Motor
 

Good morning fellow Z owners.
Here is my story. I have a 2016 370z nismo I installed k&n typhoon filters and Invidia full exhaust with test pipes. Catalytic converter delete. In the final modification was a Bully Dog GT tuner with three presets for my particular vehicle. The vehicle ran great for 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden the motor started to knock ping and hesitate. All of these modifications were installed by a professional shop. I returned to the shop and told him what was going on with my vehicle. The mechanic there could not figure out what was going on. So he told me to return the vehicle back to the Nissan dealership to see if they could figure out what was going on. 2 Nissan dealerships refuse to work on the car. So now I am in limbo not knowing if my motor is destroyed or not. The vehicle seems to run but the idle is rough and stalls and pingredients. My question is was I supposed to get this vehicle tuned instead of putting that Bully Dog GT on my vehicle? Why is my motor destroyed? This whole Saga begin early July 2016 now we are headed into August and I still have not had my vehicle.

Probably.

Was the Bully Dog tune at all specific to your vehicle? If not, that means it was just a shitty canned tune. You shouldn't be driving on a canned tune except to drive to a real tuner for a real tune.

Sorry dude. You should return the whole thing back to stalk, get rid of that bully dog junk and try to have nissan fix it.

Tbh those Bully Dog tuners are crap, never heard of any of them working correctly or actually helping a slightly modified car, they might be great for stock engines that have a load of miles and need a little kick but for something like our Z's you NEED a professional custom tune to get the best out of it.

Get what you pay for

The BullyDog GT page says "Stores up to 10 custom tune files created by your local Bully Dog / SCT Custom Tuning Dealer." Sounds like you need to find a tuner.

So my question is if I take it to a professional tuning shop should my motor be ok? I want to know if I damaged my motor?

Uninstalled the bully dog, put back to stock program. I think that is you problem, hope is not to late.

Then do a compression test.

Thank you for the suggestion. I don't know much about cars that's why I'm asking

If you shut the car off immediately after it starting knocking, there is a good chance that you didn't do any significant damage. If you drove it for very long, you may have hurt something.

First thing I'd do is uninstall the BullyDog. If the knocking/pinging stops, then you have found the problem. You can then get a proper tune for the BD or switch to one of the other tuning packages. Either way, you'll need to have someone that is familiar with Zs to do the tuning.

If the knocking is still present after removing the BD, then I'd look at the fuel (bad gas).

An OBD/CAN scan tool is a great diagnostic tool. Buy/rent/borrow one and see what the car thinks is wrong.

Thanks I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the help.

I have a long block for sale

What is the average price for a compression test on a motor?

Shouldn't cost more than an hour or two of shop time.

Thanks

Well I just found out horrible news. My motor is shot I need a new motor. Anyone have a guess on how much a new motor for a 2016 Nismo is? :-(

Well just found out horrible news. The motor is blowing in my 2016 Nismo :-(. Anybody know the price of a new motor?

Will Nissan not cover it as a result of the bad tune?

wow thats horrible news, is there any recourse to putting the cost to the makers of the tuner??? Were /is there any disclaimers on the package especially for noobs??? GL

I would highly doubt it with aftermarket parts on it....

Three Nissan dealerships refuse to work on the car

I'm sorry for your loss brother, that said I've always wondered why people won't wait until their car is out of warranty before modding their engine ? I know hinde site is 20/20 but you're warranty is money in the bank, and in your case 6/10 K. Good luck.

Sorry to hear about your problem. But ...
1) Your "tuner" deserves to be horse-whipped. If he couldn't properly tune it, he should have removed it.
2) Apparently, you drove it while it was knocking badly (a little pre-ignition ping every now and then doesn't crater an engine real fast). If so, you are as much to blame as anyone.

Okay guys here's the new update on my story with my blown motor. This is a letter that I wrote to the Better Business Bureau


I have a 2016 Nissan 370z Nismo with 6160 miles on it. I took my vehicle to Next Level Audio (a performance shop) to have an exhaust done. I was told by Jerrod, the owner that if I wanted more performance out of my car I should get rid of the catalytic converter and install a tuner (Bully Dog tuner). I told him that as far as I don’t get any warning lights after the job was done that it was ok. He reassured me that it would be ok so *he removed them. *I drove the car for about 100 miles. Throughout the 100 mile drive my check engine light came on several times. I called Jerrod and he said just to reset it with the bully dog tuner, that he had to order an extension for my o2 sensor and that it was not a problem if I drove it like that. *

After 2 weeks of driving the car *the vehicle stalled out, started to ping and knock. The check engine light came on. I took it Jerrod at Next Level Audio and Jerrod worked on the vehicle again. After about two hours he suggested that I take the vehicle to the nearest Nissan dealership which I did. I took the vehicle to Abeloff Nissan in Bartonsville, PA. The next morning Nissan service department recommended that the motor and the catalytic convertors be replaced. They said that the person that installed the exhaust didn’t replace all the holes and that’s what caused the damage. They would not cover the repairs because Jerod removed the catalytic convertor. The entire morning that I was at Nissan Jerod was there too talking to the service manager. After Jerod and the service manager finish arguing Jerod told me not to worry that he had a friend the works in Star Nissan in Queens, NY. He had the vehicle towed to Star Nissan at his cost. Once the vehicle arrived Star Nissan the service tech there (Jerod's friend) let the vehicle sit there for 10 days without even looking at it and told Jerod he would not work on it and to come pick it up. Jerod went to Star Nissan himself and picked up the vehicle and towed it to Rothrock Nissan in Allentown, PA. Once the car arrived at Rothrock Nissan Jerod told me not to say anything about the bullydog tuner. He disconnected all wires leading to the bullydog and hid thme in the vehicle, this is what I was told by him.

