BEWARE - Problems with Neishlin / Cartuned

[rednerd]

I just wanted to let everyone know about the horrid problems I've had with Neishlin Motors / Cartune so that hopefully someone out there will avoid going through the hell that I am going through and wasting thousands of dollars and countless hours of time.

I purchased a front clip from Neishlin motors at the end of April (the check is dated 4/26/03 and was cashed 4/30/03). After almost a month of three weeks of waiting for my clip to arrive I called them to find out what was going on. They told me that my clip (seen as an entire clip on their website) had a questionable wiring harness and that they were just waiting on a good harness. After a week of waiting they told me that my clip was finally going to be sent out.

The "clip" arrived on the first week of June. I'm not certain on the exact date because I can't find the shipping bill. The clip turned out to be an engine sitting (with a crushed pan), a transmission, a KA radiator and a box of hoses for the radiator and intercooler. The intercooler was also in said box.

The "clip" came in the arrived as a bunch of parts shrink wrapped together on a wooden pallet - shipping charge: over $500!!!! And I WAS MISSING THE IGNITER, HARNESS, ECU, and AFM!!!!

I called them back again and they sent me the ecu, igniter and AFM within the next week.
The AFM has a big crack in the connector.

I called them up again about the AFM and the missing wiring harness. The assured me that the AFM worked and that they were waiting for the wiring harness. They (some guy named Alex) had the nerve to tell me that my wiring harness was stuck on a dock because of SARS!!!!!

About a week later I finally get my wiring harness in. It is now the middle of June and I am leaving for vacation in two weeks. I tried to get Alex at Neishlin to send me a replacement pan, the missing downpipe, and the odemeter from my clip. I forget what excuse he gave, but I basically gave up on him since I had most of the major parts I needed from the front clip. I I ordered all of the parts needed to complete the swap from Enjuku racing (which has been awesome, I highly recommend them) and went on vacation trying to forget about the hell I have been through thus far.

When I get back from vacation I prepped the motor and installed it. I did the wiring harness modifications myself, because I wanted to see exactly what was involved. When I went to start the engine, it had no spark. (July 17, 2003) The next day I traced the problem to a faulty igniter. For anyone who knows elementary electronics - the base ( the 4 pins on the 5 prong side of the igniter not marked "G") was note switching current.
Alex TOLD ME THAT HE DIDN'T HAVE ANY CLIPS IN STOCK EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE CLIPS FOR SALE ON HIS WEB SITE!!! He did say he was expecting more clips in the next week (which was a week and a half ago) and he would send me one when he got the clips in. (I have yet to see or hear from him, but keep reading).

Quick recap:
1. Motor arrives over a month late
2. Clip finally arrives as a bunch of parts loosely attached to a pallet with shrink wrap.
3. Pan is dented
4. Lots of parts missing
5. By the looks of the radiator an hoses, I got someones wrecked 240sx project.
6. Igniter is bad...
7. Neishlin / Car Tunes sucks.

I overnighted an igniter along with a couple of extra coils from Enjuku. Again they rule. The engine pop, tried to kick over, but wouldn't start... I checked all the wiring and did a bunch of diagnostics and found that that ONLY the #1 coil was firing. The computer was only signalling the the igniter to fire cylinder #1.

I checked out wiring, ran Nissan's suggested tests for the cam sensor, which passed - but I'm still not convinced, and put the computer on a snap on scan tool (mt2500 - the older non graphing one). The computer is giving code 55 (I'm okay) and code 21 (yo dude, i don't see the igniter firing all the plugs).

I called up Neishlin to find out what the deals is with my promised igniter (I want an extra, because they seem to be pretty sensitive and mega expensive, and I was promised a working one) but all I get is an answering machine. I keep calling them and now all I get is a phone that keeps ringing.

Now that I have already spent almost $600 to fix stuff that Neishlin should have gotten right to begin with I either have to eat another $250 - $350 plus shipping or wait for them to return my numerous phone calls. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to track this guy down and sue him.

