just noticed my vortech is leaking

[avbcon12]

well after making sure my antifreeze was OK for this cold thats coming I noticed that around my intercooler piping and below my blower is completely wet with oil. i removed the discharge of the blower and found the inside of the piping has a healthy coat of oil on it and in low lying areas oil has pooled.

I just got this blower from vortech last april and its already busted, i only have at MOST 400 miles on it. this blows.

i called vortech and they gave me an RA number to send it in. anyone have experience with this sort of problem? Ill have to pay for the $55 shipping to get it to them but ive heard horror stories about vortech saying "its not their problem" and making the customer pay.

[avbcon12]

i do have a high volume oil pump, i wouldnt have to install a restrictor would I??? i wouldnt think so seeing that ive never heard of anyone doing so.

[jtcstrat]

well if you are running the crank case line or the pcv line before to the inlet then you will get some oil, this is what i did when i switched to blow thru.

[avbcon12]

nope, PCV to intake manifold like stock and open air breather on valve cover. theres nothing that should introduce oil to anything before the throttle body other than a leaking blower.

[jtcstrat]

ok, was just making sure, well good luck with that, and keep us updated on how vortech treats you, i would like to know.

[coldblue012]

Sounds like a leaky seal. I don't know how it could be 'your fault' after just 400 miles.

Especially if you aren't running cogs on a non-race model and aren't over-spinning it.

The only thing that I have heard about vortech is that you will send it in and they will say 'it broke, pay to have it fixed or you don't get it back'.

[avbcon12]

i have heard that too, but i cant imagine theyd do that.

i just dont want to pay the money to ship it out there for a problem they either caused directly or indirectly.

im going to ship it in today though.

[coldblue012]

The part that sucks is what choice do you really have?

I have a YSi that I hope to put into use this spring and I just hope it doesn't die quickly or I will be really pissed.

[avbcon12]

The part that sucks is what choice do you really have?

I have a YSi that I hope to put into use this spring and I just hope it doesn't die quickly or I will be really pissed.

exactly, i have no choice. i wish vortech would allow authorized repair facilities throughout the US so at least people could save on shipping. i have to ship this thing back to CA, luckily i saved their packaging.

[coldblue012]

Yeah, $55 is quite a bit just to get the damn thing there & back.

[avbcon12]

Yeah, $55 is quite a bit just to get the damn thing there & back.

yeah, it is with insurance and such. I guess i caught a break because i just shipped it UPS and it cost $47.20... hahah

[Birdie2000]

It seems I've recently seen a tutorial on one of the Mustang sites about how to rebuild the blower yourself. I don't remember if it said where to get the parts or how much they were, but I wonder if it would total out to the same price as the shipping?

The only thing is, how do you prove it was only 400 miles? To be honest I didn't even realize there was a warranty on their products.

[jtcstrat]

I think Sean can fix one of the seals for alot less..

[ReiKo]

I think Sean can fix one of the seals for alot less..

That's for procharger IIRC... Not sure if Vortech is the same...

[jtcstrat]

might be, but i cant remember exactly, to late now tho if you sent it out, i just remembered that. I thought when i took my v1 apart he said he could

[avbcon12]

i could have done it and know where to source the parts but not for the price of shipping. mileage doesnt matter they said, just the amount of time youve had it.

i may be SOL seeing that the upgrade warranty is only 6 months but we'll see.

[STOCK GT]

That's for procharger IIRC... Not sure if Vortech is the same...


The Seal is only a few Dollars, all you have to do is take the pulley off and and pull the old seal out and tap the new one in place. Ive done it a few times with mine...

[char]

is there anyway to pressurize the blower oiling system, like cap the return and maybe push 5 or 10 psi through it. if airs getting through then i would assume oil would have no problem.

[coldblue012]

If there's oil in the air path then the seal is likely behind the impeller.

I don't think I'd want to mess with that.

[jtcstrat]

Makes me wonder if you're doing it right.....?????

Im sure he has done a few different blowers.. He knows his shit.

[STOCK GT]

Im sure he has done a few different blowers.. He knows his shit.

Thanks!
Ive Done it many Times, twice on my Blower, but that was only because I have a different belt drive (just alt and water pump) and had to make and space certain things out of the way untill I got the Belt To stay in there, in the meantime It wiped out the Seal when the belt walked off! Thank god for lifetime Warranty belts :lau:

[4v Shane]

hmmm, I think they had a bad run or something, heard of a few others that leak the same...

If so I would like to know the numbers that were included in the bad run so I can take a look at mine ........


