Latest update to the blown motor, he admits it is his file, says it is corrupt & the fueling is a mess, but says he never said it was done, his last email was asking how the car ran & saying it looked good. (I said it ran fine) That was 5/6. The motor blew 11/24. I said you had over 6 months to say something if we weren't done.

 

Not sure what he is really saying, here, he never said any of this before, said it looked good & I never heard from him again until now.

My last message was send 2k, I'll get tuned elsewhere & we are done. We'll see what he says.



ok either way we look at all this, I am deemed guilty even after you/we had so many issues with one bank not showing any any values, the TPS was not showing us 100% when the throttle is wide open.

The bottom line is even after 6 months I never got a call or email saying we should go further. The only email I got was "the car is running great". Nick is surprised as well that we did not go further.

Nick said you told him you dont drive the car in the summer so I guess maybe thats why we never heard from you during the summer months, is this true?

I dont mind taking responsibility if I am 100% at fault.

I have tuned hundreds of these L1 sc on the E36 M3 and Z3M and no issues , but 99% of them even in a remote situation had no issues like you were having with the TPS and we were replying on your feedback on top of this.



I have a gripe with all this.



So I am seriously gun shy with even tuning the car after you install the new motor, I believe the car still has issues with some hardware, I dont think we even have the TPS reading properly. I say this because all the logs we have from you dont show any with anything more than 40%-50% on the TPS /load values.

 

He probably only fessed up because you could have another tuner look at the file and see the problem.

 

Another BLOCK!!!

 

The manufacturer is being difficult, refuses anything sooooo I initiated a chargeback on the entire kit, sent him a screenshot of the email commemorating it & emailed them with take it back, give me 2k, I don't care.

He responded with restocking fees and wanting the bad motor and for me to send my DME to be flashed back to stock. I said parts are needed & the rest belongs to the builder who is helping me even though none of this is his fault

The builder has been CC'd on all of these messages & heard enough, and sent this:

As far as the cost and the machining goes, I am helping as he paid me 6500 to build the initial S52 motor, but I need all the old parts back to put the new motor together. I machined a new block that I gave him for 400 which is less than half of the current 900 price range on eBay for all the stock S52 used blocks for sale. Machining was 600 for the next bore size of 86.60mm. The reason why I didn’t use his current block is to avoid the shipping plus I did not know how bad the scoring and burn penetrated through. The head got so hot in the middle where the detonations happened and may be warped, so I told him I won’t risk slapping the cylinder head as-is onto the new motor that’s why It will cost about 1000 to machine and rebuild it again. I am disassembling the head and I have to assemble the new motor which I am not asking any penny for the engine labor again cause I am a stand up guy and truly understand Stefan’s situation and feel bad for him. Again the $2000 I asked him does not even cover all the new forged internals he bought plus his time to drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles to pickup the new motor and the hassle to install it back onto the car.

Thanks,

 

That initiated a back & forth with me saying I'm done arguing, you can send 2k, or I'll ship it back & take the chargeback. No block, no restocking & posts of the entire year long nightmare posted on every BMW forum I can find, most I am a longtime member of. (if he sends the 2k)

He is the owner but said this:

Ok Stefan,

I will meet with the managers and get back to you

Misleading to the end.

I really do not care at this point which way the wind blows.

 

This guy is such an asshole, he is the owner, there is no "management"...


Stefan,

management says that the purchase was done by Autotalent on a black friday sale, they will have to be the ones you have to go through. They are a dealer for us and they are the ones you have to contact and see how they want to handle this.

Please check your receipt, it should say the vendor was Autotalent.

Get back to me after you speak to them.




I responded:

Stop playing games, I tried to buy from you through Alan, he sent me to a vendor.

I found Auto talent, you shipped the kit with delay after delay. You can either send the money or we can do the chargeback.

Autotalent has no clue what happened here, they are YOUR vendor.

I do not understand why you are wasting your “valuable" time.


Stop this nonsense, send the money or the the chargeback in full can go through.

Then after no response:

I need an answer, I am done waiting, either send the money or I will allow the chargeback to go through and I’ll send you your parts I am not spending another day waiting for your next series of nonsense.
I have not posted yet but I am ready to post I have had enough. Here is a preview of the post I will place on every forum I can find:

On 11/23 I made the mistake of buying an Active Autowerke SC kit for my ’97 Z3 2.8 it took until mid January to get the kit.

After it came, it was incomplete & I had to buy the missing parts, then none of the silicon hoses were right and I had to buy the hoses. Once it was together I had a nightmare with tensioners not keeping the belt on. I had to buy numerous tensioners and belts and ended up 3 sizes smaller and a hydraulic tensioner from a different motor, I got no support from Active except this has never happened.

