My Experience with Gintani

My issue is not with your word. It's with you dealers word. From my own experience, any single wire misplaced or defective will wreak havoc instantly, not over time. Considering the fact that dealerships are the most shady, and your not the first to be told you need a new DME, I'm questioning your dealers word. Is love to see pictures of what your dealer claims to be defective. Ie corroded or spliced

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Originally Posted by LostMarine

My issue is not with your word. It's with you dealers word. From my own experience, any single wire misplaced or defective will wreak havoc instantly, not over time. Considering the fact that dealerships are the most shady, and your not the first to be told you need a new DME, I'm questioning your dealers word. Is love to see pictures of what your dealer claims to be defective. Ie corroded or spliced

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+1

I really think the dealer is just messing with him in terms of analysis...it totally could be a bad DME but it can be a bad diode which is a fairly common issue on MSD80 DMEs..i really wouldn't be so quick to blame anything Gintani did especially a year later on the car...the only thing I would blame them for is touching the DME wiring when you didn't tell them to and by the way I'd give them shit the moment I saw that in their face, not a year later on internet forums...you could end up damaging your DME yourself with bad wiring and a piggy, its happened before a few times, one guy locally fried his DME somehow (no idea how) when taking out his piggy tune but shit like that is remotely possible, but still possible though

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Originally Posted by Sticky

I have no reason to doubt you but I just don't understand the whole tune thing.

You said you wanted no tune but got one anyway? I don't get it.

If your fender was damaged they should have told you. My front lip was damaged due to how steep their old entrance was. Alex replaced it, no questions asked.

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Sticky regarding the tune, nothing was discussed beforehand. Nothing was agreed to. I didn't ask for the tune. When I came to pick up the car my JB3 had been removed and Arno told me they had reflashed my car. I only agreed to keep it on the car after he told that it was safe and asked if I could test it out for them.

Regarding the fender. It had never sustained any damage before that. The same day I got the car back from Gintani the fender buckled. When the body shop inspected it the owner told me it had been hit and was straightened out to make it appear as if no damage had occurred. The car was in their possession for over a week. I don't see how the fender just buckles like that.

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Originally Posted by Monster135

Regarding the fender. It had never sustained any damage before that. The same day I got the car back from Gintani the fender buckled. When the body shop inspected it the owner told me it had been hit and was straightened out to make it appear as if no damage had occurred. The car was in their possession for over a week. I don't see how the fender just buckles like that.

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Did you buy the car new? Used? Fenders don't just get pounded back into shape, without paint, filler, some cases welding. All those pieces show traces of a repair. Not that is was just straightened. You can't crease and smash metal without evidence.

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Originally Posted by Monster135

Sticky regarding the tune, nothing was discussed beforehand. Nothing was agreed to. I didn't ask for the tune. When I came to pick up the car my JB3 had been removed and Arno told me they had reflashed my car. I only agreed to keep it on the car after he told that it was safe and asked if I could test it out for them.

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If that is true I don't know what to say. I do not know on what authority they would remove your tune and put another one in place.

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Originally Posted by BrenM3

Did you buy the car new? Used? Fenders don't just get pounded back into shape, without paint, filler, some cases welding. All those pieces show traces of a repair. Not that is was just straightened. You can't crease and smash metal without evidence.

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The car was brand new. Again it had not sustained any damage beforehand.

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Originally Posted by dzenno

+1

I really think the dealer is just messing with him in terms of analysis...it totally could be a bad DME but it can be a bad diode which is a fairly common issue on MSD80 DMEs..i really wouldn't be so quick to blame anything Gintani did especially a year later on the car...the only thing I would blame them for is touching the DME wiring when you didn't tell them to and by the way I'd give them $#@! the moment I saw that in their face, not a year later on internet forums...you could end up damaging your DME yourself with bad wiring and a piggy, its happened before a few times, one guy locally fried his DME somehow (no idea how) when taking out his piggy tune but $#@! like that is remotely possible, but still possible though

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The "dealer" as you put it my friend who works for BMW. He's a tech. He's one of my good friends. He has no reason to lie to me. If anything he risked his job fixing my car. You're so quick to point fingers at the piggyback, how bout this how come the DME didn't have any issues before I took the car into Gintani? Please answer that one for me.

Sounds like a bad situation. Here is my advice:

Collect photos of the "wiring damage" and present those to Gintani to see if it is likely they caused it. I find it hard to believe they won't take care of the repairs for you if they caused the damage. The reason I say collect photos is dealers are often not experienced at dealing with DME wiring (crazy, I know, but it's true) and very frequently misdiagnose things at your expense. With photos of the wiring damage I could more confidently guess what exactly happened and I'm sure any shop would feel the same.

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Originally Posted by BrenM3

If you wanted to come out and really drive these points: I would have had some expert documentation instead of a diatribe story.

I still have no idea after reading of how a fender just buckles spontaneously - after it was being repaired. With no signs or evidence of paint/repair/bondo etc. And why a fender would be off in the first place. Same with the wiring being an torn apart when a tune is done through OBD2. Not "I saw wires hanging out and didnt say anything, till a year later when my car suffered a problem." And tons of happy folks with that tune with no errors. I just can't connect any of the dots on this story. This sounds like a classic example "my story, your story, and the truth."

Either way sorry for the troubles with your vehicle and I hope it all works out for you.

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That's pretty much what I was thinking. I feel bad for his loss but a car doesnt go into limp mode after a year of misplaced wires. Usually that stuff shows up instantly or you wont even be able to start the car.

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Originally Posted by Terry@BMS

Sounds like a bad situation. Here is my advice:

Collect photos of the "wiring damage" and present those to Gintani to see if it is likely they caused it. I find it hard to believe they won't take care of the repairs for you if they caused the damage. The reason I say collect photos is dealers are often not experienced at dealing with DME wiring (crazy, I know, but it's true) and very frequently misdiagnose things at your expense. With photos of the wiring damage I could more confidently guess what exactly happened and I'm sure any shop would feel the same.

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Great advice.....

We have seen this before too...people more or less "ripping out" the jb and then not properly handling the wiring afterwords.

Sticky please close this thread for now. Talking to Gintani to resolve this matter. If nothing changes then I will ask that it be re-opened. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by Monster135

Sticky please close this thread for now. Talking to Gintani to resolve this matter. If nothing changes then I will ask that it be re-opened. Thank you.

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As you wish.