CT5-V WTF - melting piston

[Blue]

Long story short, I was checking out my buddies BlackWings get tuned by Justin White. Since I was there in person and saw how much better they ran after he did his thing, I decided to have him check mine out, why the hell not right? This is a serious machine I daily drive, I want it running the best it can.

2 days of chaos, stress, and troubleshooting later (all while connected to a dyno and paying hourly rates) he found my build was spewing piston meat everywhere.

2650 bolts not torqued right, reflex not connected properly, flex fuel sensor not connected, spark plug tips ripped off via gapping tool, and worse of all, my port injection was wired backwards!! So it was dumping fuel in the wrong cylinders at the wrong time causing #5 to lean out and rip apart.

We checked 3 other BlackWings that went to the same shop, all had the same issue (2 were worse, not only was the port injection wires wrong left to right, but from to back). The shop even confirmed the car they were working on had this issue and were able to fix it before the car went to SEMA.

This level of carelessness, ineptitude, and failure to read basic instructions and / or test is astounding (you'd think they'd see the sloppy data when on the Dyno during tuning like Justin did).

What would you do in my position knowing you've got a piston on borrowed time?

 

[Z28]

Call a lawyer.

 

[blkout]

Awe man, that sucks. It's hard to find good shops that are reputable these days and stand behind their work. Hopefully they make it right with you.

 

[BlackwingSwanny23]

I'd tell post the shop name

 

[Throat Yogurt]

First off, I'm sorry you are in this situation...looks like a total shit sandwich. Before you post the shop's name, before you call a lawyer, call the shop that did the shitty work. Present the evidence, and ask them to pay for repairs.

They'll refuse, then it's time to call a lawyer and threaten to sue for damages. Then they'll probably start negotiating.

Posting the shop's name is the nuclear option, which will likely hurt your chances of getting them to cooperate. Only do so if they don't help at all and your lawyer thinks it is ok.

Good luck.

 

[rubberduck]

I get your point of view. But if they’re going to be offended by a truthful post and retaliate, it’s definitely a shop that doesn’t deserve anyone’s business. That’s assuming that there is not another side to the story?

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I get your point of view. But if they’re going to be offended by a truthful post and retaliate, it’s definitely a shop that doesn’t deserve anyone’s business. That’s assuming that there is not another side to the story?

I agree with you 100%, and I'm sure they have a side to the story, even if it's wrong. But the OP's best chance of getting the issue resolved at the shop's cost is to have them admit responsibility and cooperate, and they are much less likely to do that if the OP torches them online, even if they truly did screw up and are responsible for the damage.

OP could also use the threat of posting everything with names as a negotiating tactic, though I would use that as a last resort.

 

[rubberduck]

Yes, I would first go down to the shop (in a different car obviously) and lay out my side of the story and see what they say. I prefer to do such things in person as I can get a better judge of things that way. Depending on that outcome, several routes to take.

 

[BlackwingSwanny23]

I think you guys are missing the fact that this shop belongs in a library working as a librarian before working on 100+ thousand dollar cars. I don't mean to assume but this is not an isolated incident

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I think you guys are missing the fact that this shop belongs in a library working as a librarian before working on 100+ thousand dollar cars. I don't mean to assume but this is not an isolated incident

You're right, but I think the actions the OP takes are based on what he wants to outcome to be. I'm assuming he wants to get his car fixed and he wants the shop to pay for it. If that's the case, publicly posting the name of the shop doesn't help him achieve that, at least not right away. If he plans to fix his car out of pocket and just wants to warn everyone else, then by all means, post away.

 

[Blue]

To absolutely no one's surprise, there it goes. We knew it was on borrowed time when we saw that piston.

To

 

[Blue]

Home - Omni Motorsports Sucks

Their Address: 809 N Lakeview Ave Unit M, Placentia, CA 92870 Their Website: https://omnimotorsports.shop/ Their Socials: Why does this site exist? As a formally loyal customer of Omni Motorsports who brought them over a hundred thousand dollars in referrals, I take no pleasure in putting this...

omnimotorsportssucks.com

Thank you all for your suggestions. I reached out to the owner to give them an opportunity to own the consequences as one of their employees seemed to make fun of the situation on IG via stories.

"Since Ricky seems to be making light of the situation, joking about it on IG, and not taking the consequences seriously, as the business owner of Omni I owe you one last message so we are on the same page and there’s no ambiguity. Given you’ve been aware of the improper install and potential consequences, I had expected you to reach out by now given you’ve had almost two weeks since you confirmed the issue on Brett’s and Socal’s BW’s.

To recap, 2 weeks ago I attended an in person Dyno tune session between Mike, Shane, and Justin. As you know, Justin has been travelling across the US doing in person tunes. I was attending only to see the other two cars with no intention of touching mine.

While there, I had a chance to not only see the data, the process, Justin’s incredible precision, and the numbers, I had a chance to drive and feel their cars before and after. It is not an exaggeration to state that the driveability, power, and responsiveness all improved drastically after Justin worked his magic. I don’t want to demean Tom’s abilities but if Justin would’ve been an option as a tuner, I would’ve easily paid 2x the price given the results (a datapoint for you to consider for your clientele with higher end builds willing to pay whatever it takes to get the job done right).