If anyone can help me or has other horror stories that would be helpful in court or has seen this "only spark on coil #1 problem" before feel free to let me know.

Again, DON'T buy anything from Neishlin / Car Tuned it looks like they are going or have gone out of business and are just looking to sell off the crap they have laying around. If you need a good source for clips or parts call Enjuku (sr20detperformance.com) - they have a 500HP 240sx and their service rocks need I say more.

Thanks,
Jon Nierenburg

P.S. -
I have no affiliation with Enjuku and I don't wish to slander anyone, but I have been screwed and I want to make sure no one else gets hurt.

[toreno]

we need more of this Reporting in this forum to give some heads up on online stores.
Thanks for the Heads up man. im lookin to get a motor, and foo sho i wont go through them

[stumpz]

yeah, hopefully people will keep posting their stories..whether they be good or bad.. i'm looking into getting a clip soon and need advice :D.

[DJ Machine]

psst...enjuku sells motors. :D Buy from them. It's where i ordered mine, it's taking a LITTLE longer than expected, but things are still going very well.

[rednerd]

I wish I had. A local speed shop recommended Neishlin to me. They said that they had gotten motors from Neishlin in the past without problem... I should have done more research.

I didn't know Enjuku existed until I started calling around for a reputable dealer to buy parts from. I must say they have been great.
If I do another SR swap, my motor is coming from them.

Jon

[kazuo]

Just add this to the long, LONG list of why you shouldn't buy motors from Neishlin/Cartune. Nothing personal, but I have yet to hear anything good about them.

Also add this to the list of reasons why YOU SHOULDNT BUY A MOTOR UNLESS YOU GET TO SEE IT!!! I *flew* down to LA to make sure I got what I paid for -- and I did.

Naturally even then my friend and I screwed up, cus we ended up getting one bad motor and had a helluva time getting it replaced.

Don't buy what ya dont see. Don't buy what ya don't compression/leakdown test. I'm ****ing serious -- you are asking for trouble. If you're ready to drop over $2k on a motor, you had better damn well make sure it works before you do - ALL of these places have "AS-IS" policies and don't have to give you JACK **** once you sign for the motor.

Keep that in mind. :bow:

[NiteKids]

Sorry to hear that but I'm surprized it too you this long to know they aren't the best place to buy your stuff.

Oh sorry I just realized on where you live. Nevermind.

[rednerd]

Originally posted by kazuo
YOU SHOULDNT BUY A MOTOR UNLESS YOU GET TO SEE IT!!!

I absolutely agree. The next time I do any kind of engine swap I'm going to hear the donor engine run and I'll bring a camera and a paint marker.

The $500 round trip to Cali would have been worth it.

Hindsight...

[nrcooled]

I say this all the time:

Enjuku or Heavy Throttle is the only places that I trust. They will always give you the best service and will not jerk you around.

My clip buying experience:

Day 1- Finally finished all my research and call HT for info on engine buying from them

Day 2- Recieve invoice from Jeff @ HT and send off cashiers check same day

Day 3- Receive e-mail verification of payment from Jeff and that my motorset will be going out with all perscribed parts that day!

Day 6- Engine arrives at the address I specified and on the day that it was expected. With all parts compression and l/d paperwork attached

Days 6-9 Installed engine

Day 9- I had a SR powered 240sx!


