Well my tuner blew my motor? Legal help!!!!!

[unometeeter]

Hey guys long story short I drove my full bolt on sr20 up to a "experienced" tuner. He spun a rod bearing and destroyed the turbo. Here's where it gets interesting, I wanted a 7psi tune I don't care for speed I want reliability. He goes against the customers wishes and decides to do a 16psi tune on a stock t25?!?!
He is crazy, I told him it would not hold up and it will not make good power. He still insists it, so I buy the MBC and now we are here with my motor destroyed.

He had the car for a week and a day before he blew my motor he called me telling me it's was tuned at 7psi, I asked him if I could pick it up, and he said no "I'm turning the boost up." The next day I get the call my motor is done. He admitted: "I just blew your turbo" His excuse was "a 20 year old turbo" And "I was just idling and everything all of a sudden let go, I didn't even get to turn the boost up." I call bullshit, on "I was just idlinig, and low boost". He over boosted and did a shitty tune which caused my motor failure. Motors do not destroy themselves by idling at 7psi, they do it when you over boost a turbo with a shit tune, causing turbo failure, cutting off oil pressure, destroying the motor.

I did NOT sign any waiver, consent form, I was NOT verbally agreeing to any liability whatsoever. I literally dropped the car off in the parking lot with the keys in it. I didn't sign shit.

What should I do, legally he is responsible because I did not sign anything. That's my fighting chance, I'm willing to work with the tuner. He should have business insurance for things like this. After all no one wanted this to happen, I just want my car fixed. What would you guys do? How do you approach this situation without raising hell?

[jr_ss]

Before you mention anything about a lawyer, try to get him to stand by his business and see it he is willing to pay for the repairs needed. Don't get greedy and try milking it. If he doesn't, tell him you're getting a lawyer involved and see if his attitude changes.

On one side, this is a performance vehicle and technically there isn't a warranty at all. On the other, he screwed up and should be responsible for the errors he made.

At the end of the day, get your car fixed and find another tuner.

[unometeeter]

I'm waiting until Monday to talk to him, I don't want a full rebuild on him, I'm willing to work with him, and make it right. Everyone I have talked too says he is legally responsible because I did not sign a waiver, if I did I would be screwed

[fliprayzin240sx]

Is it a shop? Since you didnt sign anything, he could also go the route of telling you to fuck off since you have no paper trail showing he did the work. Is this a legit shop or you had joe-schmoe down the street tune it?

[unometeeter]

Is it a shop? Since you didnt sign anything, he could also go the route of telling you to fuck off since you have no paper trail showing he did the work. Is this a legit shop or you had joe-schmoe down the street tune it?

There are several personal text messages, saying he blew the car. I was never asked to sign anything a customer should not ask the employees to do there job, I had no idea I was just doing as I was told. Leave the car and ill car you. There are several witnesses who wet with me to drop the car off at his shop. It is a legit shop with a business license, and they should have insurance to cover there ass in circumstances like this. I'm not asking for a full rebuild on him. I just want my car fixed.

[cotbu]

Not to be a penis, but I think you started a thread that exonerates that shop from destroying your engine.
sr20 oil light coming on and off with throttle (http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=565218)
And we all posted in that thread!

[unometeeter]

Not to be a penis, but I think you started a thread that exonerates that shop from destroying your engine.
sr20 oil light coming on and off with throttle (http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=565218)
And we all posted in that thread!

The shop that said it was good, tested it at 40psi I have papers to prove it was good when he got it. I paid them to check it along with the whole car. Oil pressure sensor was unplugged. They plugged the sensor back in and tested oil pressure, then they inspected the car, all was good, then they took it to the tuner(right next door).

[Croustibat]

Dude, that is at least the 3rd thread you created about this.

Grow a pair, you blew your engine because you installed crap on an almost dead engine, and wished tuning would cure it. Deal with it, get a new engine or have someone rebuild it. YES it will cost money, but that will be money well spent, not something you get when buying an isis turbo that blows at 7psi ...

My answer, and the tuner's answer, are on the "chat" posting of this thread...

Here is the tuners answer.

http://zilvia.net/f/showpost.php?p=5647565&postcount=42

Funnily, you forgot to mention you already had the oil pressure light come on before ...

[ultimateirving]

Good digging crousti

Read the link and if even part of the oil starvation is true then that is what causes a spin bearing. Sr are notorious for having the oil pickup millimeters away from the oil pan, and dents or crushing of the pan can cause starvation. Dude, that is at least the 3rd thread you created about this.

Grow a pair, you blew your engine because you installed crap on an almost dead engine, and wished tuning would cure it. Deal with it, get a new engine or have someone rebuild it. YES it will cost money, but that will be money well spent, not something you get when buying an isis turbo that blows at 7psi ...

My answer, and the tuner's answer, are on the "chat" posting of this thread...

