EQ Tuning built 2007 STI
thats great for that customer that how it should be done. i wish when my motor blew i wish i had the same service from EQ tuning. i had to pay a butt load for a new crank and bearings and labor for a motor build that cost almost 10k when EQ built my motor and only got 7k out of it.. then had to pay on top of that when it blew on me but it was a bad call on ed and told me the wrong oil to use and never stated grade of oil to use so after the break in oil just 10-30w i think. asked EQ about it and they pretty much told me it was my fault and i had to pay for everything. mind you i live 3 1/2 hours away. i have been going to Ed when we was tuning out of his parents house. so easily 5 years now i would think with all the money i have spend with him i would have got a break... but nope. 10,000 + the new crank bearings and i believe labor... just not the same service i got. :-(
Last edited by bmxhotsauce; Aug 2, 2012 at 10:40 AM.
Churro Aficionado
iTrader: (38)
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 54,661
From: IG - @thomas.teammoist
Car Info: IG - @TEAMMOISTOFFICIAL
Because he's a local that comes out to our meets and we hear other sides of the story. Its frustrating how Ed can twist his words.
He says that the motor was tore down, inspected and everything checked out. Then says that it will be at no cost to the customer.
Customer says that he gets a bill for $4,000+ and on the bill is listed for a motor blue printing saying everything is to spec. Only to find out later one of the pistons is warped...
So some things just dont add up. But I guess saying "no charge to the customer" and the customer getting the police involved and not paying a bill is the same thing right?
That 
He says that the motor was tore down, inspected and everything checked out. Then says that it will be at no cost to the customer.
Customer says that he gets a bill for $4,000+ and on the bill is listed for a motor blue printing saying everything is to spec. Only to find out later one of the pistons is warped...
So some things just dont add up. But I guess saying "no charge to the customer" and the customer getting the police involved and not paying a bill is the same thing right?
Churro Aficionado
iTrader: (38)
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 54,661
From: IG - @thomas.teammoist
Car Info: IG - @TEAMMOISTOFFICIAL
Hey guys!
I know i posted before but this time its for real... time to part ways with my baby. Just a time in my life that I have to set some priorities so the sti has to go. (just sold my 2009 r6 Raven this past week)
Im posting this pretty quick while im at work so ill update as i go and will have pictures up by monday 4/9
Basically bought the car 2/1/2011 from a Toyota dealership here in the Sacramento area with about 46k miles on the car and i ended up blowin the motor on the way to socal and the car had about 53k miles on it 6/3/2011. Ended up calling Ed over at EQ Tuning and he ended up building the motor and pretty much doing all the work that had been done to the car. As the car sits there is about 58.5k miles on it.
You will see, when i post the pictures, that the car basically look like a wingless bone stock sti. It does have a few scratches along the car and a cracked windshield but nothing bad at all
Here is a quick list of everything done as it sits:
-EQ stage 1 block minus the #3 cylinder
-EQ stage 1 head
-FP 68HTA turbo
-Ebay tmic heat treated
-Cobb ap
-Perrin inlet
-APS 70mm cai
-Hallman mbc
-TurboXS stealth back w/g200 3" axle back
-Perrin el headers
-Cosworth air bump Delete
-NGK one step colder spark plugs
-Walboro 255
-DW 1300cc injectors
-Grimspeed TGV deletes
-RPS clutch
-RPM cassis brace
-Perrin 25mm front sway
-EQ custom e85 tune
With all this done the cars is putting down 23whp and 31wtq on EQ's dyno witch reads low like a mustang
I have all receipts for all the work that has been done on the car since ive owned it and adding up to about 15k worth or work! And when the motor was rebuilt the water pump and timing belt were replaced
Asking price is $3.75 and a chipotle burrito
Looking to trade for something that will move under its own power
Feel free to ask if u have any questions
I know i posted before but this time its for real... time to part ways with my baby. Just a time in my life that I have to set some priorities so the sti has to go. (just sold my 2009 r6 Raven this past week)
Im posting this pretty quick while im at work so ill update as i go and will have pictures up by monday 4/9
Basically bought the car 2/1/2011 from a Toyota dealership here in the Sacramento area with about 46k miles on the car and i ended up blowin the motor on the way to socal and the car had about 53k miles on it 6/3/2011. Ended up calling Ed over at EQ Tuning and he ended up building the motor and pretty much doing all the work that had been done to the car. As the car sits there is about 58.5k miles on it.
You will see, when i post the pictures, that the car basically look like a wingless bone stock sti. It does have a few scratches along the car and a cracked windshield but nothing bad at all
Here is a quick list of everything done as it sits:
-EQ stage 1 block minus the #3 cylinder
-EQ stage 1 head
-FP 68HTA turbo
-Ebay tmic heat treated
-Cobb ap
-Perrin inlet
-APS 70mm cai
-Hallman mbc
-TurboXS stealth back w/g200 3" axle back
-Perrin el headers
-Cosworth air bump Delete
-NGK one step colder spark plugs
-Walboro 255
-DW 1300cc injectors
-Grimspeed TGV deletes
-RPS clutch
-RPM cassis brace
-Perrin 25mm front sway
-EQ custom e85 tune
With all this done the cars is putting down 23whp and 31wtq on EQ's dyno witch reads low like a mustang
I have all receipts for all the work that has been done on the car since ive owned it and adding up to about 15k worth or work! And when the motor was rebuilt the water pump and timing belt were replaced
Asking price is $3.75 and a chipotle burrito
Looking to trade for something that will move under its own power
Feel free to ask if u have any questions
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 972
From: Sonoma County
Car Info: 2004 WW Evo RS
Because he's a local that comes out to our meets and we hear other sides of the story. Its frustrating how Ed can twist his words.
