AMG_ETR (Evan) brought to our attention that his intake manifold exploded on his HPF stage 2.5. We have been working with him to try to get his car here so we can diagnose why this occurred as we have never had an intake manifold explosion on any of our production turbo systems. A little over a year ago he had a motor failure on his original OEM block running our HPF stage 2 and we offered to replace it for free even though it was outside our warranty as we concluded it "could" have been due to a blackage in a wastegate dump tube. He decided to upgrade to stage 2.5 for a nominal amount which to date is still unpaid. Here is a link to his first motor failure and what we did for him.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1438969
In an effort to be transparent with any issues with our products, I am posting the following below...
10/13/10 - Email from Evan
On Wed. 10/13/10 at 8:50AM I was merging on I-95 heading South to work. I was merging over 2 lanes from the entrance ramp that was ending and sped up a bit to get in front of cars coming up behind me. I was probably half to ¾ throttle and the car started to build boost***8230; Somewhere between 4,000-5,000 RPMS all of a sudden I heard and felt a very big explosion. I immediately let off the gas, turned the key off, put the car in neutral and coasted to the side of the highway. I got out and found oil in my drivers front wheel and saw a large trail of it behind the car. The car was towed in to begin diagnosis and that's when I called you. Also I know in your message you asked if I had disconnected the battery or EMS and yes the EMS was disconnected per your instructions to remove the bracket in order to remove the MAP sensor and send it back to HPF.
That's all, almost like dejavu of the last one, except getting on the highway to head to work instead of home like the last time it blew up.
Please let me know if there is any further information you need.
Regards,
Evan
10/21/10 - Email from Evan
Hi Josh,
Thanks for the call back last night; I appreciate you guys jumping right on this situation. I thought a lot about the offer and I have some serious issues with it. The thing here is I spent a lot of money with Horsepower Freaks to have an M3 with a turbo kit that runs and what I got is one that caused me to go through two motors (one completely built). This has forced me to be without my car for months already and I'm sure it will be months again. This is my only vehicle and is not only a huge inconvenience but also a large expense as I have to rent a car (or buy another). The other issue here is that my car will now be on its third motor which obviously is not the original motor. As I have told you I will be selling this car, and not having the original motor in the car is going to drop the value and make selling it very difficult as many people will not be interested in a vehicle that does not have the original motor. Another issue with your offer is that I would responsible for transport and at this point I will not come out of pocket an additional dollar for this car. Things with the HPF kit and HPF motor have failed just like last time when I did not pay transport and that should not changed now. This time is even worse as I have only driven my car 3-4,000 miles. I have incurred mechanics bills, spent countless hours of my own time, spent a lot of money on rental cars, paid for a few tow bills, all for things that were not my fault and were all directly related to the HPF kit. I understand HPF has worked with me on these issues, but it has gotten to the point where I believe HPF has to step up and do the right thing and make this as easy and painless for me as possible, not force to me to deal with selling my kit and arranging transport.
That being said here is what I am willing to do:
-HPF arranges and pays for transport to Oregon
-HPF returns my car completely to stock and have all items that will remain on the car in stock repaired condition (oil lines, sensors, etc)
-Buy back my kit for the price I originally paid for the stage 2 kit when I first purchased it (as I never got what I purchased)
-Cancel my remaining payments on the stage 2.5 upgrade which is 5 more payments of 666.66 as a few months and a few thousand mile then another blowup is not what I paid for with this upgrade.
-HPF arranges and pays the transport back to FL in as timely a fashion as possible.
-I will absorb the loss of the clutch and HPF subframe kit I paid for, the three tow bills I have, the over $1,000 of damage the car received on the trip to/from/during its stay for the 2.5 upgrade that no one admitted to or covered, the rental car expenses I have incurred, the major inconvenience of being without my only car for months at a time (multiple times), and most importantly the added difficulty and loss of money when I resell my car.