Here is the tuners answer.

http://zilvia.net/f/showpost.php?p=5647565&postcount=42

Funnily, you forgot to mention you already had the oil pressure light come on before ...

[fliprayzin240sx]

There are several personal text messages, saying he blew the car. I was never asked to sign anything a customer should not ask the employees to do there job, I had no idea I was just doing as I was told. Leave the car and ill car you. There are several witnesses who wet with me to drop the car off at his shop. It is a legit shop with a business license, and they should have insurance to cover there ass in circumstances like this. I'm not asking for a full rebuild on him. I just want my car fixed.


Just some facts we've gathered:
- You hit something on your way to the shop and your oil light turned on. Drove on it for miles to get to the shop.
- Tuner asked you about the oil pressure light and YOU TOLD HIM ITS A BAD SENSOR.
- Tuner was setting the initial fuel trims/timing map and your turbo decides to blow itself.
- The tuner tells you to get another turbo and to have you dig around on the oil issue.
- 2 Weeks later, you decided to buy an ISIS turbo and they installed it for you.
- After they did the install, shop realized your engine is knocking too.
- Now you want them to fix it free of charge.

Everything points out to a dented oil pan which is typical on a damn SR20. From the sounds of it, the shop has been trying to work with you but you expect them to take all the blame and have nothing come out of your pocket.

If I was the shop, I'd tell you to eat dick, charge you for the tuning, start racking up storage fees, and I would put a Mechanic's Lien on it when it hits 30 days. Based on what you said above, you're basically attempting to extort the shop to cover your fucked up engine. Just because they have insurance, they should automatically take the hit for something that was FUCKED to begin with, just because they had your car? Wow, you're some other kind of stupid huh? People like you are the reason good tuning shops shut down...

[ultimateirving]

And remember kids the insurance only covers liability if you sue him and he's found liable for the damages. It's not some magic, if I break the car I file a claim and it gets fixed. It had to be either involved in an accident or damage by a covered type of loss.(fire theft hail)

[dorifto_demon]

i usually tell the customer beforehand that i wont be responsible for mechanical failures that happens on the dyno if i didnt built the engine, UNLESS its tune related (melting pistons, etc etc)

and i never trust any words the customer preach when they're describing their engine conditions. i will just nod, and perform the usual series of tests before commence tuning.

i feel sad for the shop owner. this scenario happens worldwide.

honesty, is rare nowadays.

[Croustibat]

Yeah, i have seen one recently around here. Kid thought he didn't have to pay a tuner to assemble its engine, so he did it himself, not before asking his facebook friends to help him do it. Then brought it to a tuner i know to get it tuned.

Then the timing belt tensioner seized. Woops. Quite a lot of valves, pistons, rods, and head was damaged.

So he half understand that doing that kind of a job requires skills, and pays for a head rebuild. The tuner does the head, while the kid already starts telling on facebook how the tuner is taking its sweet time to tune his engine - but he did never tell the engine broke.

Why half understand ? Because he rebuilds the short block itself. Hey, labor does cost too much money, unlike forged pistons and rods he had to buy already twice, not counting valves and headwork he just asked for.

Guess what happens next ? You got it. A rod welds itself to the crank during tuning, and now he wants to sue, because it is of course the tuner fault : he claims the tuner did a bad job and destroyed his engine when tuning it. His first version was the tuner did a bad job at installing the head and put metal shards in the engine. Which, if it was true, would have damaged the head... which is in perfect shape, while the bottom end is just an expensive paperweight.

Still he kept on flaming the tuner for months on facebook. Some people just don't get it, and need someone else to blame for their mistakes...

[Kingtal0n]

tuning can destroy pistons, rings, head gaskets; it can burn up valves, melt exhaust manifolds and miscolor spark plugs.


It does not spin bearings and cause oiling issue, at least not immediately.

[llDemonll]

You're also not going to blow a turbo unless it's already bad. A turbo will blow up an "under-built" motor, but a motor won't blow up a turbo

16psi on a T25 is fine, it's just not doing much after a certain point because the turbo can't flow that much air

[NISR20MO]

I'm glad you are getting shut down like you should be, props to good Zilvians on that. You have way more responsibilty in this, especially knowing full well there were pre-existing issues. I work in the automotive industry and people like you are way too common, I'd tell every one of you to tea-bag boulders if I could, you deserve to be punched in the face at a minimum. I think the tuner deserves a shot at you AND/OR, an apology, at least.

[24096]

Just ditch the Nissan and go buy a Financed car under warranty. i hear that suburu or scion FR-Z is a fun car for CHILDREN. Stay in School and stay away from 20+ year old cars. kthx. old cars aren't for people who don't know how to fix them. they break and need repairs all around YEAR after YEAR. GLWS. I think you got the messege... i'm selling my Nissan. . . Black Kouki... i've fix'ed repaired replaced dozen's upon dozen's upon dozen's of parts.. mainly upgrading.