He says that the motor was tore down, inspected and everything checked out. Then says that it will be at no cost to the customer.
Customer says that he gets a bill for $4,000+ and on the bill is listed for a motor blue printing saying everything is to spec. Only to find out later one of the pistons is warped...
So some things just dont add up. But I guess saying "no charge to the customer" and the customer getting the police involved and not paying a bill is the same thing right?
That
He says that the motor was tore down, inspected and everything checked out. Then says that it will be at no cost to the customer.
Customer says that he gets a bill for $4,000+ and on the bill is listed for a motor blue printing saying everything is to spec. Only to find out later one of the pistons is warped...
So some things just dont add up. But I guess saying "no charge to the customer" and the customer getting the police involved and not paying a bill is the same thing right?
That
Just felt as a customer and a long customer I would have been compistated and not billed for so much not to mention a billing error when I was going to pick up my motor. Just felt I didn't have good customer service at all.. I do feel bad posting this because Ed does great tunes but the business side I wish could be a lot better to say the least. I just always fault I wasn't helped . For tunes and general questions Ed would help out but the I was F ed over on my build. :-(
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Posts: 8,228
From: 631 Railroad Ave. Fairfield, CA
Car Info: A Laptop
I was really trying not to bring anything up over i-club..
I had idle issues since the first tune and had a total of three different tunes since the motor was built.
My car first started over heating due to the head gasket on 1/12/12..the last time ed had it on his dyno tuning it was 12/28/11. correct me if im wrong but thats about two weeks..
Its also kinda funny that my really good friend came with me and had his 05 sti tuned on the same day juat a bit before mine. He also suffered a blown head gasket not to much long after me.
I can go into a lot greater detail of all the issues ive had with this car. ask anyone that comes to the sac i-club meets about my sti. Its kind of a joke that i had one of the fastest cars that came to the meets and yet it never ran 100%
I had idle issues since the first tune and had a total of three different tunes since the motor was built.
My car first started over heating due to the head gasket on 1/12/12..the last time ed had it on his dyno tuning it was 12/28/11. correct me if im wrong but thats about two weeks..
Its also kinda funny that my really good friend came with me and had his 05 sti tuned on the same day juat a bit before mine. He also suffered a blown head gasket not to much long after me.
I can go into a lot greater detail of all the issues ive had with this car. ask anyone that comes to the sac i-club meets about my sti. Its kind of a joke that i had one of the fastest cars that came to the meets and yet it never ran 100%
The single overheating event you talked about was not likely head gasket related as it did not happen again for some time after you replaced the t-star if I recall.
At the end of the day, it is your highly modified car to take care of. Such a car has many aftermarket parts and many variables such as injectors, turbo, E85 quality and consistency, etc. It is your responsibility to do you best to maintain and take care of it. And when your builder and tuner warns and recommends a course of action in responses to a symptom, you can't just ignore it and assume everything will be fixed for free when you just let it go. This is similar to a doctor telling you you have a tumor and you should get a biopsy, then you ignore it and when it turns out to be cancer, you blame the doctor.
Everyone in this situation took some responsibility for their actions except you. Deatschwerks accepted that there was and issues with the injector and provided free injectors and credits in response. I accepted that I did not identify the injector issue right away even though it had not gotten to the point of being obvious and in response offered you all the work and parts at or bellow our cost. In your mind, however, you did nothing wrong and were not willing to accept responsibility for your actions. This is the problem.
I always try to be as fair as possible when bad situations arise, but sometimes fair is not good enough for some people and they end up not being happy with the situation. In the last 4+ years we have built many engines and dealt with many different customers. We are by no means perfect, and have made mistakes and learned from them. In the end, a vast majority of our customers are very happy with our products and services, but some people just have unrealistic expectations and will never be happy. That is the sad realization I have come to.
-- Ed
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iTrader: (12)
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 8,228
From: 631 Railroad Ave. Fairfield, CA
Car Info: A Laptop
thats great for that customer that how it should be done. i wish when my motor blew i wish i had the same service from EQ tuning. i had to pay a butt load for a new crank and bearings and labor for a motor build that cost almost 10k when EQ built my motor and only got 7k out of it.. then had to pay on top of that when it blew on me but it was a bad call on ed and told me the wrong oil to use and never stated grade of oil to use so after the break in oil i just 10-30w. asked EQ about it and they pretty much told me it was my fault and i had to pay for everything. mind you i live 3 1/2 hours away. i have been going to Ed when we was tuning out of his parents house. so easily 5 years now i would think with all the money i have spend with him i would have got a break... but nope. 10,000 + the new crank bearings and i believe labor... just not the same service i got. :-(Again, people need to start taking responsibility for their own actions and decisions. We can't be held responsible for the customer putting the wrong oil in their high powered modified engines just like we can't be responsible for a customer filling up with 87 octane.
