mondi2002

iTrader: (11)

After I had my car Dynotuned there I call Mike at New Era to make a follow up appt for street tuning because it was missing at part throttle and he says that it was because I was in the car with him and that he normally goes by himself and that I would have to drop it of so he can get it right. See My other post about the tuning problems Here:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-diagnostics-tuning/767961-problems-using-2bar-map-maf-tune-hp-tuners.html
I tell him that I dont have the time to drop it off and will drive it for a while to see if it gets better. It did get a little better but I was still not happy with it because it was missing at part throttle so I decide to drop it off on a thur. and pick it up on Mon since I had the day off. He calls me on Sat and he sounds nervous, at first I thought he crashed my car! He tells me that there is something wrong with my tranny that it was grinding and it stuck into first. I tell him that it was like new when I dropped it off and that he must have missed a gear or was really beating on it (power shifting). He tells me no and in fact he did not get it over 3k rpm. He tells me he thinks it is driveable and he wanted to know what I wanted him to do?!? I guess he was on the side of the road. I told him to take it back to the shop if he thought it was OK.
I call him back and appoligized to him that I blew up on him and asked
him if he made it back OK. He said it felt fine now and maybe the clutch
fluid just heated up and was not disengaging all the way. So on Monday
I pick it up and he wanted an extra $50 for the street tune and he ask
if I wanted to take it for a ride to see if it was OK or just head for
home. I told him my wife was with me and I have AAA if I had a problem
with it. He started changing his story that it really did not grind & he thought it was the clutch. (New Textralia). So on the way home and it starts grinding pretty bad and I knew right away it was not the clutch. When I got home I drain it and allot of liitle pieces of aluminum come out! The Tranny needs to be rebuilt! It going to cost me at lease 1K and probably the rest of the
racing season. I just wish he would own up to it! I have 40K on the
Tranny and it never grinded once not once then he drives it and its
toast. Come on! He said he had time to fix the tuning issues but it
feels the same to me. I did call him back to see if he could help me out with it and he immediately jumped on the defensive that he did nothing wrong. But the fact of the matter is that it broke when it was in his hands and he should do something to help me. I am not asking him to pay for the whole thing, just help out a little and treat me with some respect. I let a few days go by and called a freind to help me out. He told me that I should call Mike at New Era back to see if he changed his mind before I post.
I told him that I did not think he wanted to talk to me so he decided to call him and also got thye same responces & added that I called him up swearing at him which I did not do. I actually referred my freind to New Era for a Tune and he was happy with it. But I guess if something goes wrong he just wipes his hands. He thinks I drove my car over 1-1/2 hours away with a bad tranny just to set him up. Yeah right. Thanks allot Mike!

Mike @ New Era

iTrader: (10)

I never once said that the transmission was grinding , I told you that it stuck in first gear in a parking lot after I reflashed the pcm (after a 3 mile drive) and once again after a few more miles , and that I heard what sounded like a rubbing noise a couple of times when it was in third and first gear at low rpm driving and that I was pretty much done tuning anddidn't want to drive it any more becasue I wasn't sure what was wrong , I have never worked on this car , just tuned it . My story never changed , yours did . The drive tuning was only to clear up a part throttle hesitation issue and some idle tuning , there was no need to go WOT so it was dropped off already having issues if it sticks in 1st gear after a 3 mile drive .

When you race a car literally every week for 5 yrs and 583 rwhp with a stock transmission you are pushing it , to pin this on me for driving the car down the street never going above 45 mph and the thing sticking in gear the first time I pulled over to reflash is rediculous . If I felt I was at fault I would be more than happy to take care of it .

cyphur

iTrader: (10)

mondi - Ok, a few pointers. Please break your post up into paragraphs. I just got a migraine diciphering that mess.

Sounds like you left out some information in your first post. 600rwhp and 40k miles, and you're going to pin a busted tranny on a shop? Interesting. If the tranny were brand new, I could understand, but after 40k miles? Not sure you have much ground to stand on.

cyphur

iTrader: (10)

mondi - I've gotten some of the background information on this. Let me know if any of this is inaccurate:

- You asked for a re-tune, but wanted an SD tune on one PCM and a MAF tune on a second PCM. Mike agreed to that - even though(and I agree) that would normally be considered a full tune.

- He works on it for a full day(8 hours) but doesn't get some stuff right on it. You call him up, asking him to work on it some more, he agrees.

