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Looking for VF Engineering failure stories

14K views 47 replies 14 participants last post by  joeyb1960 
#1 ·
Hey guys...

So my VF s/c unit failed after only 6,000 miles. Warranty service was ok, and the unit is on its way back to me.

A friend's VF s/c did the same thing after just a few more miles on his 740. His warranty service was terrible...they even wound up sending him a secondary temporary unit while they took care of the first one.

A third acquaintance's unit started making nasty noises after only a few thousand miles on an E39 540, then entered catastrophic failure almost immediately, destroying his engine.

How many other horror stories are there? It would be interesting to gather a group of us together and talk.
 
#2 ·
Yikes!

:eek:hnoes

Dude, you are seriously scaring me....I iwll do some digging around for more info. As far as I know, the Vortech unit provided by VF has been excellent. We've discussed this before and I'm glad they are taking care of you, but catastrophic failure??! NOT OK. Stand by.:eek:hnoes
 
#3 ·
By "catastrophic failure," I mean that the aluminum fanblades shredded and were taken into his engine, destroying both banks of pistons. I'd call that pretty catastrophic. He's still in negotiation with VF regarding what they are going to do about it.

Not to mention that it stranded him 800 miles from home...
 
#4 ·
Here is a picture of the shredded supercharger unit from my acquaintance's 540...

 
#8 ·
Thats a VERY common failure.. and why we stopped carrying vortech vq blowers after being a distributor for them for 2 years when I worked at the caddy/hummer dealership.

The bearings fail frequently and as a result the impellers have too much play and hit the housing and do exactly that.

Ontop of that very common failure, they usually would make me pay for the repair almost always claiming foreign matter was introduced to the unit and caused the damage.

In those 2 years, there was at least a 50% failure rate on all units we sold.

Even if they dont fail, after 15-30k miles they start getting pretty noisy, which was the first sign they were about to go.. started rattling, etc, like there was marbles inside the blower.

I NEVER saw one with over 60k miles on it that wasnt rebuilt at least once.


My room mates on his 98 m3 did the same thing after 12k miles.. killed his engine completely. block, head, nothing was saveable.


Caveat Emptor.
 
#9 ·
Well mine lasted 6K the first time...we shall see how long it lasts the second time around.

I really appreciate that info.

Saltshaker, my friend and I installed our kits at roughly the same time. Our units failed at roughly the same time, too. I just didn't drive mine after it started making weird noises.
 
#10 ·
I hear ya loud and clear. But I have very contrary info from my Vortech seller, whom I trust, who tells me not a single time has he had a problem such as you describe. I guess the bottom line is you always need to keep an eye (and a good ear!) on you blower and act if you hear something unusual. Any updats om VF's handling of your replacement blower? Did you get it yet, etc? Hang in there man. RM
 
#11 ·
RoadsterMadness said:
I hear ya loud and clear. But I have very contrary info from my Vortech seller, whom I trust, who tells me not a single time has he had a problem such as you describe. I guess the bottom line is you always need to keep an eye (and a good ear!) on you blower and act if you hear something unusual. Any updats om VF's handling of your replacement blower? Did you get it yet, etc? Hang in there man. RM
Yup, got it, it's installed, much quieter, working great.
 
#12 ·
Brought mine into my shop yesterday (GOD what an amazing place that is! POWER, Yes MAD with POWER! GALORE! and everything from a mint BMW 2002 from back in the day to the fastest Porche in the USA - 900WHP 9.1 for the 1/4 mile! Makes the RUF 911 modded Supercar in the last Road and Track seem SLOW and has an intercooler the size of a small air conditioner, etc etc LOL).

Anyway, the owner took my Roadster up and down the semi private street where the shop is to see whether the temporary jury rigged clamp on the primary air hose would hold - and it did. They are beefing it up today so I never have this issue again - AMEN.

I did forward your horror stories to the place I bought my VF unit from in FL and again, he's a stand up guy and they've had little to nothing in the way of problems despite all the units they sell. Whatever the deal, I will definitely belistening closely as the miles pile up on my S/C and keep my shop on top of it too. They are the #1 preferred shop for VF installations in the NYC metro area and in fact were referred to me BY VF Engineering. They had no horror stories either and in fact were formerly the mainnshop for Active Autowerke and had experienced too many problems with them and so switched to VF last year or so.

Bottom line, keep an eye on your unit, enjoy it and may you NEVER have problems! Enjoy the holiday weekend folks!

I'll be down in Atlanta the weekend of 9/14-9/165 for the PGA Tour Championship and Fed Ex Cup finals, staying at the Ritz in Buckhead and bringing the wifey:rolleyes: ...
 
#13 ·
I'll let you know if I still live here then. Would be cool to meet up if so.
 
#14 ·
Absolutely. PM me as we get closer to the date. Picking up the Roadster in 20 minutes. They did not have time to put in the boost gauge I want, but will soon. Also still negotiating on getting their new dyno (which we will totally unleash the roadster on to see the actual HP). Enjoy the weekend man.
 
#16 ·
Not A Chance...

:rofl :yezfunny :rofl2 She was afraid of my old 528i with the 184bhp stock motor and generally pussyfoots around with her 328xi. She's driven stick about 10 times with a mechaniucal clutch in old USSR Ukraine and was dumb enough to pass on my offer to teach her when the Roadster was on warranty. Now, WAAAAAAAAAAy too much has gone into it mentally, physically and financially. No Roadster driving for her...:eek:hnoes
 
#17 ·
I am now questioning my chioce...

I was looking into by a supercharger kit for my 99 m3 and now that I have read this discussion I am not so sure. I was actually looking at the vf engineering kit. So what i am asking you all is since you all don't trust vf engineering which one would you recommend?
 
#18 ·
crawlermonkey said:
I was looking into by a supercharger kit for my 99 m3 and now that I have read this discussion I am not so sure. I was actually looking at the vf engineering kit. So what i am asking you all is since you all don't trust vf engineering which one would you recommend?
1. Dinan.

2. VF isn't so bad. At the end of the day my big complaint is not being able to drive the car in sub-25 degree temps.
 
#19 ·
And look, my shop insists its FINE to drive it in sub-25 degree temps, and I warm the car up no matter WHAT temp it is outside. I drove mine 3 weeks ago on a brutally cold night and, while I won't tell you I wasn;t a little paranoid, I DID drive the car and it was great. VF turns around their kits to the buyer much quicker than AA or others. I only have a few thousand miles on mine so we shall indeed see. I was told by several that while Dinan is great (and Prof/M3UOND is THE biggest Dinan man I know), you ARE paying some for just that NAME, and no quality difference.

All that said, re-readijng this thread makes me CRINGE all over again. Yuck. Time to go stroke my car and talk really nicely to it..."Please don;t fail...please don't fail...". Just kidding. The fact is, ANY aftermarket product carries some degree of risk I suppose, it's all about MANAGING and MINIMIZING that risk, along with a company standing by their product if anything bad does happen.

'nuff said.
 
#20 ·
I know this isn't what most of you would want to hear, but i still believe he best thing to do is go to your local tuner shop and build a kit out of all the necessary parts. Hardware from RMS, Vortech V2 supercharger, and tuning from one of the many companies out there (not RMS).
 
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