Got a call from Little Bro - the poor sod's engine has let go at the Tuners!
He's into Jap cars and has an Evo... it's been off the road for the last 6 months having thousands spent on a super-duper engine re-build.
He's ran it in gently for the last 700 miles and sent it to a reputable Evo tuner for mapping.
He explained it was a new-build and asked them to change the oil prior to commencing, dial-in-cams, etc.
When he went to collect it, they took his £250 and told him that they stopped as the engine was making 'noises'... net result - all bearings
are gone and valves, etc. knackered! He's looking at a £3k bill.
He's dropped the oil and it's full of fuel - he suspects they have been hammering it when it's been over-fueling and considers they
haven't done their job right. They disagree (say the engine must have been faulty) and won't engage in dialogue with him.
I've no experience with these things - where does he stand?
If the engine was in full working order when delivered to them, then something has happened whilst in their presence. If they've been pushing it
too hard and caused it to fail, then they obviously have some liability. Ask him to check if he's signed anything waiving any repercussionary
actiona against the RR company - sometimes they ask user to sign a waiver indemnifying them for anything adverse that happens to the car whilst
they're tuning it.
Also, does the invoice say exactly what they did in terms of changing the oil and timing it in before they put it on the rollers? Ask for a breakdon
invoice, and if they haven't followed his instructions then they could be seen to be negligent. Tell him to also send a copy of the rebuild
receipts to the RR co. to prove that it was all done professionally, and was working prior to him leaving it in theor care.
You could always suggest small claims court action, think it costs about £30-35, but claim limit is set around £2k. For more than this you'll
need to seek advanced legal advice from a solicitor or similar, and that's where it starts getting costly.
[Edited on 7/10/09 by Charlie_Zetec]
all modern engines have a rev limiter and are therefore in theory impossible to over rev,he would have prob signed a waver about the engine going pop
as there is always that risk.
He shouldnt have driven it without having it mapped, not even gently the damage may have already been done, detonation, etc...
A new engine needing mapping needs to go straight on a dyno, they can map the low load/engine speed first to bed it in.
Who built the engine?
Does the car have an oil pressure/temperature gauge? If not did the tuner fir one so he can see any problems whilst mapping?
Paul
Cheers guys - I'll pass on the advice.
He tells me he didn't sign any disclaimers and apparently the Oil Temp Gauge stopped working during the session, but they carried on.
quote:
Originally posted by Cousin Cleotis
He shouldnt have driven it without having it mapped, not even gently the damage may have already been done, detonation, etc...
A new engine needing mapping needs to go straight on a dyno, they can map the low load/engine speed first to bed it in.
Paul
Is that not going to depend on what the "base map" was for the rebuilt engine?
If the oil temp guage stopped working during the tuning and they noticed it, but did not stop to investigate, then I would suggest you have a good
case....
[Edited on 7/10/09 by tegwin]
I had my Discovery on the rolling road in Dalgety Bay in Fife the middle of last month and never had to sign anything, just handed my keys over and
watched the horse power climb....
It is fairly disconcerting watch how hard and long the will rev the engine during the process..
Would the ECU be able to shed some light on what was going wrong?
The ECU was set to a suitable running-in base-map. There was only as handful of 'knocks' detected during the run-in period.
Also, the ECU diagnostics only flag up ECU faults.
quote:
Originally posted by kevmcdo
It is fairly disconcerting watch how hard and long the will rev the engine during the process..
I'd say it was unikely the RR caused the problem with the engine, they would have been loggin it continously while it was running, they probably
have this available to look at.
A faulty oil temp sensor with everything else running ok wouldn't really be a cause for stopping runs unless you thought the oil temp was
marginal. They aren't exactly the most reliable sensors.
I'd say from my evo experience it's probably down to a component failure or the way it was built. Could even be down to a previous failure
not being cleaned out properly.
Who built the engine ? If it was the company who mapped it then they would be responsible. If it was someone else then it is a bit more iffy as you don't know what caused the failure ....build or mapping.
It was a local specialist, but not the dyno operators.
What's the general consensus regarding the oil being full of fuel... does that suggest anything?
I would send the oil off for analysis and give the engine back to the builder to strip and inspect.
Did the builder give any instructions on running in? Where did the base map come from?
Paul