Car is a 1997 C5 with a A4 trannie

Owner got sucked into the performance mods scheme and the end results is car failing smog, low performance and engine runs like junk

After so called hot mods like yanking the screen out of the MAF,
playing a game with intake air temps by moving the IAT sensor into the aircleaner, head works, CAM, headers, injectors, etc the owner went to Advanced Dyno in the Sac Ca area for one of those hot dyno tunes.

Car did not run well so owner then pays Newtech also in the same area for another custom tune. Car still runs like crap go he goes back to Advanced Dyno and gets tuned again !

Owner takes car in for EPA I/M 240 smog testing that includes testing at 15 and 25 MPH on a threadmill. Car fails both tests.

Owner contacts us and we have him meet up with one of our teammates who does a testrun with a Ease scanner recording all engine functions.

We analyze that data and find the engine is running very poor including way too rich for all NON WOT conditions, idles too high and engine timing jacked way up.

Owner sends us the PCM and we download it to analyze the tunes that had been done. Here is just a few of examples of lousy tuning.

The C5 owner has gone through hell as 2 so called pro tuners charging high prices jerk him around and in the end had to start all over again to get a custom tune from us.

In reviewing the Ease scanner data found was all sparkplugs hand tightened, wrong push rod lengths, bad front 02s and totally incorrect tuning.

Note :
the values in red in timing tables is the amount in degrees that was added over and above the stock values

Here are the results after we cleaned the tune up :
Results from our custom tune is on the right side, the end results of 2 other tuners who had hands on with the car on the left side.
Owner simply did a Scanner recorded testrun and sent us that recording and the PCM to us since he was not local to us and in the end with proper methods of analyzing scanner data we custom tuned the PCM off board.

Some of the changes :
Before - WOT timing 23 deg, Torque 353 ft/lbs, HP 353

With our tune : WOT timing 27 degrees, Torque 380 ft/lbs, HP 430 and 100 degrees less timing loss due to ping.

One problem that has to be resulted, in proper analyzing the scanner data we see the left head at times is 7% leaner then the right head. This is causing the ping.
Suspect is due to the lousy design of LG headers and using rear O2 into the front locations is their special air channel wires are too long so excess wire is bundled up which crimps off the requires air source O2s need and also possible they used the wrong exhaust manifold gaskets causing slight leaks.

Also as we assumed when owner ditched the ported throttlebody and installed a stock one the throttle response time that was slow is now working correctly.

Alright... This guy got a bad tune from the 1st tuner twice & the second one once, what made him think that the first guy wasn't going to screw him a second time & why hasn't he sued both of those idiots?

Owners get caught up in the BS they read on supporting vendor forums and really believe the marketing crap they read until it is too late and worse is past customers who could warn others are prevented on those forums saying anything about their first hand experiences.

Many times the vendor is in a different state so you can see the costs of trying to maintain the lawsuit process as to the hugh costs or even finding a out of state lawyer.

Simply vendor can say the selling agreement is bound to his state where the business is so filing a lawsuit in your state is useless.

Many agree they got screwed over and rather just walk away and forget it rather then filing a lawsuit and being he has no voice on those forums he has no place to turn to where other owners can help support the guy when help is needed over a bad vendor.

I agree.
Another problem is if you do manage to post something about some of the tuners, there will be several people (that actually made it past half throttle on the last trip to pick up tire shine) swear how much faster it is after the tuner finished.