Holes in AFE Stage II "S" pipe...

ENafziger · 12-01-2008, 04:43 PM

Hello!

Well, working on the truck over Thanksgiving, I found some disturbing problems. When re-installing the AFE Stage II "s" tube, I found that it was covered inside with fine dust. Upon closer inspection, I found that there are 3 holes along the plastic seam on the top of the tube that have been allowing unfiltered air to enter the engine for the past 56k miles!

It's hard to get some good pictures of this, but here they are...

From the inside...the two embossing on the left are for a screw mount and the sensor. The offending holes are on the right.

Here's a picture with a flashlight shining through...

I have emailed AFE, but have not yet received a response. What action would you take? The past 2 Blackstone oil reports have indicated unusually high wear on the engine. The truck has 57k miles on it, and I planned on keeping it for life...

--Eric

JCasper · 12-01-2008, 05:52 PM

Wow, that doesn't look good

2Rowdy · 12-01-2008, 08:43 PM

Woe that is unfortunate.
I also use blackstone my experience has been that they seem to cry wolf very easy. I have sent samples blackstone and stavely and schaeffer's. The latter 2 have said every thing is well within normal. Blackstone say send more samples early. The other ones say safe at least another 8,000 miles. That will be a total of 16,000 miles on oil for 2 samples instead of 11,000 blackstone recommened.
I hope that made sense.

JDiepstra · 12-01-2008, 08:45 PM

Those holes are very small but I can understand your disappointment! As far as Blackstone goes, I think, as was mentioned above, that they tell you you have high wear and to send more samples because that is how they make money.

HOBrian · 12-02-2008, 01:54 AM

Eric you did not have a very good weekend! between this and the studs... not good

nunya · 12-02-2008, 12:15 PM

NOW it gotta go check my tube really close...........bummer, keep us posted on response back from AFE please. Thanx for the great heads up.

ENafziger · 12-02-2008, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Eric you did not have a very good weekend! between this and the studs... not good

Ya, this rash of luck has been following me for awhile now!

I also have the AFE Bladerunner intake horn, and the included bracket has broken that holds the 2-micron fuel filter...I'll have to fab up something there too.

Still not heard anything from AFE...

--Eric

ENafziger · 12-03-2008, 02:31 PM

Well, I got a call and an email from AFE last night...and I'll have to say that their customer service is second to none. They are sending a new tube, and were very apologetic that the one I have was ever allowed to be sent out.

They even checked the 200 tubes they in stock to ensure there were none with the same defect!

Here's there response:

Quote:

Eric,

It was a pleasure talking to you. I appreciate the kind words you had of our company and regret the problem you had with the tube on our intake system.

As I said, the holes are due to air bubbles that sometimes occur in the rotomolding process. As the flash at the mold seam is trimmed off, the trimming process can expose these air bubbles. Our vender should have caught these imperfections and rejected the part before sending them to us. We will be addressing this with our vender.

However, we also dropped the ball during our inspection process when we allowed the tube to be packaged in our intake kits. We are very careful to inspect each tube as the intake systems are assembled and the protrusions on the inside should have caught our attention. We didn't and we will take step to insure that it doesn't happen again.

Since you have our Pro-GUARD 7 media, the silicon level of 9 ppm is a little higher than normal for this media. Normally we see silicon levels of 3 ppm or less. However, as someone commented, airborne particles through the holes or the filter would not have been the cause of the elevated iron and copper levels. As the analysis commented, there may be problems due to some other issues.

I will send you a replacement tube and a call tag for the one you have so that our vendor can analyze it.

Thank you again for your business and support.

Paul Hardley
Director: Customer Service & OE/Export Sales

--Eric

Radshooter · 12-03-2008, 03:16 PM

WOW!!! You didn't even have to argue with them. That is great (and rare) customer service compared to other companies I have had to deal with in the past.

Good work AFE!

p-Bar · 12-03-2008, 03:27 PM

Oh wow a 10 dollar part made in China that they should caught during their inspection. I think they use the blind for their Q.C. Hope they made you feel better after possibly ruining you engine. Curious on another oil analysis after an oil change and ran a bit. I'd be a little bit more twisted.

Gweeds12V · 01-01-2009, 04:50 PM

I just bought an afe stage 2 for my 12 valve, you know it has a lifetime warranty, if any defects occur under normal circumstances they have to replace it for you

LRutigliano · 01-01-2009, 05:31 PM

Sorry to hear about your tube and potential engine issues. That would really make me mad... Not trying to high-jack your thread, but I want to share my aFe experiences:

When I got my aFe Bladerunner, I had many QC issues with it...

- Casting was porous (not thru the body, but on the fins) and very rough internally. Not good for flow IMO.
- Lots of sand or other media from their casting process left inside the manifold.
- Non stainless steel (just oil/pickled black) bolts were sent because they were out of SS.

I returned it and went with the CFM+

When I got my aFe Stage II fully enclosed cold air kit; again I was not impressed with the fit/finish of their rotomolded parts.

- The side of the box that is supposed to seal against the factory opening had a 1/4" to 1/2" gap all the way around.
- The lid didn't seal up tight against the body when the 3 torx head fasteners were tightened. The lid kinka warped slightly.
- The rotomolded tube was in a bind between the turbo and the lid.
- The MAP sensor gasket was just a foam seal.

I got rid of it and got the PSM system with the DPP red hose.

I have been running the aFe PG-7 stock style filter, but just received an AEM (dry) stock style filter from Carparts.com and will give this a try as I have not been impressed with aFe hard parts (non filter) I have tried.

Their filters do seem to be extremely high quality, they don't have that annoying flash left all over the filter media for example... but their other parts I have tried have led me to try something else...

Good luck with your replacement.

ENafziger · 01-02-2009, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Good luck with your replacement.

Replacement has been working great! I do need to replace the bolts for the Bladerunner though, as they have thoroughly rusted. Also, the bracket included with the bladerunner to mount the 2-micron fuel filter to has broken.

All in all, I believe they deliver a good product, and their customer service is top notch!

--Eric

Ducman82 · 01-02-2009, 07:05 PM

Atleast they took care of ya. I send oil out all the time to blackstone, never had a problem with the results, or with them saying stuff is bad to get more money out of me.....

Bob4x4 · 01-03-2009, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-Bar

Oh wow a 10 dollar part made in China that they should caught during their inspection. I think they use the blind for their Q.C. Hope they made you feel better after possibly ruining you engine. Curious on another oil analysis after an oil change and ran a bit. I'd be a little bit more twisted.

The plastic is done in the IE not china

I also beleive he has an issue with his rockers not an AFE issue

Bob