EcuTek with Visconti - Logging my experience

AnthonyD1978

Just want to post this up to share my experience with EcuTek and Visconti as I go through the tuning process. I've never worked with either product or person and I just picked up my Z back in April.

2010 NISMO 370z
Tuning related mods: Stillen G3 intakes, Invidia Gemini cat-back, Berk test pipes.

6/23 - Ordered EcuTek from Visconti

6/24 - Shipping confirmation received.

6/24 - Emailed John asking if I should do the ECU dump ASAP or wait for my test pipes to be installed (pipes install scheduled for 7/1)

6/25 - John replies asking me to do the ECU dump ASAP

6/26 - Received EcuTek kit (I'm on the west coast)

6/26 (Friday Evening) - ECU dump sent

6/29 (Monday Morning) - John calls me direct and states my ECU is not supported. He sent it to EcuTek to "unlock" (fairly common occurrence is my understanding). He states it usually takes a few business days for EcuTek to do this, but they have been back logged lately. Might not be done this week. He will contact me via email after he gets the files from EcuTek.

7/3 - John sent me the first map revision. I uploaded it and did some more data logging for him. Sent him the new logs. Also requested that he turn off my o2 sensors in the cats since I'm running test pipes. Curious if I have the new RaceRom features by default or if I have to specifically request them...?

7/3 - John sent me an updated map, but I missed the email!

7/8 - Sent John a text asking if he has an ETA on my next map update. See 7/3 log above.

7/8 - John sent me an email saying he sent me a new map on 7/3 to log.

7/8 - Downloaded new map and sent new log to John. Did 2 3rd gear pulls and a 4th gear pull. For some reason it didn't log the last ~1000rpm of the 4th gear pull. I also asked John to keep in mind that the car will be tracked. Maybe the tune should be a little more conservative than a street car tune.

7/9 - John got back to me about my latest log. Seems like the logs have time gaps in them from the software/laptop lagging. Just went out to try and get a better/consistent log for him. While testing I watched the status bar for the datalog. I could see it would pause/stop then start up again. I reset the laptop and killed some encryption/virus software. Ran another log and the status bar seemed to be ok after that. This one included one 3rd gear and one 4th gear pull. Sent new log to John.

7/10 - John emailed me with a new map. He also stated the last log came in clear. Will send him the new datalogs tonight.

7/11 - John stated that my fueling is different from bank to bank. He requested I run the "Idle Learning" tool in Ecutek. Ran it with no issues. Logged a few runs and sent it to him. Also I noticed that the issue with my logs cutting in and out came back. I booted up my laptop in "selective start-up" using msconfig and it seems to resolved the issue entirely.

7/18 - John sent me a new 2 new maps. 1 map was to test disabling the Yaw sensor via EcuTek. It was not successful (Yaw warning light did not activate. VDC still worked as normal). Other was just a regular map.

7/19 - Sent John new log from with the notes above. This is from revision 6 of my tune.

7/27 - I'm no longer using John as my tuner. Severe personality conflict. Read from bottom to top.

Anthony <>
3:52 PM (0 minutes ago)


to John


Hey John,

I can't return the parts because after our last couple emails I have already made an appointment with another shop to do a new tune from scratch. I have a track day coming up that I have already paid for and need a tune without any further delay. Yes, my mind was made up as soon as I read the email you sent before the one I sent asking for a refund. Not any sooner that that.

I will agree that this is obviously a personality conflict and nothing more. You asked me to change my behavior (sharing my experience about you publicly) or you would not complete the job I paid you to do. From my point of view and our recent interactions I will not trust you to work on my car. I can't take that chance. I have to pay full price to another vendor to do the work I paid you to do. I want a full refund of the labor services from you in return.

I will request a refund of the labor services from my bank. I'm sure you do have quite an extensive experience with the dispute process. I don't have any experience with it and this will be my first time ever doing this. That probably says a lot about both of us. I may not get my money back going this route, but that is not the point.

Have a good day.