On a whim, given we had a bit of time left on the dyno, I asked Justin to do a pull on mine. He did and immediately noticed that the car was making "dirty power" as he called it (please note, this is how the car always ran, I could not tell a difference - it took a seasoned Blackwing tuner to immediately notice it wasn’t running right, don’t misinterpret this statement as I had a problem so I went to him to solve it). After 2 days of troubleshooting trying to figure out why it wasn’t running properly, we discovered many things wrong with the car, including aluminum being shot into one of my cylinder chambers.

1- the tips of the new sparkplugs (you guys replaced them 6 weeks before the tune event) were broken off, likely by improperly using the spark plug gap tool
2- my flex fuel sensor was installed but not connected and not sending data to the ECU thus the car was always assuming E content (apparently having the sensor but not running a proper flexfuel tune on E is dangerous because the computers make assumptions which can lead to improper operating conditions)
3- we found aluminum flakes on the spark plugs
4- we found a tun of sludge on the intakes caused by oil mixing with the E (likely due to the cam being too aggressive or E splashing into the chamber when the valve was closed or a combination of both)
5- as a consequence of the sludge, one of the injectors was clogged and not flowing right
6- additional wiring issues, esp with wired being connected backwards that Justin can share with you if you ask

During these two days, we replaced the plugs, connected the flexfuel sensor so the tune could account for the E content, fixed wiring problems, bought brand new PI injectors, and more. Eventually Justin discovered the aluminum was due to running lean because my port injection was wired backwards leading to a lean state on some pistons. As soon as he corrected the PI wiring, all of the aluminum flakes went away and the car immediately made another 60hp. This proves the car was running improperly ever since it was built as a direct consequence of the backwards wiring order on the PI plates.

While catching all of this was rather fortunate so we now know the root cause with certainty, it was unfortunately a little too late. The borescope inspection of the piston and cylinder walls led Justin to believe, on the spot, that the motor was likely on its last legs and estimated that it might go any time; in fact, if you look at your records, I relayed the sentiment via my message “So I'm probably down to my last 10% of life before I need a motor”

I understand that managing a business, changing locations, dealing with lift issues, car accidents, shitty epoxy flooring, and probably 10000x other things is exhausting and beyond the capacity of one person to manage and handle. Any one of us that operates at a high pace in a high stress environment can empathize with this and are not blind or indifferent to the struggle.

However, I was your first Blackwing customer and brought you many more, likely over a hundred thousand worth of business. I hope you can understand when I say I am truly disappointed by your lack of outreach, I mean it. I should not be having to reach out to you like this, you should be asking questions to learn from your mistakes to improve - shit happens, accidents happen, how we respond in these situations is ultimately what dictates our growth or failure. At a minimum, you should’ve said thank you for sharing the findings so we can prevent engine damage on our current and future BW builds.

Feelings about should’ve and could’ve aside, my motor finally gave out Saturday just as Justin had predicted. Given the wiring mistakes and lack of outreach, I am now working with a new shop to pull out the motor and re-sleeve the block if it can be saved. I will also have to redo all of the wiring to address all of the issues discovered and potentially more that we’ve yet to discover.

Between the 2 troubleshooting days and the replacement parts and labor, I am likely looking at well over $20k if not more. I truly believe this could have been avoided and the life of my motor significantly extended if the wiring was connected correctly (not considering spark plug issues, tune issues, etc…)

Do what you will with this information as the owner of a shop who improperly installed the PI on an expensive car directly leading to premature engine failure.

I truly hope you take a moment to consider everything from my perspective - a customer who never once mentioned or argued price, who dealt with a busted bumper due to the tow truck incident, dealt with delays because Ricky forgot to plug in my center shifter console wiring, dealt with lack of due diligence on the clutch, and through it all, still vouched for and promoted your shop heavily understanding that nothing is perfect in this world."

His response:

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Home - Omni Motorsports Sucks

Their Address: 809 N Lakeview Ave Unit M, Placentia, CA 92870 Their Website: https://omnimotorsports.shop/ Their Socials: Why does this site exist? As a formally loyal customer of Omni Motorsports who brought them over a hundred thousand dollars in referrals, I take no pleasure in putting this...

omnimotorsportssucks.com

Decision made! Talk about going all in!

 

[Blue]

Decision made! Talk about going all in!

When you dump $75k in a build only to blow a motor due to incompetence followed by complete lack of accountability, it gives you a solid reason to ensure others aren't going in blind.

 

[Melon]

Wow man, best of luck. I'll be following this thread.

 

[CT4-Venom]

I like how the owner didn't like your method of contact, that was funny!

 

[Melon]

Just looked at the website, and your IG.
And the shop's IG. It's hard to make a determination on the outside looking in but, several bad reviews and that communication regarding an issue is quite telling.

If this were my shop, I'd be doing all I can to make it right and working out a compromise. Reputation is everything, mistakes happen, it's all in how you make it right.

 

[Blue]

Just looked at the website, and your IG.
And the shop's IG. It's hard to make a determination on the outside looking in but, several bad reviews and that communication regarding an issue is quite telling.

If this were my shop, I'd be doing all I can to make it right and working out a compromise. Reputation is everything, mistakes happen, it's all in how you make it right.

It's exactly what I told him too as well. This is an excerpt form the message I sent that you can find in the post above:

"shit happens, accidents happen, how we respond in these situations is ultimately what dictates our growth or failure. At a minimum, you should've said thank you for sharing the findings so we can prevent engine damage on our current and future BW builds."

His reply telling me I was wrong was in direct response to this.

 

[Speed Racer 007]

This entire situation sucks balls, good luck with all brother

 

[1Evil55]

Sorry you're going through all this. Remind me never to piss you off.