Rothrock Nissan got the vehicle running and said all they had to do was clean the mass air flow sensors. I took the vehicle that night drove home from Allentown to East Stroudsburg about 50 miles and the very next morning the vehicle had the same symptoms. I had the vehicle towed back to Rothrock Nissan and they said it was the aftermarket parts causing the problem and they would not cover the repairs. But as a courtesy for being a two time Nissan customer they will try to diagnose the problem at no charge to me. After ten days of being at Rothrock Nissan they could not find the problem and would not go any further because it was getting to costly. I then had the vehicle towed to Evans tuner in Mt Bethel, PA where I had a tech look at the vehicle he also said the motor should be replaced and Jerod also came to the shop to hear his diagnosis. At that point I had the vehicle towed back home to East Stroudsburg, PA. Jerod contacted me the next day and said he want to tow the vehicle to his shop and put the catalytic converters back on to see if that would fix the problem. I said “do what you have to do”. *The day came for him to pick up the vehicle and Jerod was a no show. I called him in the morning and he said he had to contact his lawyer first before he takes the vehicle. *

Here is a side note. I called bullydog and was told by the tech there that the product that Jerod put on my vehicle was not really made for Nissan or Toyota and if he put this on my vehicle and removed the catalytic converters it could cause motor damage. I was told by bullydog tech that if he put this setup on my vehicle I will get all the symptoms that I got... I informed Jerod and told him to call bullydog and he refuse to do so.

All this time Jerod has been telling me that if the warranty did not cover he would do whatever he could to fix my vehicle and that he would submit under his company’s insurance because he installed the exhaust and BullyDog Tuner but now he does not want to respond to the error he has made on my vehicle.

*

Ouch. That just sounds like a shitshow all around. Jerod sounds like a complete retard.

Yeah@!!!

Awful experience.

Don't expect anything from the BBB.

The moment I read:

"*The day came for him to pick up the vehicle and Jerod was a no show. I called him in the morning and he said he had to contact his lawyer first before he takes the vehicle. *"

It became clear you need a lawyer yourself.

The mods you did voided warranty, so Nissan doesn't have to do a thing. Jerrod (and the company he works for / with / owns) is the only guy you can go after in this situation.

Best of luck!

Thanks

Speaking to lawyer tomorrow. I also work for a news station. So I am going after him that way too

Damn, this story hurts me just hearing it. As said before it's the Bullydog that killed your motor. That guy knew NOTHING about tuning a Z. For your next evolution once you're back to stock your choices are Uprev or Ecutek. There's a ton of information here to help you along in the direction you want to go.

Sorry to hear about your car, that stinks! I hope you scare him enough to have him replace your engine. Good luck and keep is updated!

Who the heck tunes a car with a Bully Dog tuner?

Sounds like your in for a battle with Jerod to fix your Z. Or, you're just going to have to eat the price for a new motor and labor cost.

Also, any dealership can deny to work on your vehicle.

A literal bulldog probably could have done a better job than that jackhole, Jerrod. Sorry to hear about the issues, OP. Good luck going after that piece of scum :tiphat:

My thoughts exactly!!! this is why I do my research on here before I do anything... Hell as far as I knew Bully Dog Tuners were only for Diesel trucks...:icon14:

O.P. I know a good friend who is a Nissan mechanic here locally who has a complete 370 motor in his garage he's wanting to sell. absolutely nothing wrong with it. PM me if you decide your interested in it.

Thanks but I am in the process of suing Jerod..

You'll most likely need to repair the car on your own and then hopefully recoup your costs. There's no way a court case will end quickly.

Am I the only one that thought bringing your car to a shop called Next Level "Audio" for performance tuning was going to be a bad result from the start? Sounds like some speaker boy (who are famous for ******* up today's cars left and right by tapping into CAN lines and all kinds of other crap that I used to have to fix as the owners tried to claim warranty at the dealer after going there and then you see all these speghetti wiring and modules hidden behind the dash) decided he would give it a go at the performance world. The results seem to reaffirm it too.

Best of luck to you. Jared sounds like he played in a field he doesn't really understand. Love how his Nissan tech friend even had the knowledge to know when to back out of that one and say sorry bro your on your own.

I love and hate fixing someone elses shoddy work.

i'm pretty sure they make you sign a waiver before tuning, if you signed anything you're done.