My evo blew up a week after Undercover Performance tune.
Evolved Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 261
From: New York
Pay to Play
This is going to sound real harsh. But that's the cost you pay to play. I happen to do all my work and tuning so I have no one to blame but myself. I feel bad for these speed shops that have some car show up with an unknown history, not running right, leaking, needing a water pump and timing belt, and the owner wants MORE POWER and a tune for that EVO power we all know and love.
The car goes boom, and the tuner is to blame.
~Jaraxle
The car goes boom, and the tuner is to blame.
~Jaraxle
This is my opinion in general, about tuning.
if the car didn't changed when left the tuner.... its hard to argue with a customer then.
Tuner No1 priority to make the engine run safe first, and should be some failure calculated in, meaning leave some room if something happens .
You can fill up with bad gas( not neccesrly with bad octain, specially with E85 and so) or you can run into other like fuel delivery problems etc, the STOCK ECU has enough safety features to prevent many bad scenario. So when the stock ecu engine blows and the cars wasn't touched after left a tuner, hard to not picking him first.
This is easy to prevent, either refuse to tune a car if the tuner feels unstable platform , or not let the customer go until the car is reliable.
That is no one else responsibility , but the tuner. Not even a builder, if that is different.
Just saying.
Rob
if the car didn't changed when left the tuner.... its hard to argue with a customer then.
Tuner No1 priority to make the engine run safe first, and should be some failure calculated in, meaning leave some room if something happens .
You can fill up with bad gas( not neccesrly with bad octain, specially with E85 and so) or you can run into other like fuel delivery problems etc, the STOCK ECU has enough safety features to prevent many bad scenario. So when the stock ecu engine blows and the cars wasn't touched after left a tuner, hard to not picking him first.
This is easy to prevent, either refuse to tune a car if the tuner feels unstable platform , or not let the customer go until the car is reliable.
That is no one else responsibility , but the tuner. Not even a builder, if that is different.
Just saying.
Rob
Last edited by Robevo RS; Dec 6, 2015 at 07:47 AM.
Hey everyone, my car blew up like 6 weeks ago as the title say.
I bought evo 8 with 21k miles from a guy off craigslist, the car wasnt running right but the guy i bought it from said that undercover owes him a tune (already paid for), their dyno had something wrong with it for like 3 months and i had trouble with inspection cuz it runs on AEM V1.
So, after i got it inspected, 3 months later, i went back to them after they fixed the dyno to get the tune, and also install cams. They called an hour after tellin me that they cant install the cams without springs and retaines even when i told them we gonna keep it stock rev limit on my own responsibility. So i told them lets just get the tune without cams. Then a little bit after they called me again telling me that my car has a leak in the waterpump and it gonna cost me $1300 to do waterpump and timingbelt! I thought it was too much, so i went the day after to pick the car to find my bill is $321. I didnt really know for what, after a little argument i paid 250 and took the car.
After i fixed the water pump to get tune and swap to smaller injectors, after a little trouble with the injectors the car got tuned made 296/279. I was pretty happy with the numbers, but i looked at the boost gauge and the car is tuned to 28 psi!! Stock block,stock turbo and pump gas. Also, they know that this block doesnt have 21k like the car cuz it was a jdm engine swapped(unknown miles). I called them telling them about boost increase which i didnt ask for they told me that i can stop by monday to lower it. So friday i was coming back from work and just wanted to make pull and BOOM and fire from the hood and the exhaust. The next morning, checking the car to find a hole in the block. So i called them telling them what happened they tried to blame it on that the block is unknown miles, and when i told them maybe the too much boost, he said:"thats how make hp gains man the car was tuned right but the block didnt handle". And then they told me that they can swap engine in for me for $800 labor "only" and after what they did, i dont think i will let them work on my car again.
So, right now my is in the garage waiting for the rebuild hopefully soon. I just wanted to share what happened with me with everybody.
I bought evo 8 with 21k miles from a guy off craigslist, the car wasnt running right but the guy i bought it from said that undercover owes him a tune (already paid for), their dyno had something wrong with it for like 3 months and i had trouble with inspection cuz it runs on AEM V1.
So, after i got it inspected, 3 months later, i went back to them after they fixed the dyno to get the tune, and also install cams. They called an hour after tellin me that they cant install the cams without springs and retaines even when i told them we gonna keep it stock rev limit on my own responsibility. So i told them lets just get the tune without cams. Then a little bit after they called me again telling me that my car has a leak in the waterpump and it gonna cost me $1300 to do waterpump and timingbelt! I thought it was too much, so i went the day after to pick the car to find my bill is $321. I didnt really know for what, after a little argument i paid 250 and took the car.
