i agree with the bad flash theory. I would still verify timing and cam sensor anyways. i have 272/272 on stock ecu and ZERO issues. Nice lopy idle, Its nice.......

 

How do you drive in traffic?... Boston traffic is pretty bad.. I can't imagine driving this car in bad traffic... I work and live in the city so...

Without a flash does the car stall at all?.. I really do not mind the lopey idle its not even a big deal and when people hear it they know I have agressive cams.

I stall every single time I would be reversing or moving up little by little example into a parking spot or bumper to bumper traffic.

I also have black residue crap spitting out my exhaust and if I leave my car idling for about 10 mins you can notice a long straight black line on the ground.

 

BIG QUESTION now.. I might even make a new post out of this if I don't get alot of replies...

I have considered 75% sure that the tune is my cars problem... I just can't believe it because AL flashed my car... I've heard so many great reviews on him and I myself trust his work... People at my local shop tells me its the tune... I mean I consider them because they are witnessing how my car acts and installed Cam Gears and Recirculating BOV and we still seeing same results with the car.

Now my question is.. who to turn to for another flash... Dynoflash or TurboTrix.

Here my comparison:

Turbotrix in NJ is a long long long *** drive.. I don't want to drive that far.. Pruven is already far for me... but probably only half as far as TurboTrix... I'm NOT sending my ECU through the mail.

Al may have messed up my tune.. I don't know so I can't blame, I wish I was more knowledgable with my car although I've learned so much from this forum. Even if Al did mess up my tune... people make mistakes right?

I called TurboTrix... whoever picked up was really really nice to me... answered every question I had.. called back 30 mins later and answered more questions I had.. He was talking to me and I heard a car on the dyno and then he apologized of the noise... wow... thats awesome customer service.

I haven't talked to AL much to consider rating his customer service but he doesn't pick up the phone very well... same goes for Pruven.. but Pruven seemed to do an awesome job on my cam install and Dan know's alot of his stuff.

I AM BROKE... I mean very broke.. I have very little funds at the moment.. I'm looking to GO to a tuner and have a mail in flash done on site. I can't afford another $500 for custom tune right now.

I'm not 100% comfortable going back to AL.. but I might do it anyway just because it's more convenient for me to get there. I'm hoping he can fix my tune and charge me a reasonable price.

I cannot live without my car any longer.. I struggle to work without it.

I've been getting too many check engine lights after the tune... it's another reason I'm thinking its the tune.

Possibly I may ask him if he could make my tune less aggressive even if I lose power aslong as I get my drivability back I'm done with power...

I was 11.2 a/f ratio on the dyno at the time and I only made 316whp 330wtq on Pruvens dyno... was a little dissapointed with those numbers but even worse the way my car drove home..

 

What kind of vacuum are you pulling at idle?

 

^That's what I asked.
Have you taken the car back to the place that did the install? Did you just drive off with the idle problems? Is it just a bad vacume line? I forgot to connect one when I did my install and were experiencing the same problems you are having. CEL's and very poor idle/stalling.

 

Here's a little story...

I re-built a motor for this customer. Keeps coming back every so often with a " check engine " light P0171 lean code. I changed plugs,injectors,swapped coil packs,maf,re-flashed his ecu with a current update, ect...Guess what..he still has the light with the same code.

I've re-built hundreds of motors but something told me it's mechanical. Popped the valve cover off and saw the exhaust cam was off a tooth. I was glad and pissed off at the same time. Set the timing and problem was solved.

Lesson learned. Doesn't mean how many times you do a job the same way your not always going to get it right 100% . Your always going to make mistakes down the road.

I could be wrong on this but....If I were you. I'd check those timing marks !!

.

 

Maybe your cams are off a tooth or two,who installed your cam gears?
Since you say it ran great before cams that is what I would check first.
Also just put the stock BOV in and see what that does, if it helps then you have narrowed it down.

 

EVO8BuOY, please read the following:

 

Damn... I don't know what to say... I don't want to drive back to the original installer... its a really long trip and I've been very busy lately.

I did drive away with the bad idle... At the time they told me the V-T-A BOV was the problem.. so I ordered a new recirculating BOV after I left ofcourse and switched it over... still nothing... cam gears also.. still nothing.

You guys are right... I did mention something about cam shafts installation could possibly be wrong.. here's what I heard back... do you think a shop that installed cams 1000 times messed up on yours....

I really want to go back without a good justification or they might just tell me to get lost.

I vacuum at about 10-15... that's on a inaccurate boost guage tho.. I mean it's 5 PSI off the actual boost so I don't got great tools to work with here.

 

arrow should be pointing up and to the right corner. like this /

I don't think that is your problem... it has to be your cam timing. Take it back to the shop and tell them all the diagnosis you've done then ask them to double check the timing.

 

Thats a shame when you ask a shop to recheck their work and they say" do you think a shop that has installed a 1000 cams messed up your install" ....people, including shops make mistakes. In a nutshell; car worked fine,put in cams and now it doesnt run right...Hello

 

I'm going to say either cam timing, a bad flash, or a bad MAF is your problem. Here is how I would proceed to figure out which one it is.

1. Check cam timing, like at least 5 people have already said. It is very easy and if you have any mechanical ability you can do it. You are going to looking to see that the crank is at TDC and hash marks on the outer portion of your cam gears line up with the slots in the valave cover. Someone posted a link to a "how to" a page back. If they don't this is probably your problem. Then go back to that install shop and kick the guy in nuts and proceed to motherf*ck him until you feel better. It is not professional to have a "We can't screw up" attitude. Everyone makes mistakes.

2. Bad MAF, if you have your stock airbox and recic valve put them back on to make sure they aren't pissing off the MAF. I know you said you had them before all this started happening but, we are looking to take things out of the equation now. If that doesn't help take it to the dealership and have them check the MAF. They will probably do it for free and hope for you to buy a replacement from them if it is defective. Also take SAFC out of the equation.

3.Which leads us to a bad flash. I would say there have been equally as many "bad" thread as there has been "good' thread on Al. I'm not bashing him, I'm just saying there have been alot of people who have had problems with him. One thing to check before you go through all that is if you have a good connection into the ECU. Maybe you bent a pin trying to plug it back in and it isn't making a good contact. If you go through all this other stuff and it doesn't fix it the computer is the last new part that could be causing this. Call Al and work something out, either a free reflash to get it right or a flash back to stock and a refund.

Good luck.

 

Damn dude, check the freaking timing. All your doing is whining. We are all trying to help you figure it out but there comes a time in life when YOU HAVE TO HELP YOURSELF.

2 min to pull gear cover.
2 minutes to rotate engine using cam gear bolt. (rotate clockwise as looking at gears)
2 minutes to locate lower mark.(its hard to see but you definately can)
5 minutes cause your a newby at wrenching
= 11 minutes. The same amount of time it took to write your last message. Now, go get it on!!!!

 

ok ok jeez... I don't really want to touch the engine myself I have a friend at a local shop and he's the coolest guy but last time I came visit him he said to me no.. you need to go to the original shop that installed your cams your car was fine before the cam install and ECU flash... I'm tired of you wasting your money here, you bought parts and parts and you still have the same problem, I really don't feel comfortable touching anything in my car and also I don't have any.. ANY tools to do it..

 

btw.. i emailed dan at pruven to ask him about it... since i have no luck reaching them through phone.