We are at the point where we just need to go our separate ways, and I would like to do it as amicably as possible. I am angry and frustrated beyond belief at this time, the effort and money I have put into this car only for it to be a constant problem and I am sure you guys feel the same way. Understand I am asking for a full refund (on the stage 2 kit & Stage 2.5 discounted upgrade), but honestly you cannot tell me I received what I purchased and I have spent enough time and money trying to get what I originally paid for that I should not have to lose a dime on the kit nor should I be responsible for selling it. I should not have to pay transport as again this is not my fault and is just another issue among the many others my car has had due to HPF products failing. Hopefully what I have outlined here is something HPF/Chris B. feels is the right thing to do so that we can move on and as I said move on in a friendly matter. I do not want to have any more hard feelings from this entire situation than is necessary. When people ask what happened I'd like to say "It just didn't work for me/my car, but HPF did everything possible to make it right" and there is no reason I shouldn't be able to say that. What I have asked for here is more than fair despite knowing I could pursue expenses, time lost, etc. during this entire process. I just want to move on and not drag this out and as I said, I'm sure you guys feel the same way.
Please let me know what HPF's decision is as soon as possible so I can make arrangements (when everyone returns from the track of course). Again thank you all for your help and understanding here. Let's get this done and over with for everyone involved.
Thanks
Evan
10/26/10 - Email to Evan from Josh (HPF)
Hi Evan,
Im sorry for not getting back in touch with you sooner. Its been quite crazy this week thus far trying to get caught back up in the office. We still have some people out as well from the GTGP this weekend as well. I wanted to let you know that I have received the email below and will be working with the team once everyone is back in the office this week. Once we've had a chance to discuss your situation further I will be in touch again; presumable in the next 2-3 days.
Thank you,
Josh.
10/29/10 - Email to Evan from Chris (HPF)
Evan,
I just reviewed your email directed to Josh about your car and what you want us to do for you.
It must be very frustrating to have your car fail on you again. I know the feeling as I've owned fast cars for many years and things ultimately break whether they're factory parts or aftermarket performance parts. We have gone above our limited liability warranty that comes with our turbo systems by replacing your engine for free when it blew and paying for transport costs to and from our facility. We've also gone above our warranty by overnighting many methanol replacement parts to you and ultimately paying for transport to PSI where they found your methanol nozzle was plugged with debris.
The warranty you signed states as follows, "HPF assumes no liability for any incidental or consequential damages, including (but not limited to) damage to the vehicle's engine, transmission, drive-train, wheels, body interior and exterior, electrical systems and all engine and electronic components for any reason. HPF assumes no liability for installation costs, repair costs, shipping costs and transport and/or towing costs. HPF assumes no liability for any bodily injury or loss of life that occurs which could be attributred to the power of the turbo system or a failure of installed components in any way."
When Josh spoke with you on the phone last week he offered to remove your turbo kit for free and replace any damaged parts without even knowing the cause of the failure. He also offered to replace your engine and put your car back to stock for free also without even seeing the car first. This is not our company policy and is not covered under our warranty. He did this as a gesture of good faith. You would need to pay for transport both ways, you would need to find a customer to purchase your turbo kit (which we could help you with) and the kit will need to be installed at our facility. The proceeds from the turbo kit sale will go first towards the amount you still owe us. We will cut you a check for the remainder. If you do not have enough money to pay for the transport, we will use a portion of the proceeds from the sale of your turbo kit to also cover the transport costs to and from our facility.
The aluminum intake manifold you shipped to us was literally blown into pieces. With over a million miles on the road with our turbo kits, we have never seen this. Without seeing your car, we still have no idea what caused this to happen. You've definitely promoted us over the past two years attending drag racing, road racing and other meets and events. It will be sad to see that promotional effort you've provided our company stop. There's just a point where you have to decide to take ownership of these problems yourself. We will work with you on pricing if you decide to keep your current kit and have us recondition it and fix what's wrong with your kit and your engine. Otherwise we will offer you what Josh told you as I re-stated above.
Chris.
11/22/10 - Email to Evan from Chris (HPF)
Evan,
I spoke with Josh and David about our phone conversation this morning and you not wishing to pay the remainder you still owe us on the heavily discounted 2.5 upgrade. The only option we want you to take is to put your car back to factory. If you find another motor and decide to put your car back to stock yourself at your expense, we will waive what is owing to us on the promissory note ($3,333). If you wish to send your car to us, you will still be responsible for getting the car to us and finding a buyer for your kit who will get it installed at our facility and pay us to install it. We will remove your old motor and turbo kit for free and install another used motor that is free of defects in your car. If you ship the car to us, we will still have to perform all this work outside of warranty and buy another engine for you also outside of warranty. This is in addition to the money we lost on your last "built" motor we provided for you which you have only paid $666 towards. I would be willing to split the amount you owe us ($1,666 instead of $3,333) if you decide to ship us the car and we put your car back to stock. This is absolutely the last offer I will be offering you now or in the future.
