meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i'm sooo mad right now, not because i have work at 9 in the morning and i have to desperately find a ride, not because my car stopped 5 blocks away from my house and i had to push it back with a friend, NOT BECAUSE I JUST HAD THIS PROBLEM, BUT BECAUSE THIS F*CKING SHOP JUST MADE ME SPEND 500 dollars to fix this dam problem and it happened again!

Not to mention that just f*cking now i pressed the escape button by mistake and it erased 3 paragraphs of hard typing and now i am extremely ****ed, TOO ****ED, i just want to go out and shoot someone and i cant smoke that good stuff now to calm me down cause i got work in the f*cking morning!

Now here's what happened, i'm gonna have to try to remember what i just typed. I was rolling and i push the gas and the rpm's start acting super homo and all of a sudden it just slams into 0 rpm, not a slow drop or a hesitation drop but a quick fall. i push gas, nothing happens. WTF!!!!! I get that nice roasty smell i got a little over a week ago. Another fried ecu, why didnt i just bring it to the f*cking barbecue?! All of a sudden my dam rpm shoots up at 3k, car is off, key is in ignition, i'm at one spot and the dam rpm shoots up at 3k rpm, WTF IS going on!!!!

Now here's what gets me worried, here is my second most important issue which i need advice on. I just paid this shop 316 dollars to find a problem with my car and fix it. I also paid a junkyard 150 dollars for an ecu with a 30 day warranty. The ecu smells like its fried. I dont know if junkyard will give me a refund and more importantly i dont know if the shop will look at my car again for free since i basically paid them 300 bucks to make my car run fine for 2 days. The ecu was not the problem, something caused it to f*ck up and i dont want to hear that "too much electronics bs" because i have a weaka$$ system compared to the hundreds on maxima.org and i know people running way more ish than me with no problems.

Anyway, i'm worried that i'm beat for my 316 dollars. I dont know if they'll look at my car again for free and if they couldnt find the problem the first time, how will they find it this time? I want to just sell nissan my soul and give them my car for a week to just find the problem and make me happy but its gonna cost so much plus its basically saying i gave the shop 316 dollars for free. Am i liable for a warranty from the shop? i mean they just gave the car back to me 2 days ago and everyone that saw my car today at the meet knows i've had problems with the fan staying on and car not fully shutting off the whole day. I really should have seen this coming from those signs...ahhhh f*ck!

I just got a dam optima yellow battery which must have been stressed out today, and now everything in my car stays on when key is in, lights work fine, system works fine but car just wont start.

I know this is long guys but please bear with me, now the points i need help on are:

1) should shop and junkyard take care of me for free because i paid them to do a job they did not finish?
2) should i go back to the shop or go straight to nissan and pay the ultimate price?
3) what the f*ck is the problem with my car?!

there is so much more i want to say and ask but i'm not focused now, more set on breaking some walls, i'm a good guy man, why is all this happening to me???!

BlueC

iTrader: (5)

Suggestion: Call in sick tomorow, and spend that time relaxing, sounds like you got a few problems to solve, and going into work feeling like that could possibly make things worse.

**** happens, ofcourse

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i really want to call off but i cant for two reasons:

i called off today to go to the maxima meet in nj

and

i may need as much money as possible to pay for whatever future i have with my beloved maxima....

BlueC

iTrader: (5)

Make sure you take an extra long lunch then!

Dave B

I think it's a well known fact that aftermarket "systems" and car alarms can give Maximas all kinds of problems. Electrical problems are by far the hardest problems to fix.

Do you have an aftermarket alarm?

What kind of stereo are you running and how's it hooked up?


Dave

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i have both an aftermarket alarm and system

I have the Viper 790 REsponder which i've had since late october 2002 and havent had any problems with it though

As far as system, i have an Eclipse AV8022 dvd player, two kicker subs components, coaxials, 2 amps, one for interior another for exterior, the combo of the amps is a total of 1,000 watts peak and the last thing i hooked up was my other amp to the system which was a replacement to my other amp that died on me. I had that amp on the car for a good 3-5 days before my car started acting up....please give me a sign dave B!! tell me what u think my problem may be, what should i look for? I plan to do an ecu diagnose tomorrow after work but i'm now worried that if i have to send ecu back to junkyard, they might not take it back because i took plastic off the **** and they may think i broke it, same with shop saying i broke it and tried to bring it back....can they do that?

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

sorry guy.. that really sucks major monkey *****.

Too bad you're in NJ, if u were in CA I could have a good friend of mine going through your electrical stuff with a fine tooth comb.

What will happen is that the shop will tell you that it was not their fault.. it was the ECU that you gave them and so they are not liable. Did they give you some type of warranty? However, the ECU can't blow itself up can it? There had to have been something they missed.

