Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior My XS Engineering nightmare!

I first want to say that this is a good kit once I got all the stronger manifold, this is about how XS has been treating me ever since i got the kit.

Well where do I begin. You all know the trouble I have been having with XS. Well, this is the tip of the iceberg. 2 months after the turbo was installed the manifold cracked. So I take it in to get fixed. Instead of replacing the manifold XS decides to repair it. In the process of repairing the manifold, they warped the flange horribly, creating an enormous exhaust leak. To fix this, XS decides to Mickey Mouse it and weld a bead around each opening to make a seal. That fixes it temporarily.


look at all the welds



There is also a crank ventilation hose that feeds into the air filter before the turbo. It has a small plastic fitting on the end that threads into the filter. Well this keeps coming loose so XS in their infinite wisdom uses a large hex nut to secure the fitting into the filter. More on this in a minute.


About 2 months later, it cracks again. Talking to Reggie he tells me that they are constructing a cast iron manifold. He says to wait until its ready instead of fixing my old one again. Well another month goes by and IDRC is coming up. Again XS gives me the runaround. I happened to meet a very cool guy named Rick Head who is part owner of Innovative Turbo Systems. He says bring it in and ill fix it for you. So I did and he did. After repairing all the cracks in the manifold and can no longer hear the exhaust leaks, I hear a strange wining sound when the turbo spools. I couldnt hear this before because of the sound from the exhaust leaks. I mention this to Rick and we conclude that there might be another leak. So we pull the manifold again and sand down the flange. Unfortunately this sands down the beads and creates the old large leak again. No IDRC finals for me. This is Friday by the way|.

The next Monday, Rick sends out the manifold to be resurfaced. Comparing the old and new manifolds, its obvious how much material was removed to make the flange flush again.



We install everything and I still hear that same whining sound. Another month goes by and again there is another leak|.and once again I call XS and get the runaround about the new manifold. Well, Xmas eve Im heading down to Grandmas house for dinner and the manifold goes. Something fell apart|the car is now un-driveable. I had to wait till the next Monday to get a hold of anyone at XS. After 3 phone calls and threatening to sue, I finally get a new manifold sent to me. However|it wasnt shipped to me until the NEXT MONDAY!!!!! Once again XS drops the ball|

So the new manifold arrives last night and I am getting ready to install it. But a new problem arrives, because of all the removing of the manifold the bolt holes in the head are now stripped. This was fixed with the correct size tap bit. The threads will not be the same again.


HOWEVER||I pulled the turbo to take a few pictures of it next to my future turbo to compare size and this is what I discovered.





Remember that hex nut that was used to secure the fitting into the filter. Guess where it went. Thats right, through the turbo. So now I have a dead turbo. Here is the end of the fitting that was mangled by whatever was bouncing around in the filter.



here you can see the impression from a washer inside the filter. Who in their right mind would use a metal piece on a plastic piece? Especially right in front of the turbo?



Once again I call Reggie at XS and have a little chat. This time I keep my cool and remain calm. I say Reggie, im going to send you a picture, then we are going to talk I sent the pictures and he says wow I say no kidding So he tells me that he will show these pictures to his turbo guy when he gets in around 10:00 AM. Then he will call me. I wait till 1:30 PM and no call, so I call back and Reggie says that the turbo guy saw the pictures and now hes waiting for a response from his Project Manager. (this is the same kind of runaround I would get about the manifold) 4:30 rolls around and still no call. As I expected. I call again and Reggie says that his PM has seen the pictures and will decide how to fix this situation. So here I am with no car, no turbo, and no going to the track this week. This is Tuesday night by the way.

I call Reggie at least 4 times a day for the next 3 days. Its not untill Friday morning do i get an answer from his supervisor. The answer is "you are **** outta luck"

Because i couldnt wait for XS to get off their asses and fix my part and i went to another shop, they will not replace my turbo. XS is playing the "how do we know it wasnt something that the other shop did" card. What a chicken **** excuse...!!!

I witnessed everything that Innovative did and they did nothing to cause this. First of all XS shouldnt have put a metal nut and washer in there in the first place. And to add to that, if the manifold didnt crack i wouldnt have had to take back at all.

Well come monday morning I am filing at small claims court. I have been keeping a log and documenting everything. I tried to give XS a chance to make it right the first time. They chose not to.

Anyone with this kit should check their manifolds and turbos. make sure that fitting hasnt come out like mine did so many times.

I never wanted for things to go this way but i feel that i should warn everyone here what has happened to me.

I think you need to post an email address for XS. This is such a bad situation that I think all of us here on Ecelica should give them hell for pulling all that...

Sorry for the crap you've gone through man. That's why I don't think I'll ever go F.I. on my car until TRD comes out with a GTS kit... just too much chance that some moron will screw something up without a warrenty.

dude i am so sorry to here that, that must really suck.

has anyone else had any problems from XS, i thought they were a pretty good co. but from the sound of this they need new "turbo guys"

wow...
from what you tell us, xs must have very very poor service

good luck man!

That just pisses me off. Does anyone else have these problems with the XS kit? Also those welds are horrible. Probably the worst I have ever seen.

THAT SUCKS Goood luck in court, take those fuckers down man. That just pisses me off on behalf of you Take em on Judge Judy, actually texas justice, they fucked with your car and they have the death penalty in texas

Holy crap Smaay, that stinks!

I'll tell you one thing, what ever Mike Stafford is cooking up for the GTS is begining to sound better and better considering the competition.

im actually pulling off this kit and putting on a Stafford kit. he is local and i see him almost every day. I am so looking foward to it.

ahhhhh omg, sorry to hear that...
definately a nightmare

good luck bro sorry to hear that

thats horrible...you went through hell and back with ur turbo. I hope you win in court.

I am just about finished installing the kit, and i better not have thows problems or we are going to set up a huge lawsuit... brand new turbo's installed for us...FREE!!!

Sounds like if they fixed the manifold, you should be OK. I wouldn't worry about any thing flying through your turbo because that was a result of a change that some incompetent guy at XS made to his kit. The way they ship the kit out, that could not happen.

yea true that

Sh** man, I"m so sorry to hear.
I have the kit also and thought it was pretty much bulletproof. Now I"m worried. Is there anything else I need to look out for to prevent this? I live kinda far to bring it back to XS.

I was planning to buy an XS turbo kit for my GTS this summer. Oh well.

damn that sucks man sue for enought to cover the complet cost of parts and labor of stafford kit...

i wish i could go turbo...03gts has drive by wire bs...no turbo for me right now ...

^^you don't need to change your mind about the xs turbo because of this problem, it's the only one that has happend, and it only happend because of the faulty intalation. i think the XS kit is still a very good kit

Is it just the '03's? or are the '04's also affected?

Staffords kit will work on the drive by wire systems... Its just the Power FC that wont work right now.

XS installed the kit...Its their fault. Every turbo shop i have talked to says its poor design to have the air filter right in front of the turbo...

i was thinking of getting this turbo as well, but it makes you think twice about it.

I called XS today to get help on the vacume lines, and they are shit-faces and wont help me. Told me to take it in somewere...

bad bad bad

i like the kit but i am starting to like the tech guys less and less

Sounds like XS's tune to me.