SOB

[93-bucket]

It seems I've recently seen a tutorial on one of the Mustang sites about how to rebuild the blower yourself. I don't remember if it said where to get the parts or how much they were, but I wonder if it would total out to the same price as the shipping?

The only thing is, how do you prove it was only 400 miles? To be honest I didn't even realize there was a warranty on their products.

Is this it?

http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=780865&highlight=rebuild+s-trim

[STOCK GT]

Is this it?

http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=780865&highlight=rebuild+s-trim


Thats one of em...

[avbcon12]

wow, so no call from them over the past 2 weeks... I just called them and they informed me that its being shipped back today and was given a complete minor rebuild (all new seals and bearings) again after 3 months of street driving. AT NO COST TO ME! I cant wait to get it back on and have a healthy blower again!

Vortech FTMFW

ill keep ya posted.

[Birdie2000]

Great news, sounds like they took good care of you.

[x99percent]

Would it be worth it to somehow check/monitor the oil pressure at the feed, or are you certain that the failure was a manufacturing/assembly issue?

[STOCK GT]

Would it be worth it to somehow check/monitor the oil pressure at the feed, or are you certain that the failure was a manufacturing/assembly issue?


X2
Since you Reclocked your Blower for The intercooler, you may have to change the location of the oil Feed. I put mine up Top And it made all the blower Wine/Noise Go away.

[avbcon12]

Great news, sounds like they took good care of you.

very satisfied, well... if it is really fixed and whenever spring decides to come ill figure that out.

Would it be worth it to somehow check/monitor the oil pressure at the feed, or are you certain that the failure was a manufacturing/assembly issue?

nope, 100% assembly error. theres no reason why my S-trim wouldnt cause this issue than all of a sudden when i get it back from the Si-trim upgrade it happened. vortech must have seen something that wasnt right or maybe they used a different line of seals when they assembled my blower and they have been causing them problems or something..? in any event they found it necessary to replace all bearings and seals at no cost to me and without notifying me of anything, not even receiving the unit like they said they would. if i hadn't called today I guess i would have noticed the UPS slip on my door saying i have a package that needs a signature.

X2
Since you Reclocked your Blower for The intercooler, you may have to change the location of the oil Feed. I put mine up Top And it made all the blower Wine/Noise Go away.

nope, i reclocked the volute not the gearcase so nothing has changed in that respect from before.

[hrsepwr2]

Nice to hear they took care of you...

[avbcon12]

So I just got it back, looks great. Seems a bit tougher to turn by hand but im sure thats a non-issue.

the thing i need help on is this: anybody know where to measure a pulley from to determine its diameter? I bought the pulley from trunk thinking it was a 3.33" (stock) but the paperwork from vortech now shows 3.47"! I can get roughly both numbers to work whether or not im measuring from the valleys of the grooves or the peaks.

Im completely shocked now since i always thought that my blower was spinning faster. If it is a 3.47" pulley im only spinning it 40,982.42 RPM! I thought I was spinning it at 42705.41 RPM.

let me know where to measure, although im sure vortech is correct. Im for sure going to throw my 8" crank pulley on it and spin this thing at 47723.34 RPM this spring!!! If I swap to the 8" crank, anyone have any idea what the boost increase will be?

[avbcon12]

anyone have any idea what the 8" crank and 3.47" blower pulley combo will make on an intercooled HCI 302 will make?

[avbcon12]

OK, looks like the 12 rib procharger pulley will work just fine in place of my vortech 8 rib. IM going to be using the 8 rib belt with it. The only thing worth noting is that the 8 rib vortech pulley will sit in the #2 through #9 ribs on the procharger pulley. I dont think it will be an issue unless the belt tries to jump ribs, any thoughts?

The accessory drive on the procharger is just slightly larger than the vortech pulley as well, by about 3/16" (diameter)

here are a few pictures, one is a drawing of the pulley diameters. you can see that the procharger pulley is NOT 8", its 7.625" so its not such a huge jump from the 6.87" vortech.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb93/avbcon12/ProchargervsVortechpulley.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb93/avbcon12/IMG_5407.jpg

[lightingmac]

I HAVE A 94 F150 4x4 WITH A VORTECH ON IT 8PSI OF BOOST.BEN ON THE TRUCK FOR ABOUT 3 YEARS I DRIVE IT ALL WINTER LONG NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. I HAVE A VORTECH YSI ON MY CHEVELLE 15PSI OF BOOST AND IT SPITS A LITTLE OIL.THINKING OF PUTTING A VAC PUMP ON IT...BRIAN