit. John has given superb service and I would recommend his unit to anybody who needs to retard their timing.

You're not a guinea pig, sorry if your installer blows, but at least figure out what's wrong and then blame the right person.

 

Damn, you'd think I'd insulted your mother's virtue or something.

Just because you didn't have any issues doesn't mean others won't and I have every right to discuss my experience.

to clarify a few points:
the dealer I bought it from isn't the one who installed it because I moved to a new state before he could get the part delivered.
the part itself only costs, what $469, but by the time you add a day of tuning, installation, diagnosing what's wrong with the installation instructions, diagnosing why it's blowing fuses, it adds up quick. If I knew of a Z shop (instead of a mustang shop) in my area (Melbourne, FL) I would have gone there for the install instead.

The instructions for installing the unit were updated online THE DAY AFTER I started my install.

When the installer called John and asked why it was blowing the 15 amp fuse behind the battery, John said he had heard of the issue but didn't know how to resolve it. After a few hours of f'ing around with it the installer finally discovered it was the way the dip switches were set.

John also told my installer that he had only sold 2 of these units so far. I think that qualifies as a guinee pig.


Yes, my installer sucked on the Z
Yes, I got butt raped on the install / tuning / diagnosing costs
Yes, I'm pissed because a simple "4 hour job" turns into a 2 day fiasco.

If people are gonna buy this thing they should be aware of the good and the bad.

The reason I have the Safeguard and the ECU update is I ordered the Safeguard before I had the ECU timing modified.

 

the "extra wires" that cost me $8 in shop supplies...

 

Thanks to the members standing up for J&S.

To noahbuddy, sorry for your bad experience, but I did try to help the installer. Also, I apologize for not updating the instructions earlier.

I hate all these details, but this is what happened:

I talked to Mario from Lugo Performance on 1/22. At the time, we had shipped maybe a dozen 350z/G35 units, but had feedback from only a couple, including GaryK, Nd4Spd, Ravaz, Jesse, and somebody named Mike. This is in addition to half a dozen more units to guys on the Maxima forum (same unit). MardiGraMax volunteered to be the guinea pig, about a year and a half ago.

When Mario called, I told him what the error was, and that I had just corrected it the night before on our website.

Both Ravaz and Mike had blown fuse #82, due to misswires. Mike had pointed out the wire color to one of the coils on my instructions was wrong, and Ravaz just made a mistake.

Mario said he had it running, then everything went dead, so I suggested it might have blown fuse #82.

Mario and I didn't know where that fuse was, so I called Mike, and he told me where to find it. I called Mario back, told him where to find the fuse, and also faxed wiring diagrams that Jesse and Mike had given me.

***
I don't know why your check engine light is on. Bypass the unit, and see if it goes away.

If you think there is something wrong with the unit, I'd be glad to check it out. Please include $10 for return shipping.

 

was that necessary?

 

Dad, is that you?

 

no son it wasn't and yes i'm stilliout getting milk from the store sorry i took 5 years