Chris.
11/22/10 - Email from Evan
Chris,
Though not happy with this situation at all,I have no choice at this point but to take what you offer or fight it and honestly with everything that is going on in my life right now the last thing In need is the stress of this car. I will arrange transport out to you guys ASAP and work on a buyer. I know you said you guys would help find a buyer so if you guys have someone, I will be looking for $14,000 for the stage 2 kit...
Just to make sure I have this 100% correct:
-I will pay to transport the car to and from HPF
-HPF will install a used perfect working condition motor into the car, fix any issues caused by this incident (oil lines that were cut, connections, etc.) and return the car completely to stock form free of charge (I assume this is including parts you guys have left from other cars as I don't have my parts***8230
-I will sell my kit as a stage 2 and HPF will replace, refurbish, fix any parts required to make the kit complete free of charge
-The kit will need to be installed by HPF and that is to be arranged between the buyer and HPF
-I will receive all the money the buyer pays for the kit itself less the $1666 (split amount owed to you for the built motor).
Please let me know if I have this all correct and I will get the transport arranged ASAP. I also hope that you would please ensure this is done in a timely manner once the car arrives as this is still my only vehicle***8230;
Evan
1/28/11 - Email from Evan asking for a quote to have his car fixed by us so he can keep his stage 2.5.
Hi Chris,
Been looking for that quote as I am looking to get my car out of my shop early next week regardless of where its going so please get that over to me so I can make my decision asap.
Regards,
Evan
1/28/11 - Email from Evan
Got the quote. At this point I am leaning toward having the local shop take the head off and diagnose the failure but I will let you know if I decide to send it out to you guys to go back to stock...
1/28/11 - Email to Evan from Chris (HPF)
Do you have any ideas of what could have failed?
Chris.
2/1/11 - Email from Evan
Based of the opinion's of the people who have looked at it been told everything about it, most are leaning toward a methanol failure or fuel system failure (Injectors, pump, etc.). Based off the intake manifold explosion and other people having methanol issues I and others are leaning toward a methanol failure... Car should be going to the shop early next week so I guess we will find out exactly what it was...
Evan
2/1/11 - Email to Evan from Chris (HPF)
Evan,
I recommend shipping the car to us for diagnosis which we will do for free. There are a lot of things to check that won't be able to be determined by another shop, as we know exactly how our product is designed to work. If any single element of our turbo kit is removed or altered, our ability to diagnose the exact cause will be impaired. There has never been an intake manifold explosion in any of our turbo kits on any car to date. Other customer's having methanol issues stem from our safety feature "preventing" methanol from entering the intake manifold, not adding "excess" methanol to the intake manifold which could cause an explosion. At this point we know of no other customer's experiencing issues with using methanol in our system and if they do, they should contact our tech support line. We have also added step by step instructions on our site as to how to test the various components of the methanol system.
If indeed the piston is melted in your car as you state then the car most likely went lean. If that occurred, I'd like to know whether that was from a weak OEM or Walbro fuel pump, a fuel type that is oxygenated or requires a different A:F ratio, a clogged fuel filter, weak or plugged injector, or any other condition that could cause this. It helps us design and engineer a safer product going forward and allows us to recommend standard replacement intervals for various parts on the kit.
Thanks.
Chris.
2/2/11 - Email from Evan
While I understand and agree that HPF diagnosing the issue would be best, it is not free as I have to pay $2,000 round trip to have the car looked at when I have a local shop that has a lot of experience with the S54 offering to do it for free with no shipping. I am not happy with the HPF offers at this point so sending my car there for $2,000 seems pretty pointless just to find out what it is and send it back. At this point I want to see exactly what the failure was and choose my course of action from there. I am confident this shop has the ability to find the issue and will document it for me. The many many failures on my car I'm sure have been helping you guys design a better kit, but at not only HPF's expense, but my expense as well (time, lack of vehicle, inconvenince, and some money).
2/7/11 - Email from Evan
Chris,
How difficult would it be to get me the warranty parts for the kit (manifold, IAT sensor, etc.)? The shop the car is going to on Wed. is requesting all the parts to have during the diagnosis.