Take the ECU to the junkyard and tell them you took it to a shop (show them reseipt of shop work) and thet they plugged it in and it just blew up. The junkyard has to assume that the shop knew what they were doing and it was in fact the ECU that was the problem.

Note: Don't tell the junkyard that the shop messed up, and tell the shop that the ECU came with a warranty so it had to be working correctly.

It all comes down to how both the junkyard and the shop want to handle their business.

WHere do you work? Perhaps you can mention at the shop that you are a reporter or something and there had been a report done on fraudulent shops and so you hope this isn't a case of that.

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

As i hit the submit button I just remembered this exact same thing happened to my friend's 300zx. I think I know what it is..

He was taking one of the seats out and as he was doing so, some wires somewhere made a short and it blew the ECU i believe (or was it the fuse board??) I remember it was something major.

There's gotta be something that isn't wired right somewhere in your system. Possibly a ground somewhere that can be screwing you up? I don't know electrical junk in detail

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

u had it done at amoco right? Al is the head guy there?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

yea al is the head guy there, he's a real nice guy and i mean i'm not really mad at the shop because like Dave B said, these type of problems are the hardest to find, i'm just mad at the idea that i might be beat for 300 dollars and may have to spend a lot more to fix this problem.

Its definitely gotta be a short somewhere. One thing which had me thinking was that i have a neon underbody kit with the front bulb off cause it broke a while back and i had kit installed without it. When i went to meet today i realized that wires from the kit were dragging on the ground. I dont know jack about grounding or anything but is it possible that this could have played a role in weaking my electric system or something? me and a friend took wires off the ground at the meet but i'm just thinking of things that could cause problems. Now i wish i never did a system. Car was so great, i could have focused on speed or looks, instead i had to get electric stuff that r killing my car

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

those wires could definately be f'ing stuff up, take it back to al, he should take a look at it again for no charge bro, cuz obviously his work didnt solve the problem at all, i've had a lot of work done there he should help ya out

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

well another key problem i'm faced with is distance. Now my car is at my house which is a good 15-20 minutes from the shop. I dont have AAA or anything. I'm gonna have to pay a good 100 bucks atleast to ship it to him. I dont wnat to make Al seem like a bad guy cause he isnt but because the shop didnt solve the problem causing me to be so far from the shop to get it re-evaluated, shouldnt they pay for towing or atleast part of it?

More importantly, i'm closer to nissan now than if i was in edison. I'm worried they might not find the problem and instead of sending it straight to nissan i'll be sending it to them, losing money from shipping and putting me father away from dealership which causes more toll as well. I dont know, also if for some reason junkyard doesnt accept my ecu because they see its been really tamped with or something, shouldnt shop takec are of expenses on that because their not being able to solve the problem the first time caused me to kill another ECU...bah i have so much in my mind, 5 1/2 hours to sleep before work...any suggestions are highly recommended everyone, i hope to wake up or come home with some friendly suggestions, thanks all for trying...

95emeraldgxe

for the saving thing...... what word processor do you use?? my word processor saves my work everytime i hit "return" :-D

lophix

iTrader: (3)

D'oh!

just typed a whole lot of crap and had it deleted too by pressing ctrl + a and a letter by mistake. damn.


anyways. i'd say take it back to the Amco guy and have him finish what he was supposed to have done in the first place. Actually, on second thoughts, what exactly did you pay to get done? installing the new ecu?? sorry didnt follow the last thread cos it was too long. But in anycase, the labor should be under warranty for at least 30days. If they cant get it done / diagnosed, chances are they might either tell you flat out and "may" give you a refund which you can then take to nissan directly, or they might tell you it was the ecu and that might start a chain of exchanging the ecu and frying it over and over till the j-yard refuses to do business with you. In either case, the stealership is a last resort but at least you'd probably get a definite answer.

good luck man. sorry youre having probs with the ride.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i took the car to them and told them the car would not run, could u find out whats wrong with the car. I paid them to find a problem and fix it. Now the old computer was one of the problems because after replacing it, besides losing remote start, the car worked fine for a good whole day and they told me to take it around the block and give them the thumbs up if it was cool which i did but dam, only 2 days later, well lets call it 3 to make it safe, on the third day this happens...i hope the shop is as generous as u guys say they'll be but i fear they gonna charge me to look for a new problem besides ecu.

lophix

iTrader: (3)

what else was part of the problems that they felt they had solved apart from the ecu, if i might ask? something must have caused the ecu to go bad in the first place and what they thought it was must not have been. Electrical gremlins are a real PITA to locate and solve.

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

damn mecca sorry to hear about this. I'd say...unhook your system, and get this issue fixed, then have Don help you in rehooking that back up.

