Review: Ashley Chetty & Xcede Performance

[NBN]

Let's try this one last time...

You’re still stuck on one assumption: that this must have been missed during the install. You keep ignoring the other equally possible (and very common) reality, that the sensor or wiring could have failed, worked loose, or been unplugged after the work was done.

You keep framing this as:
“Either it was faulty before, or Ashley missed it.”

That’s a false choice.
There is a third option you keep refusing to acknowledge, it failed or was disturbed later.

And yes, a downpipe install involves the O2 sensor, but that does not mean a fault must immediately exist or show up on a scan. Sensors fail with heat. Wiring gets brittle. Plugs work loose. That can happen weeks or months later, especially on a decatted car.

You also put a lot of weight on:
“ex-BMW tech”
“trustworthy workshop”

That doesn’t mean the owner personally worked on your car, or that a junior didn’t unplug something while diagnosing. Workshops unplug sensors all the time during fault finding. You took it to two different workshops, that doubles the chance of human interference. Pretending that’s impossible is naïve.

You say Ashley should have offered to inspect the car.
But by the time you contacted him, you had already gone to two other workshops, already had a diagnosis, already formed a conclusion

At that point, you weren’t asking him to investigate, you were telling him he caused it. Expecting him to “jump in and help” after that doesn’t make sense, and that, dear sir, is on you.

You keep saying this is “just a review,” but you named a person, named a shop, and tied a fault discovered months later directly to their work without proof of when it happened. That stops being a neutral review and becomes naming and shaming based on an assumption.

You admit yourself:
“I can’t comment on the tuning.”

Yet your whole theory depends on how the car behaved with sensors plugged and unplugged. That’s exactly the part you don’t actually understand, but you’re still drawing conclusions from it.

And the biggest question you still haven’t answered:
If in January you felt the car wasn’t lekker anymore, why didn’t you take it back to the last person who worked on it? Why go to two other workshops first?

That choice was on you.

Right now, the only thing you can still prove is:
a sensor issue existed in January.

You cannot prove, when it happened, who caused it or that it was missed during the install

Yet you published a post that points the finger anyway. That’s not “just sharing experience” that’s making a public claim without evidence of cause.

Your review may have started as frustration.
But the way you framed it turned it into an accusation.

And once you name someone without proof, you open the door to exactly what’s happening now:
a bus full of people jumping on “Ashley bad” street.

That part isn’t on him.
That part is on how you chose to present it.

We clearly don’t sit around the same campfire when it comes to responsibility and ethics, so I’ll leave it there and keep my number to myself.

Im not jumping on anyone's wagon but having had a faulty Lambda sensor on my car all I can say is that no car enthusiast would willingly drive their car for months with the stumbling, over fueling, misfires and engine check light that are associated with a faulty or unplugged Lambda sensor

 

[AshG108]

Im not jumping on anyone's wagon but having had a faulty Lambda sensor on my car all I can say is that no car enthusiast would willingly drive their car for months with the stumbling, over fueling, misfires and engine check light that are associated with a faulty or unplugged Lambda sensor

Yup,
That is true and these i6 turbo motors are not perfect, they can give you some subtle hints and you need to also be able to pick it up.

 

[CharlE]

Let's try this one last time...

You’re still stuck on one assumption: that this must have been missed during the install. You keep ignoring the other equally possible (and very common) reality, that the sensor or wiring could have failed, worked loose, or been unplugged after the work was done.

You keep framing this as:
“Either it was faulty before, or Ashley missed it.”

That’s a false choice.
There is a third option you keep refusing to acknowledge, it failed or was disturbed later.

And yes, a downpipe install involves the O2 sensor, but that does not mean a fault must immediately exist or show up on a scan. Sensors fail with heat. Wiring gets brittle. Plugs work loose. That can happen weeks or months later, especially on a decatted car.

You also put a lot of weight on:
“ex-BMW tech”
“trustworthy workshop”

That doesn’t mean the owner personally worked on your car, or that a junior didn’t unplug something while diagnosing. Workshops unplug sensors all the time during fault finding. You took it to two different workshops, that doubles the chance of human interference. Pretending that’s impossible is naïve.