Thanks,
Evan
2/7/11 - Email to Evan from Chris (HPF)
Evan,
Once another shop starts digging into your car we will not be able to determine the cause of the failure. You understand this I assume. Without knowing the cause of the failure or being allowed inspect your vehicle we are not going to send any replacement parts as the intake manifold was not defective. We were sent the broken manifold, and we could send that back to you if you would like. You best choice would be to take us up on our offer of putting your car back to stock as I described in my other email. This will allow us to determine the cause of failure and get your car running again for you. Any work to inspect and/or repair your car is outside of our warranty even though we have made you a considerable offer to help you sight unseen as described in my other email. Engine damage is not covered as the general consumer can do many things to inadvertently blow up their engine and many OEM parts outside of our kit can fail also causing engine failure. That is why it is so important for us to first determine what is wrong in your car, then determine why it happened. We are only making concessions to you if you allow us the opportunity to determine what failed in your car. If you tamper with the evidence or have another shop disassemble any components this will impede our ability to benefit and negate any offer I have made to you thus far.
Chris.
2/7/11 - Email from Evan
Chris,
You are going to tell me that the intake manifold is designed to explode and that is not covered under warranty? You guys had no problem sending me a new one before we knew that my 3,000 mile old HPF built motor was blown. This is a very ineresting twist. Some way to treat a customer who at one point was your BEST customer. To date there is not one person who has put more videos, pictures and posts up boasting about HPF. There is no one out there that ran as many and as big of HPF decals on their car (despite not being sponsored in anyway). You (and only you as your staff has been great) have continued to put a bad taste in my mouth from the day I bought my kit and honestly if it wasn't for your excellent staff I would have dumped this kit a long time ago. You built a company on a false pretense that customers would be taken care of no matter what and duped a lot of people into buying kits based on this assumption. At some point you must have decided you were doing enough business and decided what you told me over the phone "We are no longer going to just fix peoples cars". No engine warranty, fine, but you honestly think your motors are so crappy that its normal that they fail after 3,000 EASY miles. You think I should recieve the car back with a bad oil leak and a whole list of other issues aftering being at HPF for months getting a fully built motor? You think its ok that the transport company that HPF contracted to transport your customers car damages the car, blames it on HPF and the customer gets screwed? You call this taking care of a customer?
At this point in 2 years, I have been through 2 blown motors, more HPF part failures than I can count (whether HPF manufactured or not they are used in the kit). Expenses for rental cars, tools, hours upon hours of my personal time, I mean come on, you really feel I recieved the turbo kit I paid over $20,000 for? I was very patient, praised HPF throughout the whole process despite being unhappy, advertised more than HPF or any of its customers for you, but now I am being told that HPF is not responsible for a built motor blowing up 5 months after its produced with only 3,000 mostly highway miles on it. I have a $50,000 paperweight that has been sitting at my shop because of an issue that is 99% related to the HPF kit, HPF motor build or HPF install and yet I am supposed to take responsablilty for it when I was simply driving at 65MPH on I-95 on my way to work one morning. Give me a break Chris. You act like I'm the only one who has had issues (you've even told me that in conversations), when I know thats not true. Just because HPF owners aren't vocal on the forums about their issues, they are very vocal behind the scenes with each other and I know all about most everyone elses issues with their cars. Its interesting that everyone jumped down VF's throat for blowing motors (which is true and they handled it terribly), but there are more PUBLIC HPF kit motors blown now than VF and there are FAR fewer HPF kits out there. The only difference is HPF WAS taking care of customers and making right for their mistakes, but it seems that table is now turning based off of your "we are no longer fixing cars".
So whats my point of this. I feel like I am being treated like crap by HPF (you) since after the last motor blew. Your staff has been very supportive and gone as far to say "if I were the owner I would...", but obviously you are the owner and you are going to make the best business decision not the best customer decision as your staff would. So this is why I am taking up a shop on their offer to take apart a motor and document every bit of the failure. I have no interest in drama from the ordeal, but I want to be treated fairly and I will not stop untill I feel that I am. I was hoping for a reasolution between myself and you, but that seems near impossible and at this point I am going to do what it takes to feel like I get what I deserve. So if you choose to not help and cooperate by sending warranty parts that should be sent or in any other way, thats fine. Rediculous it had to come to this, but I am fed up with pushing this car around and basically being told "thats just the way it is".
Evan
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