ILoveMyMax

it seems like all you have is drama with the max hehe, gl trying to find an solution, hope it doesnt dig to deep into your pockets, my suggestion. Take it to Nissan say fix it.

optimus310

iTrader: (1)

wow man that sucks.
just remove all your system and the underbody kit. Then have them take a look at it. If they ask you why you removed the system just tell them that you had to sell all your stuff to pay them again (if they charge you). good luck man!

99MaximaSE-L

sorry to hear about it man, hope everything works out ok

sx7r

iTrader: (15)

see if any of your friends have roadside assistance with a wireless phone provider like cingular. free towing for $2.99/month. i've used it countless times on everyone's car but mine, lol. good luck.

MaxAtack

I remember the sales mgr going thru the whole schpeel of extended warranties and when we came across getting an alarm for my 03, I chose not to get it thinking I'll just get a better aftermarket one, but he mentioned another customer a month before bringing their car back to the dealership with all sorts of electrical problems because of an aftermarket alarm. At that point, I got a bit and just gave into one.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

hey guys, i mean there is a possibility that all these electronics could have played a role but what i dont understand is how they could play a role. I've had my alarm for over 6 months with no problems and i did not hook up my system, my system was carefully put together by a professional installer who has always and has a great reputation of doing a great job with installs. Although this may not be the case the ONLY thing that sounds reasonable is me having a faulty alternator. I know it is probably no the problem but if it was i would be so happy because i would understand. I mean i used to hit my system with lights dimming with every bass note and from that i can say i stressed my alternator and its become faulty. I dont see anything else causing the problem becuase i didnt change anything.

Oh, one other thing which i have to mention. My HiDS, when i turn them on, i hear a zzzzz sound as if they taking up a lot of energy. I even see some times, not always but its happened atleast 3 times since getting them that if i'm blasting my system and i turn HIDS on, system shuts off for like 2 seconds then comes back on. Head unit doesnt cut off or anything, i just dont hear anything for like 2 seconds as if head unit trying to read cd again or something.

what sucks even more was that i was ready to go outside and check my ecu for any codes but i had no ride home and ended up coming home at 10:30 instead of 7, too dark to do any testing....BAH!

CKNY

iTrader: (1)

you've had some problems iwth this car mecca.

might i suggest a black 96 that's for sale in the maximas for sale forum that's already got most of the bolt on performance mods done?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

this shop has just stolen over 300 dollars from me for no reason.

I dropped my car off at that shop to find a problem and fix it. My car would not start and i wanted them to fix the problem. They see that the ecu was fried and they replace it and the problem happens again, that was obviously not the problem with the car, well not the main problem.

now they wont help pay for towing which is understandable i guess but they also wont look at my car again with some type of discount. I basically charged them to change an ecu so it could f*ck up again. Is there anything i can do about this? this is only 2 or 3 days after i got the car back. It does not take a dam week to change an ecu. They were looking for what was killing my car.

So anyway, now i'm carless, and i dont know what to do. I dont want to bring it back to that shop because they probably wont find the problem and they will just be beating me for more money and nissan, we all know about nissan although they may actually find the problem. I can see big expenses headed my way and i just need to know the right path to take before making my first step

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

iight, i just got AAA and i just got my car towed to nissan. They are doing a full electrical test which costs 138 dollars. My last and only resort left, i wish i went to them first but things dont work out the way u plan...

i'll keep u guys updated on how nissan abuses me, maybe i get lucky and some wire is causing all the problems? who knows but wish me luck and someone jump in line, my a$$ is already hurting from the shop ripping my **** in three

ericdwong

I've never heard of a stereo that was at least 1/2 decently installed causing a car to die. Oh wait, yes I have. My friends 95 4 cyl S10 chevy pickup apparently the + wire was too close to the alternator and its magnetic field caused it to short out (1st one I've heard of for me). Otherwise I've never had a problem with aftermarket remote start/alarms or stereos causing problems. You can guess what my advice is gonna be Consumer Reports' most reliable car eh?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

lol, and the bashing of maxima's continue hahaha

well i've had the head unit installed for weeks before these problems started, thats why i dont think its the problem. The last thing i had installed was an amp, 600 watts and it was 5 days after that that the problem started so i dont see how anything audio could affect the problems on my car...unless u guys have some thing special to tell me..?

lophix

iTrader: (3)

i have one q though: you actually paid 3bills just to get the ecu swapped? diagnosis of problem aside, that's ridiculous. how long was your car with them and how much was their labor rate? i think thats just absurd that you'd fork out 3bills to get something done to the car and they dont really do anything (you could probably have changed the ecu yourself in 30mins!!). i would personally demand a refund as they didnt do jack squat. chances are nissan might make you buy a new ecu but you could probably get a used one and be safe once the actual problem has been found. good luck man.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

agreed, although i did have car there for a week but they werent looking at the car for a week, just diagnosing it, something nissan will do in less than a day. I paid them 350 dollars to find a problem and fix it, which in their idea meant just the ECU seeing they thought that was the only problem with the car, as if i just threw something in the ecu for it to die on me real quick.

