Wasted $350 on a cheap ECU tune that ruined my fuel trims

I bought a budget ECU tune off eBay for my 2008 Civic Si back in April. The seller promised 20 horsepower for $350. Two months later my check engine light came on and my fuel trims were off by 15 percent. A local shop in Austin charged me another $200 to diagnose the damage. Now I have to pay for a proper tune from a real shop. Has anyone else here gotten burned by those discount tuner files online?

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2 Comments

drew_west2mo ago

Heard my buddy's Si had the exact SAME issue after buying one of those eBay tunes.

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lisa6712mo ago

Oh man, that's exactly what happened to me. I grabbed a cheap tune off eBay for my Focus ST and it ran like garbage for weeks. Switched to a Cobb OTS stage 1 and it was night and day. But the real fix was ditching that junk tune and getting a proper custom one from a known shop. Took it to a local tuner who adjusted fuel and timing curves specific to my car. Ran smooth after that with no knock or hesitation. Sometimes you just gotta pay a little more for quality instead of rolling the dice on those eBay specials.

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