After i fixed the water pump to get tune and swap to smaller injectors, after a little trouble with the injectors the car got tuned made 296/279. I was pretty happy with the numbers, but i looked at the boost gauge and the car is tuned to 28 psi!! Stock block,stock turbo and pump gas. Also, they know that this block doesnt have 21k like the car cuz it was a jdm engine swapped(unknown miles). I called them telling them about boost increase which i didnt ask for they told me that i can stop by monday to lower it. So friday i was coming back from work and just wanted to make pull and BOOM and fire from the hood and the exhaust. The next morning, checking the car to find a hole in the block. So i called them telling them what happened they tried to blame it on that the block is unknown miles, and when i told them maybe the too much boost, he said:"thats how make hp gains man the car was tuned right but the block didnt handle". And then they told me that they can swap engine in for me for $800 labor "only" and after what they did, i dont think i will let them work on my car again.
So, right now my is in the garage waiting for the rebuild hopefully soon. I just wanted to share what happened with me with everybody.
for me the whole thing sounds just bad.
So when you build the car , look some one who will buld it for you and find a shop who has enough credibility for a build . Then get a great tuner.
Dont try to save money and ending up spending more again.
There is some good shops around in NJ NY.
ROb
Last edited by Robevo RS; Dec 6, 2015 at 07:53 AM.
This is going to sound real harsh. But that's the cost you pay to play. I happen to do all my work and tuning so I have no one to blame but myself. I feel bad for these speed shops that have some car show up with an unknown history, not running right, leaking, needing a water pump and timing belt, and the owner wants MORE POWER and a tune for that EVO power we all know and love.
The car goes boom, and the tuner is to blame.
~Jaraxle
The car goes boom, and the tuner is to blame.
~Jaraxle
This is my opinion in general, about tuning.
if the car didn't changed when left the tuner.... its hard to argue with a customer then.
Tuner No1 priority to make the engine run safe first, and should be some failure calculated in, meaning leave some room if something happens .
You can fill up with bad gas( not neccesrly with bad octain, specially with E85 and so) or you can run into other like fuel delivery problems etc, the STOCK ECU has enough safety features to prevent many bad scenario. So when the stock ecu engine blows and the cars wasn't touched after left a tuner, hard to not picking him first.
This is easy to prevent, either refuse to tune a car if the tuner feels unstable platform , or not let the customer go until the car is reliable.
That is no one else responsibility , but the tuner. Not even a builder, if that is different.
Just saying.
Rob
if the car didn't changed when left the tuner.... its hard to argue with a customer then.
Tuner No1 priority to make the engine run safe first, and should be some failure calculated in, meaning leave some room if something happens .
You can fill up with bad gas( not neccesrly with bad octain, specially with E85 and so) or you can run into other like fuel delivery problems etc, the STOCK ECU has enough safety features to prevent many bad scenario. So when the stock ecu engine blows and the cars wasn't touched after left a tuner, hard to not picking him first.
This is easy to prevent, either refuse to tune a car if the tuner feels unstable platform , or not let the customer go until the car is reliable.
That is no one else responsibility , but the tuner. Not even a builder, if that is different.
Just saying.
Rob
I was quoted $1200 by IveyTune, who btw is really pissing me off after I called & emailed them multiple times about sending me a price break down and they have still not done it. Is $1300 really that crazy?
Last edited by Kreeker; Dec 9, 2015 at 01:02 PM.
. It isn't $1300.
Is $1300 really off the mark for timing belt & water pump service?
I was quoted $1200 by IveyTune, who btw is really pissing me off after I called & emailed them multiple times about sending me a price break down and they have still not done it. Is $1300 really that crazy?
I was quoted $1200 by IveyTune, who btw is really pissing me off after I called & emailed them multiple times about sending me a price break down and they have still not done it. Is $1300 really that crazy?
all oem parts (especially IX water pump) add up to to over $700 and its easily a 4 hour job so it depends on what they charge for labor
??? Water pump is about $250 and $120 for a timing belt, $330 if you're replacing all of the tensioners+belt as well. So you're looking at $580 max for parts. If someone is charging $700+ for labor, something is seriously wrong. Are you replacing more than water pump, tensioners and belt?
I have tuned many stock turbo evos running around NY/NJ. Most are 27psi plus on 93octane. No issues. Most tuners will know the edge, then come back a little. You never know when a customer will run into bad gas.
$1300 for a timing belt job?? We must be doing something wrong here because apparently I am losing out on a couple hundred lol
$1300 for a timing belt job?? We must be doing something wrong here because apparently I am losing out on a couple hundred lol