My CTSC Nightmare... 56k Warning!

[Hrant]

As for recourse, I feel the advice and actions suggested, given what is known about this situation, are premature at this point.

Very well said indeed. Such posts do not help Brian's cause either and I informed him of that in PMs and asked to him to reflect that with a post coming from him. He too has a responsibility to acknowledge all the efforts that Comptech is putting to resolve this rather than let it simmer through the proxy of other's posts.

This will be my last post on this as I have no personal or vested interest except to see a positive resolution to this. But some folks need to settle down before making unsubstantiated accusations.

"Autorotor" is not the one "looking" at it, a small shop in Cali that Autorotor sugjested is inspecting and possibly repairing it...in two weeks.

Exactly! Instead of shipping it to Sweden where the factory is and hence take more time, it was sent to an approved repair shop that has other repairs in queue as well. How would one feel if they are in the queue now but are being bumped to take care of another customer because he or she thinks their issue is more important? And as much as we think of Comptech being a big company for the NSX, they are probably no more than a spec on the radar screen for such huge companies - especially since their relationship is quite new.

Comptech offered in good faith an interim solution with Option #1 at their cost to make sure Brian had a car that he could use until the purported defective blower was investigated. If all are so clearly convinced with proof that the blower is defective, then going with Option #1 would have had absolutely no risk to Brian except a deposit charged to his credit which he could have later challenged if it came to that. Obviously it wasn't or isn't a 100% slam dunk.

And as Brian also noted in his first post: "labor was at their discretion so they may choose to pay for my R&R costs." Hint, there is more good will out there.

In my personal view, Comptech or any other vendor has absolutely no obligation to replace or pay for anything until it has determined the cause of the problem which can be the product (blower in this case) or human error during installation, or use outside the prescribed specs. The blower may indeed turn out to be defective, but none of us know that yet, and only the parties have been privy to see the blower. The manufacturer's repair shop which presumably has technical expertise and knowledge in determining defects in specs has yet to examine the blower.

Until then, I suggest we take a few long breaths and allow the due process to take its course.

 

[ryan1926]

yes a small amount of oil from that area on the snout is normal,..this unit was loosing oil at a rapid rate.

Thanks!

 

[SaberX]

I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm but I would like to reiterate I don't feel like I am getting cheated by Comptech. At this point Comptech has fullfilled all their obligations as a company to provide me with a product, provide responses to service inquiries (although taking longer than I expected) and to assist me in getting a faulty product waranteed.

Personally, I feel I have no desire (or grounds) to persue anything with a cc company or the bbb. With that having been said - I definately expressed my opinion -that as a buyer - I was dissatisfied with the effort required on my part as well as a slow, disjoint and confusing waranty process.

IMO, Vancehu makes a good point that Comptech's retail pricing of $10k should account for some level of defective kits. Assuming they have shipped 50 Autorotor units and mine was the only one to fail - then that's a 2% failure rate - which is well within expected tolerances for most companies that sell products. The key here being "expected" tolerance - meaning they should anticipate a few issues like this and have reserves to resolve it quickly without having to block the process on Autorotor.

Here's what I honestly believe should have happened:
1) I ship my blower to them
2) They get one of their engineers to look at it and see that it has clearly not been "abused" and appears to be defective manufacturing.
3) Comptech sends me a new blower at no cost and reimburses me for R&R
At this point I should be out of the equation.
4) Comptech works with Autorotor to waranty the blower.
5a) If Autorotor authorizes the waranty then Comptech gets a new blower.
5b) If Autorotor denies the claim - Comptech can pay to repair the blower (a few hundered dollars at most) and re-sell it as an "almost new blower" kit to reclaim their loss.
Either way, it seems to me that following this process Comptech stands to lose no money. Thats just the way I think it should work.

Regardless of what we say here these are the facts:
1) Comptech makes a great product and is honoring their waranty
2) Comptech is doing as much as possible and potentially even more given their new relationship with Autorotor
3) Comptech is going through the waranty process with a new international vendor for the first time
4) I will eventually get a working blower - just maybe later than I expected.

 

[SaberX]

Have they come this this conclusion? I couldn't tell from your posts.
If it is defective I, and I am sure others, who have the Autorotor CTSC, would like to know in what manner.

I was able to determine from previous posts that it was a bad bearing seal but did they, Comptech, clearly say it was their opinion that it was defective manufacturing?

You deserve credit for a level headed approach to this problem. You seem to be a fair-minded gentleman. Kudos.