I don't want to bring light to anyone's misfortune but cheaper doesn't mean better. It's all about quality. When your spending 2500-3000 bucks on an engine you better make sure that it's worth it

[MarketGarden]

Hmm, thats kinda wierd/scary because Since I live by LA, im considering doing a swap with them since thats where they are located. But the more I hear about them, the more not its looking good to do business with them. If anyone else has any suggestions where to do a swap in the LA area can you give me some help, because I dont want to take the chance of getting screwed over.:confused:

[thx247]

I think they closed up shop and have moved. You may have had trouble with Alex as iirc he's been busy and whatnot. Sry to hear about troubles with shops. always a pain

[SX_Tuner]

Originally posted by MarketGarden
Hmm, thats kinda wierd/scary because Since I live by LA, im considering doing a swap with them since thats where they are located. But the more I hear about them, the more not its looking good to do business with them. If anyone else has any suggestions where to do a swap in the LA area can you give me some help, because I dont want to take the chance of getting screwed over.:confused:

A friend of mine told me to go to lsauto, check them out at lsauto.com

My friends cousin got his auto-5sp swap done there as well. So I may give it a shot. Not too sure yet.

[DuffMan]

Cartune sucks. Always has. I blame the stupid people on this and other boards that have stood by them, without ever doing business with them.

Worse is the people, who do business with them, that still defended them because they had a personal stake in it.

I'm not going to name any names here, you know who you are and you suck.

I have talked to a few people that have had good experiences with JDM recycler and they seem very professional, though I havent bought anything from them.

[[email protected]]

only the people that had problems are heard...

a lot of the guys had sr swap by cartune that i know are out there drifing w me. they didn't have problems with cartune. i personally had 2 cars swapped at cartune and both i had no problems with. my friend is getting his ae101 swapped with a 20v at cartune right now.

[BEISSEN]

I agree with kazuo dont pay for what you dont see or have not heard any thing about that comnpany some places are just trying to get money that all.

[rednerd]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

It's alive!!!! I got an ecu off of ebay from kaane (thanks man, you rock). The motor fired right up and idled without even the AFM on it!

I had to fix a rotted out check valve on my 325 today before I could get to work on the 240 (don't ask), but it is almost drivable. Hopefully tomorrow.

I'll try to call Neishlin again on Monday.

Jon

[CrispMofo]

thanks for the heads up about cartune.
BTW, you registered in the 240sxOne.com forum of new england?

[RYAN_S-14]

i am sorry to hear this i hate people that screw people over. u spend a lot of money with them i am sure and its to bad some people dont know how to run a bussiness....!!!:axe: late

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

they didn't have problems with cartune

Just my experience...but shop friends usually dont end up having problems w/ a shop. However, some shops could give a crap about someone they dont know......as long as their check clears.

Sorry to hear about your story, but if you would have searched about Cartune, you would hear the same story over, and over.

[autobahNESSA]

Originally posted by DuffMan
I have talked to a few people that have had good experiences with JDM recycler and they seem very professional, though I havent bought anything from them.

Me and Kazu bought our clips from JDM Recycler, you can ask him about what happend.

[kazuo]

HAHAHAHA YES, I can tell you ALL ABOUT JDMRecycler and their "professionalism"

Is that a word? I dunno, but it doesnt apply to them in any case... I'll keep the slander to myself this time unless someone really wants to know what happened (I alluded to it in a post earlier in this very thread)

Originally posted by bayarea240
Me and Kazu bought our clips from JDM Recycler, you can ask him about what happend.

[weirdstyles.net]

Originally posted by BEISSEN
... or have not heard any thing about that comnpany...

I agree with your post, minus this part. Its a b1tch to start a business, and without the public taking risk with you, no company would ever make it off the ground. Small businesses turn into great things from people taking risk. Enjuku and Heavy Throttle were both small businesses at one time. I suppose they still are from an outside perspective.

Here's the thing, its sucks you got burned Red. But dont let this sour you on unfamed companies. Sometimes the risk pays off, and some times it wont. Thats why its called a risk.

Congrats on the motor working, eBay does amazing things.

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

Imagine how FAST one bad dealing a person has w/ a shop can spread....they tell 4 people, who tell 2 each etc. etc. Any bad press can be damaging to people. Some companies can care less, they'll always have business coming in. Time will tell how long a "bad" shop will last.