So i'm looking at the mainboard and it looks like the positive side of c1 has the trace hanging out of the board. Possible quality issue with the board?

It looks like the trace lifted out the run and then shorted on the negative of c1.

I just really feel screwed here, i don't know what to do.

I guess its possible i put c1 in backwards, but i really doubt it. I've been building and playing with electronics for the past 30 years. C1 and C2 are oriented the same way, and C2 still has the positive symbol with the arrow on it pointing the correct direction.

But even if i did put c1 in backwards - the car was running for 4 hours or so. Reverse voltage to a capacitor makes them blow instantly. And even if i put it in backwards, would that really cause the trace to lift?

I'm just baffled and feel like I wasted $500 on this thing, and now i'm paying for a possible quality issue from diyat. I've sent them an email, but i'm not sure what they will say.

 

So after contacting Matt at DIYautotune, it seems either the capacitor failed, or it was installed backwards. The printing on the capacitor indicates that it was installed correctly.

His feedback indicated that I can run a jumper directly to the transistor in the circuit, and trim out the broken trace.

Hopefully i can get this back together this weekend and start tuning.

 

get new ones and replace.

it's happened to some of us, i think there's a bunch of bad ones in the mix...