Brought the Stealth there for an intake pressure test to diagnose a sputtering/power loss issue. The owner suggested that I let him troubleshoot the car instead at the rate of $75 an hour. Paid for 2 hours, got the car back, I was told by the owner that they gained "a lot of horsepower" by tightening the throttle cable (a bit too tight btw, no factory 1-2mm slack). Told me the TPS wasn't reading right (wrong voltage showing)/ 19% open at idle vs. factory 12-14% (tested by datalogger) and they could go no further. When all they had to do was move it up or down to increase/decrease the voltage. I asked if they noticed the bogging when letting off the gas while in gear (clutch is new) and after shifting gears before 4000 rpm. Owner said yes, and claimed it was caused by the TPS being bad. Told me to buy it from the dealer ($130) when advance had one for 20 bucks...I did it myself (vs. 75 bucks for a 20 minute job) and adjusted it to a nice 14% at idle. Didn't feel shit. They BS'ed me about gaining "alot of horsepower" back by tightening the throttle cable because I felt nothing when I left that day...So I'm almost $300 bucks short and have gotten nowhere. Called them back and spoke to the tech that worked on my car...he just kind BS'ed the conversation giving me empty statements when I asked about the owner telling me specifically that the bogging was from the bad TPS, and "gaining horsepower back"...basically they played a game of "replace and check" with my fucking money when I could've done the same thing for a lot less. Also have to add that the TPS on there was from a parts car of one of my buddies and I was still told to replace it...

I probably won't take the car back to them unless its something that I can check later. I see that a problem like this is hard to troubleshoot as it only happens when the car is cold but I dont' like how they BS'ed me and told me lies to make me leave happy because they weren't able to figure out what the problem was in the claimed "4 hours" that they really spent on the car. In the end I wasn't too angry since I was told that they did after all do an intake pressure test. (which I thought would have a seperate charge)

 

Sorry to hear that man... I hate it when people see that you take care of your car, and know you'll pay to get it running right, when they don't know ish about it...

You should of asked them for a refund

 

Yeah. Its all good though, turned out to be the crank angle sensor. Shit is all nice and peppy again Should've had patience and waited for a 3SI member with a parts car rather than give it to those idiots anyway.

 

Yeah, AUP in my opinion is a bad shop. I have had bad expieriences with them too.

 

ok well ill see you later bro

 

Since the "tech" tried to call me today and cry about this and hung up in the middle of the conversation like a fucking 12 year old I'll also add that when I explained the 10-15 counts of knock I was reading on the datalogger I was told that "every motor knocks at high RPMs" like thats fucking normal. When the ECU starts to retard timing every 3 (+/-) counts of knock that the knock sensor detects. Obviously if they he had shut the fuck up and listened to me and realized that this is obviously timing related he would've been able to suspect the CAS. He was a "technician" and I was a customer so I really didn't feel like arguing with the guy. Also before that I had some exhaust leaks on the downpipe and I explained that its almost impossible for an exhaust leak like this (bad flex pipe/dp-cat/exhaust manifold -dp connections. bad motor mounts) to cause a 40whp loss and was told "well, if you knew how these motors responded to backpressure you'd know how big of a difference it is, and then blah blah about how he worked on these cars before.

If he had just talked and offered to refund my money I probably would've deleted what I wrote but w00t for acting like a 12 year old and hanging up!

 

LOL, if you think unpredictable sputtering to the point where you can't even fucking move over 5mph is normal, then uh, more power to yah bud.

I also didn't want to check "just certain parts of the car" , not like I told you to check certain parts. I paid for 2 hours of "troubleshooting" . If you disconnect the MAS and let the car idle you'll see the difference b/w the way it behaves. Also about the CAS not triggering a CEL, an MAS would also cause a CEL so I have no idea why you even bothered checking that and not the CAS.

About the TPS, you push it up/down to adjust the voltage...Just shows how much you know about these cars. 91-92 motors do have crank angle sensors, and 93-99 (?) have cam angle sensors. Please go to Stealth316.com and read.

Edit: Link http://stealth316.com/2-cas-91-92.htm

Only mechanical difference b/w JDM motors and USDM motors is EGR.

Also since you're here, I also forgot to mention on the phone the horsepower gain you claimed to have gotten after tightening the throttle cable...which sounded like some bullshit you made up so that I could leave happy...since there was a 0 horsepower gain when I left the shop that day...

Its one thing to play "guess and check" (what I was doing before) and its one thing to have the right tools and knowledge to do some orderly troubleshooting. Obvioulsy if you had adjusted the TPS to the right voltage first and seen how the car behaved, you would've been able to rule it out since there was no CEL. I did adjust the TPS to a nice 14% at idle (the old TPS) that night and felt nothing...

Theres really no reason for me to kinda hate your shop just because I'm an asshole. The owner used to be a tech at Dany's Auto down in Herndon by 606 where I have spent waaay over $4000-5000 bucks worth of labor done to my car in the year that I've owned it. That is installing stock and aftermarket parts. Also got my engine swap done there of which they did a great job.

 

owned

 

Ive heard nothing but things about them. I wonder how they're still in business.