Pearl96max changed my ecu in 30 min on my old max, its hard to get out but does not take a few hours nor a day or a week in that matter. But the receipt puts them in good hands because they covered them selves lovely. For the first time my trust and good fortune has cursed me instead of benefit me and i have learned my lesson, dont trust anyone, read all things even if u think they are your friends

MaximaMoJo

First off, the Amoco place fixed the effect of the problem not the cause. This is probably the most common problem with repair shops. Anyway, You had said that the car's electronics stay on with just your key in the ignition not turned to ACC? If this is the case I would have them look at the ignition cylinder for a short. Also, about the HID's, who did the install? I would check the grounds for these. I would check all grounds for your system and alarm. Other than that I am not sure, good luck!

Also look into filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area about the repair with Amoco. Also tell them that you intend to do so and see what they have to say.

What did the junkyard say about the ECU?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

You have so much electrical crap on your car, it would take an engineer to figure it out. It's pretty obvious that the ecu is getting fried because of some type of short. I don't see how you can blame the repair shop for someone else's crappy electronic install. You know how hard it is to track down electrical shorts in a car w/ factory electronics? Now add a bunch of aftermarket electrical stuff installed by 3-4 different people and now that job just got 10x harder to track down. It will probably take another 10 hours of solid work to figure it out. Usually by disconnecting all your electricals one by one. If you get lucky, maybe they will find a short fast. Welcome to the world of aftermarket accessories.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

all my stuff was installed by one person and i'm not blaming the shop for doing a bad job, i'm blaming them for exactly what maxmojo said. They fixed an effect of the problem not the actual problem and they are now walking away with my money. If they said something like "sorry about that, but to look further will cost a little mroe than what we charged and we'll give u credit for the 350", thats fine but they are doing nothing for me with that 350, why would i want the ecu replaced when its just gonna die again? its like having a bad alternator and continuously buying batteries so car runs for a day or two but problem not fixed u know?

Anyway, junkyard is showing better business, their 30 day warranty still stands, they just wnat to know what happened to ecu so they told me to get back to them when i talk to nissan and i should be getting that 150 back.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

So what if it's something related to the aftermarket eletronics install? The reason I ask is that it really looks electrical in nature. ie.. you keep blowing the ecu up. Somehow the ecu is getting a power surge through it or maybe it's getting power though the ground?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

well it could be the fact that something bad was installed or installed improperly, big possibility since it is an electrical problem and i wont overlook that but what steers me away from that is that it was over a week since the last thing aftermarket was isntalled on my car since the problem started and more importantly, the person that installed everything on my car has done this for years and does it on cars exactly like mine on an almost everyday basis, plus the power i'm running is nothing compared to what he had and what many other people that go to him have. It may sound like i have a lot but i really dont have much and others with tons more havent had problems, why me? But you do make a good point, i just dont see how it could be when i've had alarm installed for months, system parts for months and one amp for almost a week...

lophix

iTrader: (3)

i feel it might be a single wire somewhere that might have lost it's insulation and is contacting something it shouldnt. The fact that it ran for a while might mean motion might be moving it away from the contact point and back to it. Those are a lot of "mights" there but that's the only logic i can read to explain frying then working again then frying the ecu again.

Concerning the amoco guys, i think you should give them a call and dont use strong words or sound nasty as that complicates matters even more. explain to them exactly what maxmojo said about them fixing the effect. Granted it would have taken a lot of time but at least they might have found the source of the problem eventually. They may be able to work a deal out with you and give you some money back if you wish or you could just drop it and never go back to them again for anything no matter how minor and you can let them know this if they dont agree to salvage their reputation with you.

concerning the j-yard, did you tell them something on your car is frying ecus? and after telling them that did they agree to refund you?

EZEMaxima

Do you have a remote start feature on your alarm? if yes, where did they hookup the RPM sensor wire? check it

Is your alternator and/or battery in good condition? A weak battery and/or dying or fried alternator could be causing the flickering/turning off of your system.

the last amp that was recently installed, maybe during the intall, a wired got moved/disconnected or the insulation stripped and is causing a short.

I agree with disconnecting/verify connections on each aftermarket components.

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

yes i had remote start which was connected to my first ecu but the mechanic removed it in fear that it was preventing the damage to my ecu. So for the 2 days my car was working fine, i had no remote start...

EZEMaxima

Did they check to make sure the integrity of the wire it was tapped on is okay? Even if they remove it but the wire is damaged.......

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

i dont think they checked....