On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 3:00 PM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Hey Anthony -


Sorry for the delay. I've been in SoCal for the weekend doing Porsche training with Cobb Tuning. Although I do appreciate your feedback, I don't necessarily agree with your rationale. And I'd also like to say right off the bat that your thinly veiled threat to take this situation to the forum has had no impact on how I've decided to handle this situation. I do stand by everything I've said and done while working with you. With that being said I've tuned a lot of cars over the years and I've been in nearly every situation imaginable with my customers. So I've been down this road before, and I'm very familiar with how the credit card companies will handle this situation. Unfortunately for you, once I provide digital documentation (which I have) that we're on our 6th revision and it's you that is unwilling to continue the tuning process (which is basically refusing service) they will side with me. My money might get hung up for a month or two, but ultimately I will win this dispute. It's really not a good experience for anyone involved though.


I think it's also important to note that there seems to be some misunderstanding about which RaceRom features your custom tune has and what features EcuTek is capable of. These are not one in the same. Just because EcuTek supports other advanced features, doesn't mean it's automatically part of my custom calibration. And although this is clearly stated on my website where you purchased your custom tune, I'll go ahead and relist it here.


- Raises RPM limit
- Increases fuel economy
- Adjust ignition timing
- Adjust VVT timing
- Remove speed limiter
- Raise max cruise control threshold
- RaceRom Launch Control (manual only)
- RaceRom Flat Foot Shifting (manual only)
- 4-way MAP switching, which includes switchable modes for different octane levels
- and of course, tune adjustments based on submitted data logs


If you're still insisting on a refund despite all the effort and revision I've put into the tune, I'll grant your request but with the understanding that you return the entire EcuTek kit to me. To make things easier, I will even provide you with a prepaid shipping label. You'll need to program in a special stock file that I will provide, which will remove the programming license from your ECU. Once the license is removed, I'll need documented confirmation which can easily be sent by using "Submit diagnostic information," in Tuner Assist. Once that is confirmed, that's when I will send you a prepaid Express USPS label. When I receive the package and confirm no damage to the contents, I will issue a full refund including shipping. Although this may not be what you had in mind, this is the only way I will proceed with a refund and in the end it gets you exactly what you wanted.


In closing, I took the time to reply to you in detail about where I personally thought we got off on the wrong foot but that didn't seem to accomplish too much. Let's just be honest with each other; your mind seemed pretty made up regardless of anything I could have said. And from my experience in dealing with thousands of customers over the years, I think you're being overly sensitive to the tone of the emails I sent that offended you. But the most important point I want to make is above all things, I am a professional who takes great pride in my work and the insinuation that I would somehow sabotage or even put anything less than 100% into your car over a silly disagreement that amounts to nothing more than "tone," is ridiculous. If you do decide to have a change of heart and keep the tune, we can still continue along as if none of this ever happened. But if you do decide to move forward with the full refund, then no hard feelings and I hope the grass is really greener for you on the other side.


John


On Jul 23, 2015, at 1:24 PM, Anthony <> wrote:
You not picking up my call has no bearing on my previous email to you or this one. So that is not a factor at all. I called as a professional courtesy so we could speak directly with each other.

My post on the forums was not meant as a way for you to have a dialogue with anyone. It was meant for me and my fellow forum members to have a dialogue. If you wanted to participate in those conversations that was entirely up to you. I wasn't posting any negative comments or negative feedback. I was only sharing my experience as a customer with other people of our community and giving them updates of our progress.

Regarding our testing of "Ice mode". It is common practice to discuss such activities and testing on the forum. I would disagree with your opinion that your testing instructions of "ice mode" were clear and complete. I felt that your tone changed considerably towards me a few emails ago, but I put it aside and replied back to you in a friendly tone. Then you asked me to change my behavior if I wanted to continue working with you. Your tone and wording was completely unacceptable. I'm not sure what your background is, but your basic understanding of customer service and business practices when dealing with a customer is lacking.

I highly suggest that if your expectation from your customers is to keep email correspondence private that you have them sign a NDA stating as such. Good luck with that.

