Brian Flippo

Hello all, I've finally broken down and joined the forums.

Recently had a major failure of the BMC aircleaner on my 930. The plastic disintegrated and sent shrapnel through the intake into the turbo and consequently, after pulling my IC this afternoon, I found that my IC is now full of plastic and all of the turbo's internals. The car had a complete Fabspeed K27 setup including intercooler. I've found a few other instances online of the plastic falling apart on these, but want to get a gauge on how widespread this issue is and why in God's name a poly-plastic filter housing would ever be used in a high heat/high vacuum environment.

Has anyone had any experience with Fabspeed in regard to standing behind the product? The system was professionally installed by a Fabspeed retailer approx 6k miles ago.

911PERVY

Thats not a standard 930 air filter though.

Brian Flippo

You are correct. It is a BMC airfilter.

Fabspeed Motorsport

Hey Brian,

We are very sorry to read about the situation and the inconvenience this has caused, standing behind our products is a top priority at Fabspeed.

If you could please reach out to us ASAP we will be able to handle this situation and get everything figured out for you.

Email: service@fabspeed.com
Phone: 215-646-4945

911PERVY

But not for a 930

Brian Flippo

Thanks, Scott. I emailed this morning. Look forward to hearing from you.

Brian Flippo

Just wanted to drop a followup post to the original. I finally chased down a representative at Fabspeed after having heard no response for two days, and was denied any assistance on their part. My feedback for Fabspeed would be: I would have liked to have had the courtesy of a callback without having to chase. At the minimum, the offer of a discount on a replacement or remanufactured unit, something. Anything... Anything other than a canned "it's a BMC part and not our problem", "You should have kept the plastic oiled", "You can order a new one on our website" response. It's very subpar customer service from someone that touts a lifetime warranty on all products.

To address the "poorly maintained" comment made by the customer service representative: I should have "Kept the plastic oiled"?? Correct me if I'm wrong, the cotton filter is the portion that requires regular oiling (which is currently nicely oiled BTW) and not the poly-plastic housing. Since, last I checked, oil degrades polymer. If this is indeed the case, it looks like I've been doing it all wrong for a very long time.

It still puzzles me why anyone, especially Fabspeed, would recommend this part in such a high heat/high stress environment when there are so many expensive parts downstream. Seriously? Flexible polymer in a 1 bar vacuum environment? Hasn't anyone thought of what happens to Saran Wrap on a ShopVac hose? I'm kicking myself for having not removed it the moment I saw it on the car and installing something with an aluminum housing. I strongly caution anyone looking to have this conversion done to install an air filter housing that is recommended by the air filter manufacturer (this part is not recommended by BMC for use on a 930, probably for these very reasons) or a unit with an aluminum housing. If you have this conversion or this filter installed on a forced induction engine, for the love of Pete remove it. Clearly as these parts start to age they're ticking time-bombs that show no sign of degradation until they suck themselves inside out and disintegrate.

As far as the damage, it looks like I'm on my own here. Which is fine; I'm a big boy. Going forward, I know who I can play in the sandbox with.

David Van Allen

Hi Brian,

Thanks for sharing your experience with our customer support, I'm sorry that you didn't feel it went well. To be honest, we knew it would be a difficult conversation based on the facts we uncovered as we researched your problem. Seeing your post here, I feel as if we might not have a done a good job at communicating those facts to you, and for that I apologize.

It took us a bit of time once we discovered that the purchase was not current, hence the delay. We researched dealer back records and found that the original purchase of that particular BMC air filter, along with the other items that modified the car, was sold on 12/20/2010 - nearly 9 years ago. All air filters, as you know, are maintenance items and it appears from the pictures that over nearly a decade, the environment took its toll on the structural material. The cracks we see in the pictures you sent are "hard" cracks, consistent with age.

BMC manufactures that product with the same specifications as all of their other filters. It is designed to be used in your car with confidence as long as it is properly installed and maintained. The previous owner had many years of use, so installation could be considered proper, but we do not know for sure is if he or she properly maintained it; we don't think it was based on the pictures, especially the color and course roughness of the internal view of the element.

