Hey Guys,

Well I finally have finished with my book called "How To Build and Tune Custom Fuel Injection Systems" and I've been reflecting on how the project went.

I'm most surprosed at the level of product support and cooperation from various companies.

In my book, I was sort of politically correct by not bashing any one system or praising one over the rest, so I couldnt say who was good to work with, and who really wasn't.

Here, I can spill my guts for you guys to benefit from.

If you are thinking of buying a stand alone engine management system and you are concerned about product support, you may want to read this.

Companies that were very helpful:

Motec, first of all was extremely hospitable and very open about everything they build and sell. They were always available to answer questions and educate me in areas I need clarification.

SDS was friendly and helpful in getting me in touch with their dealers for products photography and such.

Haltech, even though they are in Austalia was very polite and answered all my questions, and even supplied me with some great product shots.

Autronic, is obviously my favorite, but I am pretty biased because I have been dealing with them for years.

AEM was also very helpful and gave us a tour of their testing and development shop and took a lot of time out of their schedule to help out.

Now for the not-so-good ones:

I NEVER got through to anyone at Electromotive. They never returned my calls, never put me through to their tech support line, and never offered ANY help.....overall, they were jerks.

Accel Gen7, same thing....always got the run-around and not any help, no pix, no support whatsoever.

EFI TECHNOLOGY was interesting......they gave us a total tour and acted very helpful, but at the same time, it was wierd, like they kinda treated us like we were spies or something......pretty closed lipped, but if we ASKED something, they would answer.

Holley Commander 950, waste of time also. No help. No returned phone calls. No Pix.

FAST was polite and fairly helpful on the phone, but getting anyone actually ON the phone was always challenging. I wouldn't want to have to ring them up for help if I was in a situation where my car was acting up on the side of the road.

Anyway, I hope this has helped someone, and maybe you guys can post your opinions too.

I'm not saying any systems quality is bad or good, just my personal experience with trying to get tech support while attempting to PROMOTE their systems!

 

Good info Ben. Sometimes Tech support is very instrumental for the guys who decide to do it themselves. Im supprised DFI and FAST werent more helpful..

 

They are very big companies with very small tech departments.........I think they just get overwhelmed and don't have time

 

I have heard nothing but good things about autronic here on the east coast. Some tell me its the next best thing to motec. What is the relationship between motec and autronic because I hear they are the same company or something like that?

 

They are not the same company.

The two people who originally designed Motec, split up and one formed Motec, the other formed Autronic......

Both are about the same in quality......the difference is price, features, and available tech support.......

Get what works for your setup!

 

So when will your book be out Mr. Strader?

 

on the shelves in the spring..........

 

good ****, i want one

 

Ben,

I agree with your comments.

I've used a few different types of ecu's and i have also found some of their product support to be lacking.

Electromotive.... Don't get me started on them...

Fast. to me it's just an expensive DFI. (then again whoever buys fast is also supporting DFI. Long Story....)

Haltech. It's a good thing their US office closed, they were never helpful anyway. All they did was take orders all day. No product Support whatsoever...
The best was when you had a defective unit(after hours of troubleshooting, and finally figuring out it was a bad ecu) and sent it in for repairs and when it got back weeks later they say there was nothing wrong with the ecu? But somehow my car would magically start with it now? um?

Accel DFI. Not only are their tech support impossible to reach but then if you try to contact some EMIC's there very secretive about everything. No one want's to help unless their tuning it or somehow making money from it. This is not good product support and it will steer many people away from their products, especially nowadays with this internet age.

They should have forums so they could support their products or at least let users that know about their systems help others that don't.

Look how helpful AEM's forum is for their users...

SDS. i've never used... So i cant' comment.

Motec without a doubt has great product support.
What did you expect. With the price you pay for their products it better be supported well...

And my Favorite as well....
Autronic. There's not enough good things to say about these ecu's.

 

Well, at least I know I wasn't too far off if someone else has had the same experience!