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Hi guys,

I have a stock r33 gtr.

I've spent $4000 on a major service with my car at a reputable workshop in Silverwater.

Had the clutch changed to heavy duty, 100k service, some belts, alternator reconditioned, radiator hoses changed. I was also advised to get splitfire coilpacks... which I did. Also with some spare money from that 4k budget which I gave them, they did a compression check 175 all cylinders which I did not need to know really...

Drove the car home fine, next day it started to sputter and idle very rough when cold.

Brought it back, now they say it's the AFMs and will cost another $700.

Only 5 months ago I had a tune for rough acceleration cost $800, engine-wise everything was fine.

It has been a real money pit as of late :blink:

What are my options for changing the AFMs? If second hand does it need to be exactly r33 GTR ones?

I am really over this car and I intend to sell it, walking in the rain and catching public transport is not fun!

Cheers,

fibbo.

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Mate, check out the gtr afm fix in the tutorial section. More often than not, resoldering the joints will fix your problem and save you heaps of coin. If not then go the nismo afm's as stated above. Just remember you need to get new inlet piping with z32's,so they are not that cheap in the end as other people seem to think.

Edited by Lippo

wow $4000 for a service. hope it included an engine rebuild! $800 for a tune for rough acceleration (I take it you have a standard computer)?

you really need to find a different workshop, or get more detail about what they are doing.

No engine rebuild, completely stock car. I trusted these guys I told them I did not want any hassles because I work full time and need it done properly... well it didn't turn out that way because the next day my car was running like crap first thing I did was turn it on and it stalled after 2 seconds, then really rough jerky/no acceleration. Only runs properly when I let it warm up for at least 5 minutes.

I feel ripped off but cannot do anything about it, they went as far as doing a compression test which I did not ask for.

Besides standard GTR and Z32/nismo AFMs, what else can I use to get this car to run properly so I can sell it? I have lost all motivation for skylines now because of this incident.

You probably all know the place I'm talking about anyway I was told they were reputable :blink:

yeah that figures. you can't run z32 or nismo AFMs without changing the computer for about $2k extra.

all you need is a pair of second hand air flow meters, or even better swap with some known good ones to make sure they are actually the problem before you spend any more.

I think you need to go elsewhere, there are plenty of "reputable" workshops around.

I resoldered the joints 6 months ago as prevention, 5 months ago had the engine looked at for jerky acceleration.

Things were fine since this major service.

Receipt goes "Diagnosis time including compression test and rectifying all wiring issues" $480.

Today they told me AFMs were tampered and need changing will cost another $700, I'm going to tell them to get F'd.

[quote name='Lippo' date='27 May 201

when they said AFM tampered with, did they mean you re-soldering the joins or something else?? i guess you stopped them making more money outta ya for fixing that for you.. $4000 for major service is alot, there are guys who have done 100K service for around $1000 as per threads.. sorry to hear about ur experience.. i have nismo afms otherwise would have lent that to see if problem clears up.. before spending any more money, maybe find someone here that can lend you their AFM to test on your car and go from there.. its a quick simple job.. pity u selling ur car bcoz of it

I have a friend that just bought an r32 gtr to be done up as a track car, so that won't be an issue finding AFMs to test (just finding the time to do it since we are both doctors working at all different times).

What I find most annoying is that they managed to sell me splitfire coilpacks for $700 plus installation plus $180 to fit new platinum spark plugs stating that my ones were fouled from running on 5 cylinders (I had new ones in only 5 months ago which cost me $100 from supercheap auto). Why did I let them do all this? It was because I knew that if they were not able to solve my problems then I could turn to them to get it sorted instead of me blinding buying parts and putting it in myself. Obviously I could have just said leave the coilpacks and buy $400 YellowJackets but what if this does not solve anything?

Well it has been a lose-lose situation now.

I will try to speak to XXX tomorrow and see what we can work out.

All XXX could offer me was "it left the workshop fine" ... well it left the workshop when the engine was still warm, the next day with engine cold it was a dog's breakfast the worst it has ever been ;)

I've spent $4000 on a major service with my car at a reputable workshop in Silverwater.

Had the clutch changed to heavy duty, 100k service, some belts, alternator reconditioned, radiator hoses changed. I was also advised to get splitfire coilpacks... which I did. Also with some spare money from that 4k budget which I gave them, they did a compression check 175 all cylinders which I did not need to know really...

Drove the car home fine, next day it started to sputter and idle very rough when cold.

Brought it back, now they say it's the AFMs and will cost another $700.

Only 5 months ago I had a tune for rough acceleration cost $800, engine-wise everything was fine.

It has been a real money pit as of late :)

What are my options for changing the AFMs? If second hand does it need to be exactly r33 GTR ones?

I am really over this car and I intend to sell it, walking in the rain and catching public transport is not fun!

Here's my guesses on what stuff should cost - others will have a better idea tho

Organic Clutch - $600 + $500 to fit

100K service (so timing belt, water pump, idler/tensioner bearings i guess) - maybe $1K all up

Alternator reco - $400

Radiator hoses (SFA unless they did all the coolant hoses, ie plenum off etc, which would be at least $500)

Splitfires $600

Compression check (this is very useful to know - your motor is in excellent condition) $??

So thats about: $3100 already, + comp test + some labour for the fitting of alternator/splitfires, so its seems in the right ballpark to me.

Re: AFMs , they wont both go at once, so just replace the stuffed one. No point it bitching to a workshop about your AFMs dying - stuff breaking is what happens on older cars. I probably spend around $8K all up a year on keeping my car running and adding improvements. I think of it as an investment to keep the car running sweetly and making it go faster... :)

When it's all done fibbo, you can love your car > and the car will love you. :(

And whilst you're driving your GT-R again during that 1st month, thinking, "what if..."; "what if..." just research who to change your workshop to. :(

I've been there too. Spouses don't really understand our need to spend such big bucks on the car. Of course then I don't understand the need to spend 4k on a set of window blinds for only two rooms.

On the topic of shops, well I find even the best of them will have off days. Goes with the hassle of owning a performance car. See if someone on the forums can "lend" you their AFM's for a check. Since it works ok after the car warms up is it just a cold idle thing? I noticed even my car is running differently since the ambient temps have dropped here in Sydney. The computer does a lot of changes before the car warms up to temp.

I do hope you get is sorted out ok. I had a very rough first year with my car too, but now is all good and the investments are going into improvements rather than fixes.

Just an update,

After pressing them to have a better look at the car, I got a call saying it was the crank angle sensor and some other cam thing NOT the air flow meters. I was told a temp fix was done with some adhesive, I don't know too much of the technical details.

Will pick the car up Monday see how it goes.

It was my wife that went crackers, so I had to be a bit forceful with the workshop. She threatened to to bring her lawyer into this, he's a business lawyer not a small claims lawyer so I don't think he would have done much good! lol

Just an update.

Picked up the car today, runs smooth az now.

Apparently the cam angle sensor gears were not aligned properly after cam belts were changed, so they gave it a good clean and put it back now car works perfectly. I was not charged for the extra work.

Thumbs up to the boys that worked on my car, and also the conflict resolution from the manager :ermm:

Good to hear that it turned out alright, but I'm always a little bit wary of shops that don't give you the full details first go round. And I thought that we have Cam angle sensors (CAS) not crank angle sensor - that is unless your car has has the ignition trigger modified.

I hope that they found the dodgy work and didn't do it themselves. Hard to know unless you find it before you take it to them. That's why I say +1 for doing small maintenance yourself. You'll be surprised what you find and you can spot check some of the shop's work.

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