Has anyone had any problems with their STS Turbo kits?

 

What kind of problems are you asking about? Oil pump is ****ty, but can be upgraded for about $300.00. Otherwise, pretty straight forward and reliable...

 

Here's the list:

#1 Missing Pipe in kit (Sent 3 Days Later)
#2 Bad Waste Gate (Replaced)
#3 Bad Passenger side Turbo (Replaced)
#4 Bad Diver side Turbo (Replaced)
#5 Crank Case keeps becoming pressurized (Still trying to fix problem)
#6 Tips don't line up
#7 Only made 5 lbs of boost (Sent two new Waste Gates)

 

damn that blows...hope you get it sorted out quick!!

 

Yea it blows alright, oil all over the front of my car. Every time he stops the back of his car is coated with oil coming from the turbos and oil burning off the blown out dipstick. I feel so bad for him, as far as I am concerned there is no way I can say that this kit is a good one. I've seen Tom's car at Extreme more often than at his home. Doing R&D on a customers car is no way to do business. No offense but I hope STS does the right thing here and either fixes the issue or pays to have it removed.

-MT

 

well theres your problem.

Id advise him to look for other shops in the Phoenix market.

he can go here to see a local vette board that will be happy to help.

http://www.arizonacorvetteenthusiast...tte/index.html

 

Hi,

I have been through almost all of the same problems, and I have a solution for most of them.....

1. The stock wastegate spring only puts out 6 psi at sea level. I'm at 3500 feet and it only put out 4 psi. All you need to do is swap the spring out of the wastegate. I think Arizona is around 1200 ft. A Large Yellow spring should give you right around 8-8.5 psi. I am now running a Large Red spring and it gives me exactly 9 psi at 3500ft. Here is the chart for spring rates at Sea Level. I think the STS came with either a Small Red or Small Green. I have a Small Blue and a Large Yellow that I could sell you....say $30.00 shipped.?

SPRING RATE GUIDE

38mm/41mm Wastegate
0.25 Bar - 3.63 psi - Small Yellow
0.4 Bar - 5.80 psi - Small Red
0.5 Bar - 7.25 psi - Small Green
0.6 Bar - 8.70 psi - Small Blue
0.7 Bar - 10.15 psi - Large Yellow
0.8 Bar - 11.60 psi - Large Red
0.9 Bar - 13.05 psi - Large Green
1.0 Bar - 14.50 psi - Large Blue

2. Smoke. The smoke appears to be caused by two things. Too much oil being forced into the turbos (ie. oil not getting sucked out fast enough), and also inadequate crankcase pressure relief. If your car is a 2000 or newer, there is a fitting on top of the valley cover that you need to hook into your PCV system. That will help get the crankcase pressure out of the lower end of the case. I have also used a Racetronix harness to turn my Smog Air Pump into a Crankcase E-Vac pump. Basically switches the smog pump on when boost is sensed, and sucks pressure out of the crankcase. The above changes fixed about %50 of the smoke problems. To solve it completely, you need to throw the STS oil pump in the garbage and order a EXA-PUMP made by turbowerx. The STS pump is not strong enough to scavenge the oil out of the Turbos when you are under boost and your oil pressure going into the turbos is high and also your crankcase pressure (pushing back at the oil pump from the valve cover) is also under pressure. As a result, the oil build up in the turbos and leaks into the center section causing the smoke. The EXA-Pump is stronger, more reliable, and can actually scavenge from a free-oil system like the STS.

3. Finally, the last option is to reduce the oil pressure going into the Turbos by using Oil Restrictors on the oil inlet fitting on each turbo. Theoretically (I haven't tried this yet, Oil Restrictors are on order), Turbocharger only want/need around 30 psi for optimal performance. The STS doesn't restrict the pressure and when you are under boost, your oil pressure likely hits around 70 psi. This again causes too much oil in the turbo housing, and the lousy STS pump can't get it out fast enough.

Feel free to PM me if you want some more information. I understand your frustration. I have been Black Flagged at two different track events no because of the friggin smoke. I think I have it solved now.

G

Also, try adjusting your tips by loosening the bolts where the STS pipes that go over the axles attach to your factory H pipe. All of your wastegate problems are probably due to the soft spring or the oil pump. Turbo problems are probably due to the oil pump too. I wouldn't be surprised if you have minor overheating issues if you are running it hard (track days). If so,let me know. I think I found a fix to that too.

 

Just to set the record straight. xtreme has bent over backwards to resolve all the issue with the STS kit. I am a very detailed person and they know it. When installing the kit they went the extra mile to make the install look cleaner by fabricating some additional pieces to hide all the plumbing coming in and out of the turbos at no charge.

They have been working on my car with STS of over two months to overcome the poor STS kit. I have no problem with xtreme and the people that work there. To call them out as a bad shop is a weak move. If you know of a shop in Arizona that is more qualified then xtreme I would like to know who they are. Plus I am certain that no other shop would put this much effort into my car at no cost.

 

Well i am not saying you are not having problems with your car..but we install a TON of these kits all the time and have no problems with them. we do mod the PCV a little to help out with that and other than that you should have no issue if everything is done right.

How do you have bad turbos? what is your engine? did you start a FRESH /new motor with the turbos hooked up? sure does sound like a oil issue on bad turbos, cause we never have a problem with that unless you have an oil issue. if you have any questions feel free to call me or pm me i can help you out.

 

Ok normally I would keep it to myself but since you just piped in here and had nothing constructive to say... I dub thee Troll of the day...

Tom was simply trying to find out if anyone had issues and all you can do is slam a shop?

-MT

 

my advise on slamming a shop.... everyone should always be allowed to voice their own opinion.. wether it be good or bad for a shop. then people can read what they want and decide on their own if they want to do business there. but i think that is why alot of people do have problems on here, they just don't let people vent about shops and their own bad experiences only good ones. who cares about good experiences.. i like to hear about bad ones!!!

 

I vented my dip stick tube and that realley helped, I vented it to a catch can. All my friends with forced induction has the same problem with blowing dipsticks because the higher compressions reached will force blow-by past the rings into the lower crankcase and blow the dipstick out. I never ever have any problems after the fix. This problem is not unique to the STS. THe STS oiling system is its weak link, I installed a new STS pump after 30,000 miles on the turbos and I keep the pump setting on "high" and don't have any problems. I also added a different manual boost controller so I could "up" the boost and it all works fine. I now have 32,000 miles on my STS kit.

 

Well xtreme came through again. They re-routed everything through the catch can and put a larger breather filter on the catch can and it seems to have done the trick. And the best part is they did not charge me for it. Great shop and great people.

 

Thanks for your patience in resolving the issues with your kit. As always it has been a pleasure helping you. I am glad that you are happy with the kit as you and I both know how much extra time we put into your install. Sometimes these performance parts don't go as smooth as we all hope and require some reengineering to get the final result we are looking for. Again thank you for allowing us to dial in your STS kit. Now lets build that big motor and turn up the boost !!!