I have 05 VIII looking for competent shops in or around the MA. area to trouble shoot Aquamist HFS-5 system.

I paid DSG in Norwood Ma to install and tune the car last summer. The Aquamist system worked long enough to tune it but stopped working shortly after. I only put around 250 miles on it when it stopped working. Took the car out of storage last month and brought it back to DSG for trouble shooting. After a month they still can't get my Aquamist system working. They replaced the flow sensor, the pump, and the dds3 failsafe. To date I have spent close to $3,000 dollars at DSG for install, reinstall, Meth tune, and now a new pump gas tune so I could drive the car home.

The bottom line is I need a shop that understands the Aquamist HFS-5 system and can get this thing fixed and tuned. I will buy a new kit if needed idk.

I am willing to travel as far as needed to get this working. please post shop name and number below.

thanks for the help guy's
Meg

 

Wow sorry to hear Damien, I was hoping it would have been all set by the AMS dyno day, I saw your car down there at to my dismay it was still not intact....Maybe Ivey is able to...? ( I know that's way too far for you...I'm trying to think of a shop that has experience with Meth...I dont really know of any though.) I'll see if I can do some digging for you...

 

Thanks for any help bro! I am thinking about calling Ivey. At this point I wouldl drive it down and fly back. I just want my car working

Thanks again, still looking forward to meeting up with you guy's

 

I've installed and tuned quite a few W/I kits for evo's and sti's at our shop. We're located in NE CT if you want to bring it down.

 

check with Abner/ Kevin d for aquamist help..one is the west coast and the other?

 

We can help you but we are a little away.

Sean

 

Thanks Sean, I don't care about the distance. Looking for a Shop that can get this thing working and a Tune that gets the most out of my combo. I will send you a pm with some details/questions.

 

Well if you are willing to drive we will do the work.
Call in and speak with myself or Chris.

Sean

 

Sean I will call you first thing next week. I will be planning a vacation so I can drive the car down. You can have it for 3-5 days then I would want to drive it home. I will pre pay for a new HFS-5 kit so we will not have to wait for parts.
Meg

 

Damien, i totally feel your pain. To be clear you paid us about 997 for install of the kit and STI tank, mounts for the pump and custom tank mounts. The meth tune was $500. We retuned it for high boost without meth for $200 bucks. The second time the system was in for diagnosis, the flow sensor was defective, not our fault and you and I split the day of troubleshooting 50%50 as a show of faith to you at a cost of 497. I just wanted to clear that up since it looks by the post that we walked all over you with the bill. We like you a lot and are just as frustrated as you are about this system.

I did three days SOLID of troubleshooting for free. Aquamist gave up on tech support after about 5 hours on the phone with me. I stayed late (after 8pm) two nights on the phone with England and we were still coming up with nothing. The system works intermittently (as you know.. total bummer for us both) Sorry man.

I hope others have more luck than we did. If the next guy has questions about what we did in the troubleshooting process they're welcome to call us so I can help. At this point I'm pretty experienced with the system.

 

Alex DSG is a great shop I am not saying you guys did anything wrong. I just need to get the parts I have spent hard earned money on working. I chose to go with Meth injection instead of a larger turbo. I have only top of the line parts in my car and I have spared no expense. I just want what I pay for.

Again DSG is not at fault


I have always supported and pushed DSG, my post history and content is a clear indication of this.

 

Damien I hear you loud and clear! I think that some fresh eyes might help. Again, I'd be glad to help whoever can take the job. I think that the second pump we got from BKA-Aquamist was DOA which totally put a dent in the troubleshooting ladder.

I think that one of the main problems is that the pump is pushing bubbles into the pickup hose which causes the flow sensor to spin (it has a small wheel in it) intermittently. When the flow stops as a bubble passes through it the HFS cuts the boost. This is why it's an intermittent problem. The bubbles don't occur all the time.

Aquamist doesn't make the pump. It's made in NJ by Sureflow so they can't test each one in England. I can tell you that we tried repositioning the pump in relation to the pickup, making it lower.. we removed the filter, tried a new filter, but nothing. We hoped that the filter had a small leak that was pulling air in the system before the pump.

So many potential variables. I'm glad you're cool about things. We worked hard on that and I totally understand why you're frustrated.

Al

 

If the aquamist systems still has issues have you considered a different manufactured kit. I have heard that aquamist is very reputable but if the **** won't work their is several other options. Not trying to question the money spent but I would have figured going with something like a 30R upgrade would be very reliable and no worry about fail safe sensors for fluid pressure/flow issues. Best of luck and I hope its 100% soon.

 

I have not given up on the Aquamist system its the only one I am considering. As for a larger turbo to be honest it was planned for this spring but with the HFS-5 system not working it was put on hold. I plan to now run my current FP WR turbo with 100% Meth and install the 35R next spring. No matter what turbo I run it will always be on 100% Meth.

 

DSG are some good guys and I know they were trying all different avenues to get that car running.
I have never been a big fan of injection kits due to the problems associated with them. I would have ripped that system off the car a month ago made a good pump gas map and 100 or 109 oct map...just my $.02
If you go to Ivey, he will get that beast tuned beautifully no doubt. He is the tuner to go to if you can make it down to NJ