Westy Motorwerks, Asheville, NC - issues and feedback [resolved]

[chrismsnt]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

wait...your loaner is another customers car?

fuck that.

that is the shadiest bullshit i have ever heard. this shop has lost all respect from me. you don't do that kind of stuff....ever.

if you really have another customers car, i would put this at mission critical status. the owner of the car can report it stolen, or the shop could say it was stolen and you're going to have a REAL mess on your hands.

you have no ez or cheap way out now.... looks like you'll have to send someone from your area up there and back to get that car returned.

holy shit....what a mess
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[Ahwahnee]

[greebly]

Concerning the original problem of limp mode when climbing hills it is probably due to boost being outside expected value as determined by the load map in the ECU tuning. If Westy Motorwerks is not a ECU tuning specialist I doubt they would be able to sort that out.

[vanis13]

[chrismsnt]

Okay... going to put the fork into this thread. The end result was that Wes from Westy Motorwerks trailered my van down and picked up the loaner. We had a quick but decent discussion (in which, he knew this thread was going on and I stated as I did in the beginning that it wasn't meant to flame either of us). We spoke about the first 8 weeks of it just sitting there not being touched, and then one of his mechanics getting into an accident and just really crappy circumstances. I told him that I wasn't trying to be a total dick but in the same token trying to advocate for myself. He stood by that he was trying to make it right and not charging. I gave him my candid customer feedback that it's about communication and adjusting / aligning customer expectations. It was a gentleman conversation, from my perspective.

I have to do the assessment tomorrow of what was/wasn't done on my van. I believe 2 of my top 3 items from the original list weren't addressed. I haven't had a chance to look at the welding work which was done. However, I'm fairly certain there's a compounded limp mode issue now as well as the diesel furnace fuel line not being plumbed into my aux tank. The last one is a REAL bummer for me. He had, in his hand when I was up in the shop in July, the part they made to plumb in the line. I'm not quite sure why it wasn't put in. Another piece of the equation is that I did pay him $1200 already. So, I need to reconcile, for myself, what was done / not done and then broken along the way.

In the end, he stood by his word of getting the van back to me today. I very much appreciated that. Now another chapter starts tomorrow figuring out some of the issues. Thanks everyone who pushed and pulled me both ways. Your comments are exactly the price of admission. Seriously... thanks!
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Chris
1989 T3 Vanagon 16" Syncro
1967 Squareback
https://vwvandiesel.com
Instagram @VW_VanDiesel

[Abscate]

Kudos to getting this worked out

This shocked me a bit …

[chrismsnt]

[Abscate]

All well intentioned.

Old guys like me know how many ways that can be the road to Hades but pints given for trying to make you happy.
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.ssS!

[chrismsnt]

[Silverghost500]

Glad to hear you got your van back home. Take a couple of days to decompress from the experience. Then look at your original punch list and identify what work has been done. Then you can build a new punch list. It may be better to find different shops to perform the various tasks rather than a one-stop-shop.

I'd suggestion taking the van to Eurofed in Alpharetta or another European shop close to Cumming that has a diagnostic computer that can talk to a VW 1.9. I wouldn't go down the rabbit hole of disclosing your build. Get the van connected to a computer, get as much data as it'll spit out. That should help with tracing the systems that could impact the engine cutting out.

If you need a second pair of eyes looking over things with you please feel free to reach out.
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1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[chrismsnt]

[Silverghost500]

Chris, thanks for the invite! I'll be there Saturday morning with either Von Westy or my GTI. What time and what part of Northpoint will you be hosting the event?
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1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[chrismsnt]

[Silverghost500]

One way or another, I'll be there!
_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[leecat]

I'm glad it got sorted (well, sort of). I have an AHU TDI in a van as well, and I would really agree with others who stated there's no substitute for becoming your own mechanic/auto electrician.

Nobody loves your van like you do, and farming out anything non-stock is just an endless series of mechanics who just give up or do half the work and THEN give up. Then no one is happy. The learning curve for a whole custom wiring install is massive, no way would I take that on were I a paid shop.

And money is just no substitute for passion.

[Sodo]

Wow nightmare.
I agree with all skills wrote.
Fixing electrical problems with no wiring diagram.
I think you'd have to agree to pay for diagnostic, with the understanding that if they don't find the problem, you still have to pay for their diagnostic time.

I got lost on "loaner" though.
If Westy Motorwerks provides loaner cars for 8 weeks that must be a high-class operation.
I would think there must be a lot of margin.
And certainly flatbedding vehicles around after disputes aired on the internet.
What's a flatbed cost, $200/hour?
Wow I say.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[mikemtnbike]

I think greebly makes a great point about the tuning map not matching the data it's receiving, that just makes sense to this non-expert.

Maybe try someplace like this https://solomotorsports.net/tuning/vw-tuning/ who can look it as a tuning issue, not a vanagon or diesel thing?

That was just the first hit on "volkswagen tuning atlanta" search terms.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[danfromsyr]

would have saved thousands of $$$ going back to M-TDI ??
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[jimf909]