-- Ed
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Posts: 8,228
From: 631 Railroad Ave. Fairfield, CA
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I will note that we made an oversight when the engine was torn down by not inspecting the cylinders. Our machine shop does this normally because you need a torque plate to do it properly. Since at that point it appeared to simply be a head gasket failure, the head surfaces and the block deck and all bearing clearances were inspected and reset to spec. But the cylinders were not inspected thoroughly enough because that is not something and is normally effected with a failed head gasket. This was our mistake for not insisting on our machine shop to check it out.
-- Ed
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iTrader: (12)
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Posts: 8,228
From: 631 Railroad Ave. Fairfield, CA
Car Info: A Laptop
My final note here is that people have to understand the nature of modifying their cars and making 2-3 times the power their engines were initially meant for. In general, many aftermarket parts are involved in this and many variables are brought into the equation. It is always up to the customer to do his part in maintaining and monitoring the engine and all associated parts as much as possible. Sometimes aftermarket parts fail and those failures can cause major damage if they're not addressed promptly. We always do our best to make sure this does not happen, but we are not ultimately in control of every single component on the car and the actions of the customer. If there is a failure and we can't find any 3rd party cause, we always take 100% responsibility on it. If, however, a 3rd party aftermarket part and/or negligence on the part of the customer contributed to the issue, we always try to come up with a fair solution and share at least a good chunk of the liability. Its always easy for a customer to deny any wrong doing on their part, but at the end of the day, it's their car and their responsibility to take good care of it.
I believe this is more than fair and I know a lot of shops that would not even go that far. We are currently working on a couple such cars that were built at other shops, failed, and the customers were told to F off. I don't like to air out other shop's dirty business, but I feel it's important to mention this.
Like I said previously, we have had many many customers and built many engines since we opened. We have also gone through many changes internally at the shop and are constantly learning and perfecting our products, services, and business practices. We are not perfect and have made mistakes, but always try to handle them as fairly as possible to everyone involved. In general when we run into an issue, we first assume that we may have done something wrong and try to disprove that assumption. This is an approach I learned from my engineering days and hold it to heart to this day. It keeps us honest and prevents us from becoming overly confident and complacent.
Thanks
-- Ed
I believe this is more than fair and I know a lot of shops that would not even go that far. We are currently working on a couple such cars that were built at other shops, failed, and the customers were told to F off. I don't like to air out other shop's dirty business, but I feel it's important to mention this.
Like I said previously, we have had many many customers and built many engines since we opened. We have also gone through many changes internally at the shop and are constantly learning and perfecting our products, services, and business practices. We are not perfect and have made mistakes, but always try to handle them as fairly as possible to everyone involved. In general when we run into an issue, we first assume that we may have done something wrong and try to disprove that assumption. This is an approach I learned from my engineering days and hold it to heart to this day. It keeps us honest and prevents us from becoming overly confident and complacent.
Thanks
-- Ed
own actions?? you verbally telling me make me think and believe your word ED. simple as that. now i have to run a 20-50w be higher compression due to a lack of knowledge becuase " of an earlier build?" come on buiness is business. and to have it fail in 7,000 miles to pay once again for parts and labor should have been covered. just like when you sold me an old FP green tuned it once i got home from my 3 hour drive it blew up correct? so the blame should be on you and the company you rep for. the motor has last because i do not beat on it at all. just think its dumb of you would say im at fault of you telling ME what to run then when **** hits the fan you do not stick to your word.
I know for a fact I did not tell you to run 10w-30 in your built engine running 400whp on pump gas. I have personally never made that recommendation to any customer. I will say that yours was one of earlier builds and we did not have a procedure of writing oil recommendations on customers invoices. You were probably told verbally when the car was picked up but it wasn't clear enough or you simply didn't pay attention or forgot. Either way, if you were not sure of what oil to use, we are always a phone call or email away. You chose not to inquire about which oil to use in your built high power engine and ran it on the wrong oil in extremely hot conditions and eventually caused bearing damage. After going over the details of the failure with you and discovering that it was a result of direct negligence, I still gave you large discounts on parts and labor to repair it because you were a long time customer and because we may have not been clear enoug with the instructions in the first place. AFAIK, the engine has been running well since. I think this was a very fair resolution and haven't heard anything from you in about 2 years.
Again, people need to start taking responsibility for their own actions and decisions. We can't be held responsible for the customer putting the wrong oil in their high powered modified engines just like we can't be responsible for a customer filling up with 87 octane.
-- Ed
Again, people need to start taking responsibility for their own actions and decisions. We can't be held responsible for the customer putting the wrong oil in their high powered modified engines just like we can't be responsible for a customer filling up with 87 octane.
-- Ed