Comptech did look at it and reported no glaring mechanical issues with the blower. When I asked what they thought it was, Comptech said they "thought it was a bad bearing seal". This assesment was based on a visual inspection of the device as well as the other info I had supplied. The final word will come from the repair facility. I too am most interested in why the failure occured.

 

[queenlives]

wow, this is a bummer of a situation, but it sounds like customer and vendor are working through standard customer complaint / resolution scenario.

my "earlier version" ctsc is in boxes, sitting in my garage. i do not recall it ever leaking / spewing any oil whatsoever when it was installed in my '00 (nor does it spew from the shelves now

good luck in achieving a successful resolution.

hal

 

[Hugh]

Here's what I honestly believe should have happened:
1) I ship my blower to them
2) They get one of their engineers to look at it and see that it has clearly not been "abused" and appears to be defective manufacturing.
3) Comptech sends me a new blower at no cost and reimburses me for R&R
At this point I should be out of the equation.

Exactly! Autorotor is an OEM supplier to Comptech. It is Comptech's responsibility to deal with warranty issues and not have the end user suffer any delays or inconveniences because of an OEM part failure.

What if you had your new NSX in for a warranty issue and the dealer told you it looks like the fuel pump but we can't fix or replace it until the part gets sent to Nippon Denso for inspection beforehand?

That supercharger should have been replaced immediately. No ifs, and or buts.

 

[DRIFTER]

Comptech did look at it and reported no glaring mechanical issues with the blower. When I asked what they thought it was, Comptech said they "thought it was a bad bearing seal". This assesment was based on a visual inspection of the device as well as the other info I had supplied. The final word will come from the repair facility. I too am most interested in why the failure occured.

So was this problem taken care of by comptech?

I’m surprised to see this I have only heard good things about there new system.

Has this problem occurred to any one else with the new autoroter system?

Just curious because I would eventually like to purchase that kit for my car.

 

[SaberX]

So was this problem taken care of by comptech?

I’m surprised to see this I have only heard good things about there new system.

Has this problem occurred to any one else with the new autoroter system?

Just curious because I would eventually like to purchase that kit for my car.

Comptech is currently working with a repair facility to sort it out at the moment. Please re-read the thread for more details.

Nobody else has experienced this issue yet.

I will post full details on the cause of the issue once it is known.

 

[lutera]

Is Autorotor that big a company that Comptech to them is a nobody? Its one thing when an individual takes a unit to be looked at, its another when a vendor who has bought a hundred of your units does so. Can't Comptech say "we don't have two weeks for you to take a look" and get them to do it quicker? If its a production issue by chance, you'd want to know about it as soon as possible I would think.

Agree. Also a normal thing for CT to do would be to keep 1-2 spare blowers in inventory, in case such situations happen. With a MSRP like this, I think they could afford to do just that.

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

If this was any other vendor they would have been strung out and lynched by now.


Armando

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

Yep. One just popped in my head.

Only one?


Armando

 

[queenlives]

Comptech's warranty is very clear.
It is not a unconditional replacement warranty.

To suggest there should be warranty service such as automatic replacement or unconditional replacement, that is not outlined in Comptech's warranty document is unreasonable and IMO not constructive advice for this person's situation. <snip>

wow, so regardless of the fact that the new owner:

* spent beaucoup $'s to buy the unit (nevermindtheextendedwait)
* called them on the first day of install to complain about spewing oil
* called them multiple times thereafter to ask / complain about spewing oil

they / you say their warranty doesn't cover that and they shouldn't be held responsible to replace the unit? wow - good luck with that customer-relations plan.

i've read / re-read the thread multiple times (thanks for the tip). i believe most folks get the picture: the vendor is doing the ol' soft shoe and in today's flat world, word travels fast.

 

[docjohn]

On a side note does anyone think Shad's departure could have created a void not yet filled,or another way to ask this is who is now responsible at CT for RR and technical troubleshooting?

 

[02#154]

I've followed this thread since the day the OP started it. I tried to put myself in CT's shoes and look at it that way. I don't know why it's unreasonable for them to assure that the part they sold was truly defective (or otherwise replaceable at no cost to them) from their vendor. It sounds to me like prudent and fair business practice.

There's an un-asked question that everyone is missing when talking about "option 1" earlier in the thread. In the case where the blower is possibly determined by the repair facility to *not* be broken due to a defect in production, why should CT be responsible for paying "a few hundered dollars at most" for a blower that they did not manufacture then have the burden of finding a buyer for a unit that is rebuilt?

I don't mean to sound abrasive so please don't take it that way. It sounds good on the surface for CT to just take care of the customer and work out the details behind the scenes but the reality of doing business is that they would be opening themselves to having to replace broken parts for every other customer who comes along later. Speaking strictly from a cost-no-factor purely customer service standpoint, sure it's the thing to do. But cost *is* an issue and customer service is just one thing they're balancing when determining what to do.

