Hey guys, Well I am in a huge delema. Well I got a rebuild a year ago from tripoint engineering. Then in March I think it was I put on an Apexi ECU and had it tuned by Steve Kan. When I put on my ECU it ran like ****...it would constantly turn off for no reason and idle was horrible. Well After getting it tuned by Steve Kan I drove it around for like 3 weeks but it still would turn off everyonce in a while and would still drive funnny. I decided to leave it in garage for couple of months so I wouldnt waste any miles. When I went to turn it on it was dead. I went to go check ti out by Tri-Point and they said it was seals. They told me that warranty doesn't cover seals or detonation. He says either it was droven hard or the fuel maps and stuff caused detonation. What should I do? I don't know what to do. Is it my fault because I put an aftermarket ECU? Should Tri-Point fix it anyways? Did steve tune it wrong? Help me out guys any suggestions.

 

If it was running fine before the tune, sounds like something happened during tuning and the seals went.

 

Yes it ran perfectly with the stock ECU.

 

Have you considered putting back the stock ecu to see how the car runs?

 

The first thing I'd be doing is getting a second opinion on the health of the motor.

I find it really hard to believe that somebody with a reputation like Steve's would walk away from you car without mentioning that a seal was gone, even if it happened during the tune.


If the motor is dead, and tri-point won't warranty it then I'd have it rebuilt somewhere else and have them report on the quality of the first build.

Good luck with it.

 

I did'nt think Steve would do something like that, that is why I did'nt come out of my face and said he screwed up the motor. The guy is too good and has a very healthy reputation. I'm sure he would'nt put all of that on the line.

 

Was it turning off and on before you took it to be tuned??? It could be the ECU having issues...

Was the car turning off (as if the key was turning off) or was it stalling say at an idle? Did you remove the proper pins from your harness? There are specific instructions on certain pins that need to be removed from the harness.

Ganted I admit I didn't see this warning when I first put mine in, and it ran, but as soon as I saw it I pulled it and removed the pins.

Even the basemap for the Apexi computers seem to be able to idle fine (unless the car has heavy mods say larger primary injectors.)

So if it was turning off and on before you took it in for a tuning then id say you might have a problem with the ecu? Try swapping that back to stock and seeing if you can get it to start.

That might be a good start. Unless I read this wrong? Something seems kinda funny...

 

Well I do not want to point fingers at Steve because we all know he knows what he is doing. I talked to him after the tune. And told him what was happening and he says that he felt the car trying to die out during the tune ..he said he had a feeling ti was the torque converter. My tranny is very strong though I had it rebuilt less hen a year ago there is nothing wrong with the tranny. Well it is too late to try to put stock ECU back in or something because the front is already losing compression and seal is msot likely done. I knwo that the seal wasn't gone during the tune but Tripoint thinks its might be fuel map that was tuned wrong or something. The car would nto turn off before installing the ECU. It ran perfectly fine. The ECU caused it to turn off like the key turned off...it would just with no warning completly turn off...sometimes I wouldnt even notice the car was off until I felt the brake really hard. So it did not stall.

 

Basically I think the seals went after the tune during those 3 weeks I drove the car due to maybe a bad fuel map? But i really doubt steve would do such a bad job that it causes my seals to go? I dont know what to do.

 

Even with low compression your car wouldn't just turn off with no warning. A friend of mine drove 400 miles with 0 on the front rotor without anything other then sounding like a harley.

Unless maybe its something with the automatic tranny locking up causing it to stall? I would think it would be more violent though. It still to me based on what your saying here with that 'key on / key off symptom' that the ECU or something electrical is cutting power./broken wire somewhere.. What have you.

So it would just die even when you were cruising at say 70 on the freeway? Not just at idle or coasting?

The other point I was trying to see was: Did you put the ECU in before the tuning and drive it at all? If so, before the tuning with the Apexi computer in, was it turning off and on?

Im sorry to hear about the motor. ;( It would be best to fix the on/off problems before a rebuild/reinstall of course....

 

Actually not at liek 70mph but like you said coasting and idle. Usually when i try to go after a red light or sometimes when i pull into parking lot. No I did not drive the ECU before tune too much. I installed it same day but I drove like 70 something miles to get to the tunning place. During those 70 miles I noticed that the ECU was makign the car run like ****. So any clue why the seals went?

 

anyone know why the front seal could of gone?

 

Hmm, I take it you pulled the couple of pins that need to be removed from the harness?

Other then that and a lack of fuel... I guess it could be the tune.. I have never heard of any bad tunes coming from him as of yet... How many miles were on the rebuild??? (just curious..)

 

It's a shitty situation, but I would mention the fact that the car was not driven hard, especially not hard enough to blow them. Mention the fact that Steve Kahn, the tuning god of the rotary, was the man doing the mapping, and that if anybody knew what they were doing, it would be him. I think I'd insist on them sticking by their warranty instead of passing on the buck. If not, I don't know what else you can do other than take it to another shop to get a second opinion.

 

I'm currently PMing ruffryder on the suituation. From his description, it doesn't sound like the car was tuned lean since he mentioned that the spark plugs were somewhat dark. If I remembered correctly, his car was tuned to 10.6:1 a/f at WOT because it was on 91octane and being an auto. Auto usually wants a little more fuel due to the extra load it sees from the torque converter so I don't see how tri-point would claim that the car was running lean.

I don't recall any issues with his car on tuning other than the fact that I couldn't keep his idle set correctly (it was doing that before I tuned the car).