I feel that others need to know what happened to my car at Powerhuas Performance in Gloucester City, NJ. I had work done on my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT with roughly 37,000 miles at the time. Just facts, tune and datalog files, pictures, & video.
Here is a list of what was requested. Dropped the car off on April 16th. It wasn't done in time. Actually picked the car up on the evening of the 30th.
- ARH Long Tube Headers and install
- Custom Exhaust work to connect headers to existing Borla X-pipe
- Circle-D 3200 stall converter and install
- H&R coil springs and install
- Roll fenders
- Powder Coat brake calipers
- Powder Coat my new wheels
- Order Hankook tires and TPMS
- "Performance" Alignment
- NGK plugs
Here is a list of problems
- Brake pedal to the floor. Rear calipers on wrong side(upside down). Air in ABS module.
- Passenger side of exhaust knocking transmission mount
- Drivers side of exhaust severely scraping
- Exhaust leaks
- Use of non stainless steel adapters
- Passenger exhaust pipe repeatedly falling off of hanger
- Exhaust tips out of alignment on both side, one side touching plastic diffuser.
- Strut Mount Knock. I was told afterwords that during the spring install the Bearings fell apart and rolled away on the floor and they where put back on the car. They did not inform me or offer to replace.
- OTR CAI (Over The Radiator Cold Air Intake) installed over radiator support which left the radiator free to flop around and the hood closed on it pinching the intake. Hood is now slightly out of place. But CAI undamaged.
- Stalled several times on cold starts. (never did this before)
- RPM surging.
- Converter locking and unlocking erratically.
- some shifts laggy.
- some shifts super hard.
- 3-2 downshift too hard. Chirped tires.
- Confusion in auto and sport shift when going WOT
- Slower in 1/4 mile with better weather, DA, and better 60'
- Four attempts to make adjustments to tune. Some things got better, some things got worse.
- Cracked paint on fender. However keep in mind that G8 paint is known to be thin. I'll give'em that one.
Video of me showing some symptoms.
http://youtu.be/tUbgPIs7Ahc
Spreadsheet, datalog, & HPT
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_1...it?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_1...it?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_1...it?usp=sharing
Video from the Powerhaus youtube page. You can see the exhaust problems.
Pontiac G8 - YouTube
Pictures of exhaust.
They have made 4 attempts to fix the tune. I took a day off work to take them the car. Had to rent a car. They did replace a failed oxygen sensor for free. Also went for a few rides with me and datalogged briefly. Not sure how it was missed because our datalogs picked it up immediately. I've called and emailed them about the problems. They stopped responding to my emails. The last time I went to the shop to talk about it during normal business hours noone was there. I've called more then enough times but no answer. I was really understanding about it for too long. Four opportunities to correct the problems is more than enough.
What I've done since.
- Paid exhaust shop to fix the exhaust.
- Paid the dealer to purge the ABS module.
- New alignment after new strut mounts.
- Paid a tuner to datalog, load stock tune, and make slight adjustments just to get it drivable with the aftermarket converter. (Better at the track in worse conditions and a worse 60')
- Still waiting on phonecall for my wheels and tires.