If you will not refund my eTune money I will submit a claim with my credit card company to pull the funds back ($200). You did not complete agreed upon service that I paid for. I'm still getting knock on the tune, according to the logs, and have yet to receive any of the RaceRom features I paid for. If I thought of you as a professional, which I no longer do, I would try to salvage our business relationship so that you can complete the work. I fear that the last few emails have shown enough of your personality that I can not trust you with working on such a vital part of my car after our disagreement.

I will submit the claim sometime over the next few days with my bank and share my experience with others. You're more than welcomed to refund my $200 service fee voluntarily and we will go our separate ways. If you plan on doing so please let me know the expected refund date. If you do that I will stop our business relationship with the understanding that we just didn't see eye to eye and had a conflict of personality.

Thank you and if I don't hear back from you by Monday I will take the action stated above.

On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 11:46 AM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Anthony –

Unfortunately I was in the middle of an important phone call last night which is why I was unable to take your call. Although I try to make myself as available as possible, I simply can’t be everyone’s everything all the time. This is why emails work best for me. Everything gets replied to in the order that it comes in. I don’t have the same abilities with call and text. Regarding my email to you about the posts you’ve been making, I wasn’t trying to give you the impression that I wasn’t “happy with you being my customer.” In fact, I really didn’t have a problem with the thread you started about logging your experience with me, mainly because you weren’t posting misinformation that would require me to go in and comment. But on the other hand, it’s just simply more difficult to have a public conversation about all this, than it is to have a direct private one. If I wanted everyone’s feedback/opinion, I would post in that thread myself. Anything that’s said in email is private, especially when the issue is ongoing and hasn’t been resolved. I’ve given you clear instructions on what you needed to do to test for ICE mode, and before you finished what I’ve asked you to do you’ve already come to a conclusion yourself and posted it online. This and only this is my frustration.

I don’t want to lose you as a customer, but if you feel the need to move onto someone else then I wish you the best of luck. But regarding your refund, we’re on our 6th revision of the tune, your cars running great, and you more than received the service that you paid for. Not picking up what would be considered an afterhours phone call by nearly any business in this industry, is not justification for a refund. Thanks.

-John

From: Anthony [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 6:30 PM

To: John Visconti
Subject: Re: [Tuner Assist Datalog Review] Anthony - 6B4D57

John,

I tried calling you to discuss, but got your voicemail.

I'm not posting or sharing anything negative. In fact I think what I'm sharing is a positive reflection on you. I'm not sure how I (the customer) offended you, but you're obviously not happy with me being your customer and I would prefer you not work on my car if that's the case. Can you refund my $200 for the eTune service? I will just take my business elsewhere.

Thank you.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 2:25 PM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Anthony,

I would appreciate you not posting up every single thing we discuss online on a public forum.

This is not how I operate and if you would like to continue working together something will need to change.

From: Anthony [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 1:39 PM

To: John Visconti
Subject: Re: [Tuner Assist Datalog Review] Anthony - 6B4D57

Ok, I will test it out when I have the time and can find a space to safely get into a sustained drift. "Ice mode" can be dangerous when it tries to over compensate straightening the car out (when applying the brakes) so I need to find a public space to test it safely.

In the meantime please continue with your normal tuning maps if you haven't already sent a new one with the traction control map. How are my logs looking by the way?

Thanks.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 8:48 AM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Hi Anthony

Please do not make this complicated.

Since we are NOT unplugging the yaw sensor there is no reason for any lights to come on the dash

Can you please test this file out for me, if you cannot provide the feedback I’m asking for then II will be unable to help you any further with the traction control

Thanks

John

From: Anthony [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 10:21 AM

To: John Visconti
Subject: Re: [Tuner Assist Datalog Review] Anthony - 6B4D57

John,

As stated in my first reply about this; I did not get the Yaw sensor light saying it was disabled. No point going for a test drive.

Are you saying that even though the dash light didn't come on the Yaw sensor should have been disabled?