- You bring back the car, and he spends another 4 hours working on it.

- On one of the drives needed for tuning part-throttle, he feels the car doing some funky stuff before he reflashes the pcm. When it persisted, he took the car back to the shop and called you.

- Now you've posted up, because you think he jacked up the tranny.

Again, please correct any of the above info if it is incorrect - I'm trying to get a complete story from both sides.

JasonShort

iTrader: (242)

It's important to keep in mind that all of this started when the car was brought in for a "re-tune".

First, let's define the terms that we are talking in: The first time dynotune at New Era is full price. However, New Era offers "re-tunes" for customers that make changes to their combination (new heads/cam/more boost, etc..) and then would like to have it re-tuned. The "re-tune" is only $100 and normally only takes 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

The owner wanted a re-tune based on making some changes. Spending an 8 hour day trying to accomidate the abnormal tuning requests (multiple PCMs, MAF, SD) is going FAR beyond the definition of a "re-tune". Mike goes above and beyond for the customers needs; however, these requests are just walking all over New Era's services. If I spent 2 days on a $100 "re-tune", I'd ask the customer for alot more than $50!!

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

Hmmm $100?

mondi2002

iTrader: (11)

I had an SD tune on a seperate computer. Did not want him to touch it, but once I install the other stock computer he could not get it to work right so he decided that it must be the computer & reflashed my other 2 bar computer with the same results.
He does have good prices but I paid $275 for original tune which was never right, $160 for the retune plus another $50 for additional street tuning. Thats $485 and it still is not right. Plus he blew my tranny.

I understand that I have a stock tranny which has 40,000 miles (30K car was stock). I do race but am very careful and never missed or grinded the gears on it. Aka granny shifting. I also have a stock 10 Bolt which now as outlasted my engine and tranny.
The fact is that he was driving it when it broke and I am the customer.\
I was asking if he could help me in any way, not pay for the whole repair.
Instead he said he did not have the time. And thats not good business.

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

When you make more power, stuff is more likely to break. Sorry your trans went, but 10K on that trans is not bad at that power level. Maybe just the clutch is bad.

2000TurboVert

iTrader: (17)

I would def. Figure out what the problem is, before you start blaming a guy, who looks to have gone WAY out of the normal customer service model, to help you...... He has no reason to lie about the problem. And I know your going to get angry and say, sponsors are holier than thou, and they dont ever get in trouble.... But please... If Mike thought he had done something to cause this problem, Im sure he would be more than happy to help you out with it!

Gilbert@Ace Racing

It sounds like an old cliche' but the reality is nobody can predict a part failure. I am sure the guys at the shop in question would have spoken up if they had any idea the tranny / clutch was in trouble prior to driving it. Nobody intentionally drivers someone elses car into the ground...especially when that someone else is a paying customer!

Having been in the industry now for well into my 3rd decade I have seen countless cars break down while in the shop for seemingly minor repairs. Have seen engines lock up, transmissions stop shifting, a/c systems quit cooling and you name it. And unfortunately many times the failure is put on the shop because so much trust is put on them. When the failure occurs the customer can think someone was doing something they should not have been doing, it's only human nature.

After reading all of the comments in all of the threads I believe this to be a case of coincedence. It happens. And when it happens there really is no place to lay any blame. It just boils down to getting it fixed and moving on.

Soooo many customers have sooo much pride in their cars they have a hard time turning them loose for anyone to work on them, tuning or otherwise and if something goes wrong during the time when it is being worked on it becomes difficult for everyone involved. Sorry to this come up.

My opinion is the shop does not have a financial responsibility in this one.

g

XtraCajunSS

iTrader: (2)

Not to be off topic but from a purely technical standpoint, this sounds like a hydraulic issue. I have had this happen with high hp cars with longtubes. A 1 1/2 hour drive will cook the fluid in the line from the slave to the master. The problem is worse if the car is having even slight tuning issues due to excessive exhaust temps and is especially a concern with NON-GM fluid and uncoated headers. I always put fire sleeves and heat tape completely over the line and use GM clutch or brake fluid ONLY.

Just trying to help...

Shane

mondi2002

iTrader: (11)

Thanks, I wish that was the case, but I have the line wrapped & use Hi temp Dot 4 fluid. The clutch is working properly. Plus the metal/alum in the Tranny.
I had changed it a few weeks before this & never had metal/alum. in it.