You say Ashley should have offered to inspect the car.
But by the time you contacted him, you had already gone to two other workshops, already had a diagnosis, already formed a conclusion

At that point, you weren’t asking him to investigate, you were telling him he caused it. Expecting him to “jump in and help” after that doesn’t make sense, and that, dear sir, is on you.

You keep saying this is “just a review,” but you named a person, named a shop, and tied a fault discovered months later directly to their work without proof of when it happened. That stops being a neutral review and becomes naming and shaming based on an assumption.

You admit yourself:
“I can’t comment on the tuning.”

Yet your whole theory depends on how the car behaved with sensors plugged and unplugged. That’s exactly the part you don’t actually understand, but you’re still drawing conclusions from it.

And the biggest question you still haven’t answered:
If in January you felt the car wasn’t lekker anymore, why didn’t you take it back to the last person who worked on it? Why go to two other workshops first?

That choice was on you.

Right now, the only thing you can still prove is:
a sensor issue existed in January.

You cannot prove, when it happened, who caused it or that it was missed during the install

Yet you published a post that points the finger anyway. That’s not “just sharing experience” that’s making a public claim without evidence of cause.

Your review may have started as frustration.
But the way you framed it turned it into an accusation.

And once you name someone without proof, you open the door to exactly what’s happening now:
a bus full of people jumping on “Ashley bad” street.

That part isn’t on him.
That part is on how you chose to present it.

We clearly don’t sit around the same campfire when it comes to responsibility and ethics, so I’ll leave it there and keep my number to myself.

This is my main frustration and my reasoning is the fact I booked in a full inspection for January with this workshop. No one before this date touched the engine bay. They do a very thorough inspection and go through the whole car. They only find very minor things, like one engine bay cap cover missing and control arms that were going to need doing in the next few thousand km's. The only real issue was the oxygen sensors being unplugged. They show me the full report and the unnplugged sensors and even ask me do I know if the 02 sensors are unplugged. So my big thing is why would they do a full inspection, only find small things, but then potentially damage or mess with the 02 sensor and then just unplug it. It just does not make sense to me. It wasn't like they were reinstalling the downpipe. On my invoice it will show you it was found during a inspection.

Also the reason I did not take it back to him when I thought something was up, is because he lives very far from me, there are workshops closer to me I also trust and honestly I had no idea it would have to do with something he potentially worked on.

The point im also going back to which you probably also won't believe but I did state in my original post. The car was running better with the sensors unplugged. When plugged in and adaptions etc done, the car was acting more like you guys were describing as in the stumbling, over fueling, misfires. For those months I was driving with the sensors unplugged I only received the occasional jerk and weirdness, as I originally stated. I understand this sounds very strange, and the technicians were also puzzled by this, but I saw this firsthand. You are welcome to come test it, I still have the old sensor haha.

My reason for wanting to reach out privately is I do not want to post all my info, invoices, images on here. I do understand your viewpoint, as of course I don't have a direct image showing Ashley damaging or leaving the sensor unplugged. I was also saying before, maybe he missed it which is also worrying as I feel it would be a basic aspect to check, which is why I also originally stated just be careful when taking your car there. He does come across as someone who loves working on cars so this was very suprising and dissapointing for me too. Im also not sure where else I should have posted a review? He doesn't have a google reviews page as far as I know.

I will say this and leave it there. Put yourself in my shoes, after this discovery was made and me knowing Ashley was the last person to work on my car and having fitted the new downpipe. Couple that with the damage on my car, other similar cases popping up, him mysteriously not being affliated with Xcede anymore. Is it that crazy and outlandish of me to believe he might have made a mistake on my car?

 

[NBN]

This is my main frustration and my reasoning is the fact I booked in a full inspection for January with this workshop. No one before this date touched the engine bay. They do a very thorough inspection and go through the whole car. They only find very minor things, like one engine bay cap cover missing and control arms that were going to need doing in the next few thousand km's. The only real issue was the oxygen sensors being unplugged. They show me the full report and the unnplugged sensors and even ask me do I know if the 02 sensors are unplugged. So my big thing is why would they do a full inspection, only find small things, but then potentially damage or mess with the 02 sensor and then just unplug it. It just does not make sense to me. It wasn't like they were reinstalling the downpipe. On my invoice it will show you it was found during a inspection.