Thanks.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 7:06 AM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
You’re not understanding

What I needed to know was if you got any lights on the dash with the TCM Disable Map

Next thing I need from you is if it actually disables the ICE Mode… you’ll to do aggressive driving to figure that out

John

From: Anthony [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 2:05 PM

To: John Visconti
Subject: Re: [Tuner Assist Datalog Review] Anthony - 6B4D57

I would think I wouldn't have to manually unplug the Yaw sensor if the map disables it. Kind of defeats the purpose, no?

On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 10:35 AM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Hi Anthony

You didn't get a light because it's still plugged in........

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 21, 2015, at 1:34 PM, Anthony <> wrote:
John,

I didn't have time to actually drive with the traction control map. I just went by the dash lights. When the Yaw sensor is disabled (manually unplugged) a dash light will come on next to the VDC light. I didn't get the Yaw light with your map.



Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 21, 2015, at 8:56 AM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Hi Anthony,

How did you test out the traction control map?

From: Anthony [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2015 12:08 PM
To: John Visconti
Subject: Re: [Tuner Assist Datalog Review] Anthony - 6B4D57

John,

Tested out the traction control map, but it didn't seem to make a difference. VDC an Yaw were both still enabled by default. When hitting the VDC button only the VDC lighted turned on as expected. I didn't go for a drive to actually test. I just flashed it to see if the VDC and Yaw light would come on.

Then I flashed the other map you sent and reset the ECM as you instructed. Log is 3rd gear, 3rd gear into 4th gear, then 4th gear.

Thanks for looking into disabling the yaw sensor. If you can figure it out it would be a big win for the track guys I think.

On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 1:31 PM, John Visconti <john@vtune.us> wrote:
Hi Anthony,

I’ve sent you a update tune file to flash and log.

After flashing please go into the ECM Tools and Reset the ecu.

I’ve also provided a Tune that should turn off the Traction Control System, I haven’t used it before so I’m not actually sure how it’s going to operate.

When you get a chance maybe you can flash that in and let me know if you get any lights on your dash

Let me know

Thanks

John

ANMVQ

Yes sir 100% correct, takes ECUTEK a few days to unlock a "new" ROM ID.

__________________
14 Q50 AWD, ARK, ECUTEK (SEB), Takda,

hjo1078

Sent him some data logs yesterday and he sent me a new rom to flash so far so good =)

Awgd8

I would like to know other members experience with a newer model vehicle suchs as 2014 and 2015.

AnthonyD1978

Was your ECU already unlocked or did he have to send it to EcuTek to unlock first?

If so how long did it take for them to unlock it?

Asking because I'm waiting for EcuTek to unlock mine so John can start the tune process with me.

Thanks.

hjo1078

I believe mine was already unlocked. I have an 09 touring sports. And he did the rom dump personally over a month ago. Then the delays w my build happened. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

visconti

Since last week I've sent 6 new unsupported roms to EcuTek ranging from 09-15. As support gets added I'm letting people know

John

__________________
John@vTune.us
EcuTek Master Pro Tuner

Visconti Tuning Webstore | Support Documents & Downloads

Awgd8

That is great keep us posted.

AnthonyD1978

OP updated with 7/3 date.

AnthonyD1978

added some updates to the OP.

AnthonyD1978

....

AnthonyD1978

Looking through the logs it looks like I'm getting some knock (Map Trace Knock). -1, -2, and -3 values.

Hopefully it gets cleaned up in my future maps.

AnthonyD1978

7/10 - John emailed me with a new map. He also stated the last log came in clear. Will send him the new datalogs tonight.

AnthonyD1978

7/11 - John stated that my fueling is different from bank to bank. He requested I run the "Idle Learning" tool in Ecutek. Ran it with no issues. Logged a few runs and sent it to him. Also I noticed that the issue with my logs cutting in and out came back. I booted up my laptop in "selective start-up" using msconfig and it seems to resolved the issue entirely.

ANMVQ

Where is the idle relearn, I havent poked around a lot yet. This would help when i clean my TB's. The pedal trick it a PIA!

__________________
14 Q50 AWD, ARK, ECUTEK (SEB), Takda,