Fabspeed's lifetime warranty applies to Fabspeed manufactured parts as stated in our warranty, BMC warrants their filters to be free from defects for two years (2012), and while you could expect to get more than that amount of life from it, I think it's prudent to replace critical wear parts like this on an inspection basis or by a reasonable amount of time in use.

Again, we're sorry to hear about your unfortunate issue, and if there was a way for us to help we would. Even though this is clearly not a BMC warranty defect, nor a problem with any of the Fabspeed equipment on the car, I will be happy to help in any way I can. I hope this helps to clear up any confusion.

Best regards,
Dave

911PERVY

Interesting, no way an expert on 930's but maybe a photo or link to the induction kit? you have may help others to comprehend what has happened. As you say, sounds like the plastic/rubber filters are no good in the application so Fabspeed shouldnt be using them!

Brian Flippo

This is my final comment, and then I'm moving on. The picture attached is the filter just 5 months ago. It showed absolutely zero signs of structural weakness or impending doom. That being said, I still cannot reconcile why Fabspeed would recommend and sell a critical part that is known to deteriorate and lose structural integrity over time. Especially, one that was not designed by the manufacturer for this application. The basic requirement for an airbox on a turbocharged engine is that it remains structurally sound in repeated high stress situations. Installing one that is naturally flexible and who's structural integrity is compromised by heat and oil vapor is completely asinine. Furthermore, installing a component in which the structure itself, by your admission, is a wear item completely defeats the purpose of switching to a non-disposable filter in the first place. After searching the web, I have found that this is actually quite common with this filter. It routinely experiences failure in normally aspirated applications. Applications that don't create nearly the amount of stress and vacuum that a high boost forced induction application does. At the very least, the necessary requirement for routine replacement should be disclosed as part of the product description. I believe that it would affect the decision making process, and cause the customer to look for better performing alternatives, which in turn would require Fabspeed to improve its product offering to remain competitive.

At the end of the day, not only was it a poor decision to install the piece in this application in the first place, but the fact that Fabspeed won't even take a moment to reflect on this as an opportunity to improve it's product speaks volumes about the company philosophy as a whole. You can act nicely and give false empathy inside the forums all that you would like, but it's quite simple to see right through it. There were any number of things that Fabspeed could have done to improve this situation. Things that would not have cost the company a penny, but could have avoided this entire interaction and the bitter taste that resulted.

oldskewel

Good PSA reminder on the importance of an air filter. Thanks.

And something I never would have thought - that "reusable" does not mean "forever," or in this case more than 6k miles or 9 years.

I never would have thought to inspect an air filter for disintegration at such a low mileage. Air filters are typically inspected and replaced based on mileage due to potential clogging, not due to fear of disintegration.

If BMC does not recommend it for this application (this point differs from what Fabspeed says), it does sound like a design flaw.

r911

Who sold the air filter, Fabspud or BMC?

Brian Flippo

Fabspeed sells the filter on their site for the 930 to be used in conjunction with the K27 turbo and intercooler upgrade. If you go directly to BMC, they only offer a drop-in airfilter for an oem intake on a 930.
The gentlemen on the phone even went as far to say that they've "never" had one of these fail. Although if you google it, you can find multiple examples of this filter failing.

Link to the filter on their site: https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-911...intake-system/

I would strongly recommend to Fabspeed to remove the Lifetime Warranty Shield from the product's page since there isn't actually a Fabspeed warranty on the part. I would think that having it there could certainly expose them to legal recourse from an unhappy customer.

splinterAMG

You've a beautiful car...I'm sorry this happened to you.



Good of David Van Allen to join and share his perspective.
Whoops.
Evidently that means up until the time when it may experience catastrophic disintegration.

r911

Fabspeed might be on the hook for damages, esp. if they, or a buyer, are located in California (which has strong consumer protection laws)