Anyone else having issues with FP for making ballbearing turbos?

My FP red BB blew up and im trying to get another ballbearing but they say they don't make it until further notice?

 

Yeah they've stopped production for the time being. I think they have too much on their hands already.

You'll just have to wait I guess.

 

yeah they changed the price on their site to $9,999 so i guess if you're willing to pay that then go ahead. Personally, I like the JB turbos of theirs for the price, you lose some spool but i'm not out to break any records or anything. Also, FP recently started selling their JB turbos again so maybe it is because they were seeing problems with their BB turbos? Not sure, but they are active on the forum and I would bet that they chime in!

 

Yeah it might be because their ball bearing turbo's leak oil like crazy, and although FP deny it, it's a common issue. I personally know several people that are having issues (including myself), a quick search will tell you how big an issue it is. Their BB design, in my mind, is totally unsuitable for an Evo as it leaks oil if anything over .5ish of a psi of pressure is present in the crankcase, which is common in Evo's, even more so now that the 8 and 9 are getting on in age.

I made the big mistake of importing one of their turbo's into Australia from the states. If I was living in the US I would take the turbo back to them and demand a fix, as it is now, I have to spend hundereds trying to relieve this possible crankcase pressure (I'm not even sure I have any, I've never had a my dip stick pop out or anything) with complicated valve cover vents and catch cans or I'm just left with a $2500 paper weight.

FP say "send it back to us and we will check it", yeah right, the cost of shipping to and from the states, plus having my car, which is my daily driver, off the road for weeks on end whilst this happens make this impossible, and the issue with these turbo's is so well known that they are unsaleable as a used turbo. I can say that buying a FP BB turbo (FP Black) was the single biggest mistake I've made when modding my car.

 

Damn, this is something I didn't want to hear. I just had a BB green installed on my car not even 2 weeks ago. So far so good but hearing this isn't reassuring.

 

..

 

There is nothing wrong with the DBB FP turbos. Crank case pressure causes leaks. Period! There are more FP turbos on EVO than any other Turbo by a wide margin and they are fast and reliable. If you don't want to deal with excessive crank pressure then run stock boost on a stock motor. Built motors have more blowby that is a fact. Blow by is a percentage of airflow. Triple the airflow from factory and then make the engine have a higher percentages of it and you have to deal with 5-10 times the amount of Crank venting.

 

well said.

 

Or the alternative to this is to build, market and sell a turbo, that is designed for tuned motors, that doesn't blow so much oil into your intercooler piping, at the slightest sniff of crankcase pressure, that your motor knocks at any hint of throttle. To say the fix is to "run stock boost on a stock motor" is ridiculous . If I was doing that I wouldn't need a FP Black, and if I'm using a FP Black I'm going to run more than stock boost.

If Forced Performance are going to sell a turbo for tuned motors it's going to have to work with tuned motors, without blowing oil everywhere. The fact that they have removed their BB turbo's from sale proves that there is a problem with the design.

EDIT: I should say that the fact that FP have stopped selling their BB turbo's doesn't actually PROVE that there is a problem with their BB turbo's design, but you would have to agree that it looks pretty suspicious.

 

so is anyone in agreement that the JB turbos from FP did not have this problem and that FP re-released their JB turbos and stopped selling their BB turbos because of the problems? I know many guys who have put in excess of 30k on their JB turbos with multiple track passes and have had no problems

 

I had the same issue with the oil on my brand new FP Black. I already had a catch can in my car. My builder drilled bigger vents in my valve cover and installed bigger lines and a new catch can and the problem went away. No more oil.

 

It is not suspicious at all... What I've heard is that they have too much on their hands at the moment to be taking on new orders. As much as someone would like to make as much money as possible, at some point it becomes overwhelming and detrimental to a business, especially one that consists of a small workforce in comparison to the demand of its products, such as FP. Or they could be having some sort of set back with their sources or something. FP will have to chime in and give us the reason behind this instead of all of us speculating.

There are people in this forum that have exceeded the 500-600whp mark on stock frame turbos such as the FP Black, FP Red, and FP Green, and haven't had any issues with oil spewing out of the turbo.

I think this is mostly because there are people that do not educate themselves on certain aspects whilst modifying their vehicles, ignoring vital instructions that may lead to issues such as the oil "dilemma" on the BB designs of stock frame turbos. I placed the word "dilemma" in quotation marks because in reality, this isn't one, and may be avoided entirely if one simply reads.


No, their BB design is even better than their JB. Relieve crankcase pressure and you'll be 100% fine.

That's the way to do it.

 

The decision to stop selling the BB units temporarily had nothing to do with the small number of units that have issues with oil leaking out of them.

At this point that's all I can say but it will all become clear soon enough

- Michael

 

Another BOMB is coming from FP! The rest of the stock frame market should be scared!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by batty200

Another BOMB is coming from FP! The rest of the stock frame market should be scared!

When you say "BOMB" you mean because they blow up, right?

I find it strange that the OP starts a thread on an issue with his BB FP turbo, that "Blew up", and there are multiple threads on EvoM with the same problem happening, and this thread still, somehow, becomes an ad for Forced Performance.

This issue with their BB turbo's is well known in the Evo community, try selling a second hand FP BB turbo here in Australia, people would just laugh at you, or maybe punch you in the head, for trying to shift a faulty product.

"The rest of the stock frame market should be scared!" ha, scared of what, drowning in oil!

I tell you what Forced Performance, you send me one of these new, market scaring turbos, and I'll send you my leaky, piece of rubbish, BB Black turbo, back. If this new turbo is as good as batty200 seems to think it will be I'll write up the best review you've ever read, put it on my Facebook page, read by 700 other Evo owners in Australia, and talk up its virtues and every given opportunity. What do you say, got a deal?