MTE Garage (Bartley Biz) - Personal Experience

[Falc]

I was just surfing the net regarding the Volvo XC90 and I chanced upon this tread which I find interesting. Interesting because the experience related by the originator of this tread differs from mine significantly. It is as if it were a totally different workshop that we visited.

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Seems like you are very satisfied with the car and that it is very well-maintained. Curious, what about the car were you surfing the net for?

[RaceLover]

It is hilarious that all the recently registered nicks have only good things to talk about MTE. MTE should have an official statement to address all allegations from other members instead of good story telling.

[Pdesign1]

There seems to be quite a bit of contradictions to feedback and a general lack of familiarity with Volvo and tuning in this thread.

 

I do not profess to have deep knowledge of it but have some experience as a Volvo user. I do know Alex, the Shark tuners at a personal level and a customer as well. This I say upfront and I am not trying to side MTE with this post.

 

Price wise, have to say it is relative. They do brand themselves as a premium workshop which is reflected in their pricing as well. I always believe that all owners have a choice and onus is on owner to research on parts applicability & cost before committing on any enhancement or repairs. If you are not comfortable for any reason, leave.

 

 

What I do find puzzling is the gap of around 6 months between the MTE invoice & the Wearnes invoice. Nothing in between?

 

So did TS go back to MTE to let them know the issues he mentioned he had?

 

 

Stock Hardware replacement wise:

 

Next, did the CELs that TS had come from a deteriorating Fuel Pressure Sensor that he eventually had to replace in July 2015?

 

If one is familiar with Volvos, you will know that the FPS is known to fail. Early symptoms includes false readings which in turn affects fuel delivery (fuel on demand system). Worst case scenario, the car would not even start.

 

I assume that the fuelling problem was not resolved as TS had to replace the Fuel Pump a month later in Aug 2015. Question is, the car mileage at that point was around 20,000 km as stated in his receipt. Don't you think it is a little early to fail? Why did it fail?

 

 

Tuning wise:

 

When a base map is written for a catted downpipe, the car will naturally perform poorly when a straight thru downpipe is used because exhaust flow rates is changed, possible boost spike, ECU detects, error comes, ECU cuts back for car preservation.

 

Air intakes, especially those that alters the pipe size (probably so in this case), alters the intake flow calculations of the MAF. A custom tune map is written to account for that. Naturally, the intake is not useable with the Volvo stock map as it does not account for it.

 

Dyno numbers, were they compared correctly, apple to apple if one is so anal about it? Was the car ever dyno in stock form? I am pretty sure the stock 240HP is not on wheel.

 

Regarding software not compatible error, as long as the alteration was written directly to ECU type of tune (non piggyback style), once the DICE unit is attached to do a scan and it sees a difference from stock, this error will come out. Regardless whether it is a good or bad tune.

 

 

It was stated there in Jan 2015 the persistence was to ask for a dyno, not ask for troubleshooting.

 

 

So was there any errors during that time? Because the map does not change, the thing that is consistently deteriorating is the hardware/sensors.

 

 

If there is a problem with the map, barring any coincidental hardware failure, the problem would surface once you put some miles on it, probably within couple of days or within a week. This is what we faced all the time.

 

Everybody will have times where they are not happy with their workshop as we are ever power hungry and we love our rides. But this case seems much more like a hardware and relationship/communication error imho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2015 by Pdesign1

[Jasonxy]

It is hilarious that all the recently registered nicks have only good things to talk about MTE. MTE should have an official statement to address all allegations from other members instead of good story telling.

 

[Jasonxy]

I'm not sure which do you seen us as newly registered Nick. Neither do we need to change our nick for any reason.

 

I do agree with bro Pdesign1, it does sound alttle fishy on what was posted on the receipts and mileage change for fuel pump.

 

However, it's within each and everyone individual experiences and preferences whom they're sticking to for their vehicle service and repair.

 

I don't really see a need for MTE to post/clarify to any of the above, especially when they've got better things to complete like serving other customer's vehicle. In chinese, there's a saying: 清者自清,浊者自浊 － The Wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he knows all.

 

At least for us that frequent MTE, we knew that our cars would always be in good hand, and usually only honest and practical opinion is given without fail. It just simple boils down to individual preferences.

 

[Xeryh]

Sounds like a competitor!

 

I beg to differ, according to my years of expierece in the soical media, good reviews always shows, while bad experiences users dont even bother to write up a review at all. Personally, I have already a handful of customers that are unhappy with their servies, yet they have not sounded any remarks yet. They just learnt their lesson and then head on to another workshop that they wish to trust.

 

And talking about the boss of that workshop, have heard many negative stories about him on his CUSTOM tuning, and also some of his charges that are even higher than the AD (such as PowerShift GearBox Flushing), so if TS has fired the first bullet, I wont be suprised and I buy his story, as it matches to those I've heard outside.

 

 

 

 

[RadX]

 

Why didn't the car stall there....

 

if VW sure stall wan...hahahaha

[Fcw75]

Bro, time to lock this thread. Everytime it's the same story.

 

Someone come in shoot a workshop, then a few supporters will come in to support. Then in the end, it's heading nowhere and will get locked.

 

It's going exactly what you predicted.

 

Seen much have you not?

[RadX]

Bro, time to lock this thread. Everytime it's the same story.

 

Someone come in shoot a workshop, then a few supporters will come in to support. Then in the end, it's heading nowhere and will get locked.

 

It's going exactly what you predicted.

 

Seen much have you not?

 

 

totally agree. Maligning a workshop and the rest is history.

 

in the interests of the general car community, TS, kindly take your feedback elsewhere. WE have seen this and perhaps you should post in the Volvo forums.

 

For someone who knocks a car and runs away, speaks much about your own integrity in the first place, rightly mentioned by @little_prince

 

 

 

Locked

 

I'll leave this here for the folks at MTE should they still want to keep the evidence for their own perusal and will be stowed away safely in due course.