J

 

[BioBanker]

What I dont get is why cant Comptech determine if its a faulty blower? Why is that so hard?

If they felt that they could, you would have a new blower by now.

Instead, they're scratching their heads, unsure.

Which is why they offered you the cheap replacement; they too want you back on the road asap, but they're not confident that they can diagnose the problem, I guess.

 

[nsxhk]

You know? I think docjohn is right on the money, Shad left!

 

[jmp]

For the record, I too get a very slow accumulation of oil from this bolt. Nothing like yours. Comptech originally told me it is a breather and the level "needs to find itself" 9as though it has an identify crisis or something).

A mMustang guy (the Mustang kenne Bell unit uses the same basic blower setup for Mustangs as the CTSC) said he had dseen this in a "bad" or faulty unit on a Mustang which had to be replaced. he swore to me that it should have absolutely no oil whatsoever, even the smallest amount, come out of there.

Anyway, keep us posted and good luck.

 

[SaberX]

Ok - looks like I've made my way through the 2 week queue. According to Comptech, the shop is looking at it today and they should have word to me today. Hoping for the best.

 

[S-TO-8K]

Hope they get this resolved for you soon. What agonizing period this must have been!

I have so far a little over 4,500 trouble free miles with my comptech auto rotor unit on my '92 w/49k and have been following this thread closely.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

I get oil coming out of the stone filter/breather on the snout all the time.
It's just a little but if I don't "wipe it's nose regularly it will be enough to gather and drool down the underside of the snout and pool in the same bolts. I never get spray on the hatch glass.

Is there some way to hook up a catch can to the overflow vent so the oil has somewhere to go rather than all over the belts and engine?

-- Joe

 

[SaberX]

Is there some way to hook up a catch can to the overflow vent so the oil has somewhere to go rather than all over the belts and engine?

-- Joe

Lets not forget that the other half of the lost oil was being sucked in directly to my engine - and in large enough quantities to leave lots oil and oily film all over everything on the top end. I'm guessing if you're blowing enough oil out of the snout to need a catch can, there's gonna be oil going into the engine and your blower has a problem.

Still no word from Comptech, hopefully today.

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

While I agree that there is a problem, remember that the blower reservoir holds only a bit under a pint of oil, while enough to make a mess hardly enough to cause any engine damage.


Armando

 

[JoeSchmoe]

I'm guessing if you're blowing enough oil out of the snout to need a catch can, there's gonna be oil going into the engine and your blower has a problem.

I was thinking of applying the catch can to stop the dribbling in the "normal" units. An $8000 piece of equipment should not be leaking ANY oil...

-- Joe

 

[ffffanman]

I'm not getting involved because I'm just a sh*t disturber but:
Shouldn't someone contact this company and let them know whats going on and get some facts.
All the info is there, and go to the gallery and check out the nsx engine bay pictures used on their site - with the comptech name even.
Oil leaking, what a joke. Replace the unit now with a new one.
This just turns my stomach.
Just my 2 cents.
Mr Sh*t

http://www.opcon.se/index.asp?sPage=1&langID=2&cID=14

 

[SaberX]

Dude - pbassjo much better
Update:

Just got off the phone with Comptech - looks like the blower repair will be covered under waranty. The repaired blower should also ship out tomorrow.

It turns out the delay in the repair turnaround is due to the fact that the blower repair shop is new to working with the company Opcon (Autorotor) and so they were very "thorough" when examining the blower. Here is what was determined.

1. The blower itself was fine.
2. The excessive oil problem was caused by a bad seal.
3. There was some debris located on/at the seal failure.

Additionally, there was evidence that a small seam of silicone had squeezed "into" the intake area and dried when the blower was mated to the intake section. At first they believed that a small piece of dried silcone broke off and damaged the seal. After further microscope investigation and discovery of other debris they determined that there was no direct causation between the presence of silicone and seal failure. After making this assesment, they determined that it was a "waranty-able" repair.

I also found out that the seal that my blower needs is not "on site" and would have to be ordered. Did I call it or what!?!!? However, do not despair...the blower shop is going to disassemble a new blower and get the seal that I need. Very cool! I'm guessing Comptech had something to do with that suggestion.

Now that I have some traction on the fix, the last thing I need to find out is about R&R. Since it was a valid waranty claim, I'll be curious to see if Comptech will cover R&R. It's their call. Let's hope so.

Hoping to be back on the road next week.