Auto 1

[Metallman56]

Gentlemen, i have heard rumors about this place. they install Viper alarms, and what i heard is when they install them they program 2 remotes for it. one for you one for them. after a few weeks time, they just simply come to your house, unarm your car, steal your stuff, arm it, and then leave. this is the rumor i have heard about them. having a Viper alarm myself, they didnt install it, i have never let them touch my car. so knowing all of this, here is my story.

for x-mas my g/f wanted to get my windows tinted for me. thats something i have always wanted to do, just never had the money to do it. so she called around, and the best place here in town as far as both price and warrenty was Michiana Tint Shop. ok great, whatever. so when i went to work yesterday she took my car in. i didnt know it was really Auto 1 until she called me from the place. so right there i'm paranoid. she told them DO NOT go into the trunck (cause its broke, its really not, but that was to keep them out of it) and dont go under the hood. just tint the windows. they said fine, she left and all was well. when she went to pick the car up, they told her they had to go under the hood cause my red top went dead and they had to charge it. they said cause the doors were open for so long, the dome light stayed on, and drained the battery. she didnt think anything of it. so then she dropped it off at my work. the tint job is really good, and it looks good. so all was well. i get in my car and start it. my SES light is off. gee thats funny, ever sinse i did my exhaust in the summer of 05 its been on. then i thought, well if the battery was dead, then maybe it just reset. no problem. but then all of my radio presets were not messed up. they were all the same. ok now things are getting really fishy. if the battery would have been low enough to reset a SES light, it most definatly would have messed with my radio settings and presets. not to mention that our cars have a timer on the dome lights so the battery doesnt die. so i this point i'm really starting to wonder wtf happend. after getting home, we had to go shopping. as you all know Grape road is a busy street this time of year. i pulled out in a gap in traffic, and put the throttle almost to the floor. but when it shifted, it didnt shift like normal. it shifted like it did BEFORE i got my tune done from MPR. Gee thats funny. so then i did it again. same result. its almost like a double shift. you guys know what i'm talking about. well after my tune, my car freakin hammerd into gear. it wasnt a bad thing, it just didnt d*ck around when shifting. which is great and my overall favorite part of the tune. its still doing it. i contacted Ivemy 3100 (the tuner himself) and asked him what had to happen for my Tranny to start acting like this again. he said about the only was is if the PCM got reflashed.

so here is my guess as too how that happend. if the battery went dead, the radio would have been jacked up. but at this point, i really dont give a sh*t about the battery. i think they saw my SES light on when they rolled the car in, and then thought they would do a little extra and turn it off for me. but instead of clearing codes they flashed it, reseting everything back to stock. i would have no problem if a dealership of my mechcanic would have done this, especially if i told them to get the light off. however, this was a TINT SHOP!!! they shouldnt have even touched my pcm. and the fact that they did, really p*sses me off. cause now i have to drive back almost to Wisconson to get it tuned, again.

what i'm going to do is go in there real calm, and see wtf they did. if i can get them to admit that they messed with the PCM, i'm going to just loose it. we will see how they handle if, and if they even admit they f*cked with something they were not suppose to.

my tint has a lifetime warrenty, and at this point, i dont even want that. i dont want these people to touch my car again. and if i do need to take it back for something i am standing there in the shop watching them every second there around the car. i highly recomend none of you ever ever let these idiots do anythign that has them laying a finger on or in your car, ever.

i will post again tonight, just so you can see what they say. we will see how much they care about public opinion.

[coupe]

I would first go back in there and ask very politliy to talk to the guy/s who worked on your car. They might tell ya they did reflash it. I am a bit suprised that auto1 (very familiar with this company) even has the equipment to reflash your PCM. I know the auto1 near my house dosent but that dont mean none do.

[lvemy3100]

the only thing that could have changed his PCM would be if they reflashed it..

my other thought was that the PCM needed to relearn driving and fueling because of power loss but since his radio presets were still intact I cant see how that would be a possibilty...

Unless the trans itself has a mechanical problem now coincidentally after bringing it to them I would have to say that someone did something to the PCM itself.. it may not be the Co. itself but possibly one of their employees who felt like being a jerk and possibly could have stolen the code that was in the PCM when it was brought in....

since teh whole operation would only take about 7-10 minutes top end i can see this being done without the Co. having knowledge.. then again I dont know the Co. personally so Iguess they could be to blame I just hate to point fingers but I hate even more to hear something like this is happening

[coupe]

Originally Posted by lvemy3100

my other thought was that the PCM needed to relearn driving and fueling because of power loss but since his radio presets were still intact I cant see how that would be a possibilty...

This was my first thought also but then he mentioned his radio presets didnt change.

Originally Posted by lvemy3100

Unless the trans itself has a mechanical problem now coincidentally after bringing it to them I would have to say that someone did something to the PCM itself.. it may not be the Co. itself but possibly one of their employees who felt like being a jerk and possibly could have stolen the code that was in the PCM when it was brought in....

It very well could be a coincidence that he is having mechanical issues with the trans or a bad employee screwed him over.