Then the tune nightmare came, every revision was like pulling teeth, finally I got a revision that seemed ok but my M52 2.8 blew a ring land. I did not ask Active for anything

I had a brand new S52 built, I had to send my DME to be tuned for the S52 & paid 325 extra, the revisions were slow to come & towards the end, it was summer & 120 in Phoenix and I stopped driving but the last revision I was told the file looked god and was asked how the car ran. It was fine.

11/24 it was 45 degrees and I went for a ride & melted a piston.

I have spent the last three days being run around with prove it’s their file, then did you modify the tune, then did I modify the hardware every response was no, I am asking for only the 2000.00 for the replacement block, it’s machining and the machining of the head and am getting nothing but nonsense.

I wish I had never heard of Active Autowerke.

 

3.5” filter for the 3.5” MAF

 

Posted to Yelp, Google reviews & 3 BMW forums.

 

My wonderful year ending on a low.


Dropped a valve, cyl 1 has 100% leakdown loss.

3400 R&R, 4k 70k mile motor, ordered 200 starter, 390 alternator, 2x 130 knock sensors (they go under the intake aka supercharger) also working on coolant hoses that live under the SC and at the back of the motor.

 

Holy. Crap. Time to hibernate for the remainder of 2024. You don't need anymore bad stuff happening.

 

Luckily there's not much time left. Good news, the rest of our cars are unmodified.

lol

 

+340 for hoses & Toyota red coolant and a bottle of water wetter, +240 for gaskets, the belt tensioner and idler.

I have a 1mm smaller pulley that's been sitting for 2 years, that'll go on & I remembered I have a Jowett filter housing (special whiz bang uber expensive for what it is part) I need them to move over/they need the tool (gotta remember to get it back) and I have had a trans filter, gasket & Amsoil ATF sitting here for 2+ years, gonna get that done while it's there.

 

Also smaller pulley & solid motor mounts

 

The owner of the shop said because of liability I can't do the pulley and heat shield in his shop but once it's off I can pick it up and bring it home to do it.



Also, once again Bed Bath & Beyond has the best price on tools. WTF

 

The motor was delivered the VVTI solenoids, on the driver side are broken, the waterpump also sounds bad, they said it was supposed to be 70k mile & A condition, I need to verify I got the motor I bought.

I ordered the 2 solenoids, water pump & rear main seal.

 

Hard to believe this is 1100+ in parts

 

Starter!

 

Picked up the supercharger to swap the smaller pulley & do maintenance.




Found the truck my motor came from.

 

2.2" pulley is on! Need to do the allens.

 

Heat shield in, looking for the best way to get it on the snout.

 

I got a cart so I'm not going back & forth to wherever I left my tools (assuming I stick to putting them back on the cart)

 

I can't get a break.

I ordered from autoparts.toyota.com, selected a dealer in another state to save tax and get free shipping. Usually, parts come from them directly, but this time, it came from New Jersey. It was poorly packaged and damaged. The dealer says we didn't ship it. Send it back (on my dime), and maybe we'll replace it.

I called Corporate, they want me to file a claim with FedEx who is going to say it was improperly packaged.

My motor is out & this is delaying its reinstallation.

Does anyone have the number to the West Caldwell N.J. location?

 

I sure hope 2025 is nicer to you than how 2024 ended.

 

Me too, thanks.

I'm picking up another alternator at the local dealer, and I asked the dealer where the damaged part came from for a label. They are welcome to take their time. I have the chargeback temp credit in my account.

 

Possibly Paul Miller Toyota?

 

Local is Camelback, other is West Covina.

I'm at Camelback now.

 

They had the wrong alternator. I have to go back again tomorrow

 

I meant the dealer in West Caldwell.

 

The improperly packaged alternator was shipped from somewhere in West Caldwell.

I think it was a distribution center. It was ordered from West Covina.

 

Motor is ready to come outt, stand isn't here yet and I neither want to leave it on the hoist nor put it on the ground so it's sitting until the stand comes supposedly the 8th.

 

Changed my mind.

 

Thoughs? Odd stuff on the flywheel.

 

It's a lot easier to see on the computer screen vs the phone...

That looks like the plate wasn't degreased fully, which caused hot spots.

 

Guess I need to replace it, luckily my doucehbag 'friend" that "helped" and installed it isn't talking to me.

 

I ordered an engine stand about 3 weeks ago, it's finally out for delivery. UPS pulls up. I hear rattling around in the back of the truck, she appears shocked I'm standing in the garage. Says I can't find it.
GAAAAA

 

and your luck continues... I'd be looking around for Ashton Kutcher, feels like you've been living the show Punk'd!!!

 

My hope is this stuff keeps the real horrors away.

LOL

 

I guess if you look at it that way. Things could be way worse!

 

Miracle!!! of course, no instructions. Had to figure it out.