Also the reason I did not take it back to him when I thought something was up, is because he lives very far from me, there are workshops closer to me I also trust and honestly I had no idea it would have to do with something he potentially worked on.

The point im also going back to which you probably also won't believe but I did state in my original post. The car was running better with the sensors unplugged. When plugged in and adaptions etc done, the car was acting more like you guys were describing as in the stumbling, over fueling, misfires. For those months I was driving with the sensors unplugged I only received the occasional jerk and weirdness, as I originally stated. I understand this sounds very strange, and the technicians were also puzzled by this, but I saw this firsthand. You are welcome to come test it, I still have the old sensor haha.

My reason for wanting to reach out privately is I do not want to post all my info, invoices, images on here. I do understand your viewpoint, as of course I don't have a direct image showing Ashley damaging or leaving the sensor unplugged. I was also saying before, maybe he missed it which is also worrying as I feel it would be a basic aspect to check, which is why I also originally stated just be careful when taking your car there. He does come across as someone who loves working on cars so this was very suprising and dissapointing for me too. Im also not sure where else I should have posted a review? He doesn't have a google reviews page as far as I know.

I will say this and leave it there. Put yourself in my shoes, after this discovery was made and me knowing Ashley was the last person to work on my car and having fitted the new downpipe. Couple that with the damage on my car, other similar cases popping up, him mysteriously not being affliated with Xcede anymore. Is it that crazy and outlandish of me to believe he might have made a mistake on my car?

Again, not affiliated to anyone or know any of these vendors..
But going to ask this again.... An unplugged lamda should cause an immediate check engine light,is that not something you would've immediately picked up after starting the car up the next day? The math ain't matching...

 

[CharlE]

Again, not affiliated to anyone or know any of these vendors..
But going to ask this again.... An unplugged lamda should cause an immediate check engine light,is that not something you would've immediately picked up after starting the car up the next day? The math ain't matching...

No, I never had a CEL light. Believe me I know it sounds very weird. The technicans unplugged and plugged it in before my eyes and also no CEL. When unplugged it of course did throw some errors on the scanner.

 

[Teezoh]

You’ve just given away the most important detail yourself:
you still have the old sensor.
That means it was faulty, not “unplugged since September.”
If it was unplugged, why replace it?
You don’t replace a plug… you replace a failed sensor.
So now the story has shifted from “left unplugged” to “faulty sensor,” which already changes the accusation.

Next:
You say you didn’t take it back to Ashley because he lives far and you trusted closer workshops.
But in 3 months of feeling the car “jerking and weird,” you never once phoned or messaged him to ask:
“Hey, is this normal after the work?”
You’re assuming how he would have reacted without ever actually giving him the chance.

About the review:
No one said you shouldn’t post one.
The issue is what you posted.
You didn’t say:
“I found a faulty sensor months later and I’m unhappy with how it was handled.”
You said:
“It must have been missed or left unplugged during the install.”

That’s not a review, that’s a conclusion without proof.

And this part:

Put yourself in my shoes… is it crazy to believe he might have made a mistake?

Yes.
Not because mistakes never happen, but because you turned timing + scratches + rumours + business politics into a cause.

No, I never had a CEL light. Believe me I know it sounds very weird. The technicans unplugged and plugged it in before my eyes and also no CEL. When unplugged it of course did throw some errors on the scanner.

I don't believe this for one second. The car must have thrown something at some point unless you have a very special edition B58. The only time where these readings are ignored is when it runs open-loop during WOT, any time other than that it would have.

 

[Peter@AEW]

An unplugged lambda will show up on diagnostics immediately.
I wonder why the car was not plugged into ISTA or LAUNCH prior to the physical inspection and a report printed for the owner.
An ISTA report on arrival becomes indisputable fact.