[Metallman56]

but mind you guys, my SES light was off. its on for the same reason as yours Coupe, O2 sensor bank 1 low voltage. the light was off when i got it back. it came back on, but it was off. and again if the pcm loosing power would have reset the light, the radio most definatly been reset too. it was not.

if it was a tranny error, then why would my SES be off in the first place? comman sense would tell you that a tranny going out wouldnt reset your SES light.

i'm going in there tonight, and just questioning everything. i'm going to start off by asking about how the battery died, and if it did die, then why wasnt my radio screwed up. and if they say they didnt have it unplugged long enough for it to reset. i'm going to come back with, then how did my SES light turn off? i'm debating about even telling them about the tune.

also i dont think i mentioned it, but one of the guys that work there has a 01 red grand am 4 door. he told my g/f that my borla, he said borla, sounded great and he was looking into getting it, and after hearing my car it was the deciding factor. so i dont know if he had a SES light and thought that flashing it would solve the problem. i just dont know wtf happend. but with this fishy battery story, and now the shifting its obvious that something indeed happned. accedent or not, something isnt right. i think i overall just want to know wtf they did, and why they did it.

[coupe]

Yeah i still havent figured out my 02 sensor bank 1 low voltage either.

Anyways, go in there and try to trap them with those questions. Whatever you do dont act upset. If you appear upset they might try to lie to cover up what they did. If you act happy or normal they will probably be like "oh yeah we just did xxxx".

[Metallman56]

exaclty, its like setting a trap for them. which is why i wont mention the tune at first. i'll be very calm and collected, then if they do give up what they did, then my anger is going to show. but not till i can get them to admit they messed with something that has nothing to do with tinting a window.

[coupe]

Man i wish me and my fiance where there. She catches people in their lies for a living

[Metallman56]

if there lying i know my car well enough to know it. the one thing we all agree on though, is that there is about a 99.9% chance they did something to the PCM.

[lvemy3100]

Like I said in the PM, if they did screw with your PCM I will retune it for free when you come out here again.. I will do this for anyone that has gotten a tune from me and even thinks that the PCM got reflashed somehow... just let me know

[Gizm0815]

^ thats what i call good customer service

[Metallman56]

damn straight. but yeah, we all agree that it HAD TO be reflashed right? there really isnt anther direction that makes sense right now.

[coupe]

As far as i know there is no other way.
That and you know there is an employee who also has a GA makes it very suspiscious.

[AaronGTR]

I don't let anyone work on any of my cars after all the crap I've been thru. I took my GP to a local place to have an alarm installed... nothing I couldn't have done myself but I just was busy and didn't want to do it myself plus I'm not really familiar with alarm systems.

So a couple weeks later I go to honk at some lady who cuts me off and my horn doesn't work! Get home and pop the hood and my horn fuse is blown and the relay is pulled out of the socket. I'm like WTF? They left a screw driver and utility knife in my engine bay too. And they just ran the ignition cutout wire over top of the engine cover instead of properly routing it under things and hiding it. Same with the siren which was just screwed onto the corner support which they drilled a hole in. Anyone could have just broke my window and popped the hood then cut the siren wires and no more alarm. I was pissed! They didn't even attach the control unit under the dash. I pulled out the kick panel and it dropped down hanging from a rats nest of wires. I must have spent a good 3-4 hours fixing everything they did. It was done by Urban auto sports in Mt. Clemens MI btw, I'll never go there again.

Anyway, it just goes to show you can't trust anyone to do anything with your car these days. What happened to doing quality work for all the money you pay people? I guess Mark is one of the few who still stand behind their work. Good luck with catching those auto 1 guys in their lie though, hope they get whats coming to 'em.

[coupe]

When i have to take my vehicles in for a service that i cant perform myself (like tinting, alignments ect.) i always ask if i can be present or at least close by my vehicle while they work. Most shops dont have a problem with this, the ones that do i just go to the next shop.

[Metallman56]

i trust 1 guy in town, he does great work, he isnt that expensive, he's honest, hes a friend of the familys and i have never ever had a problem with any of my cars. as far as anything audio or alarms, i only trust Mendoza and the guys at TAS in Toledo.

[lvemy3100]

SON OF A ***** i just figured out what happend!!!!! the guy swapped your PCM with his!!!! this is the only way it could have been done without a PCM interface and laptop and would completly explain why your car is back to "stock" feel all around and the check engine light is back on..

Originally Posted by Metallman56

.....also i dont think i mentioned it, but one of the guys that work there has a 01 red grand am 4 door.....

this means from now on I MUST put a "tuned by" decal on the PCM of each car I tune.. what a pita this is gonna be...

[Metallman56]

so your telling me that this guy stole my pcm? why would he do that? why would he swap the 2? for all he knows it was stock. the flash would not have done it?

p.s this is why i dont put stickers and sh*t on my car. the less they know you have, the less they steal. maybe i can get a ride in his car tonight, and see if his shifts like mine did. if thats the case, i might be going to jail tonight. its one thing to mess with it, which pisses me off to begin with. its a whole nother ball game if you steal from me.

how sure are you that this is the only way possible?

[Gizm0815]

even if he swaped pcms would he need to so a case learn and a security learn?

[lvemy3100]

I am 100% sure that it is the only way reset a "tuned" PCM to stock without a PCM interface of some sort...

If there was use of a PCM interface I would say that would be just as bad as its not an "oops I accidentally reflashed this guys PCM while tinting his windows" type thing

Only you can decide on what to do from here..