Active Autowerke Horrible support and corrupt tunes, detonatonation & melted pistons

[e30cabriolet]

I must preface this with I get no pleasure posting this, I have tried all week not to post. Karl refused any solution other than suck it up.

This is a fully rebuilt, sub 1k mile S52, tuned by AA, never driven to full throttle, still working on a break in.

After a week asking for help, I said I would post to the forums, he assumed I meant e36 forums & said no problem, we are discontinuing that kit.

I paid north of 7,000 for a tuned supercharged engine, I have nothing but 2 dead engines & I am building the third.




Sorry for the long post.

In 11/2023 I made the mistake of buying an Active Autowerke SC kit for my ’97 Z3 2.8 it took until mid January to get the kit.

After it came, it was incomplete & I had to buy the missing parts, then none of the silicon hoses were right and I had to buy the hoses. Once it was together I had a nightmare with tensioners not keeping the belt on. I had to buy numerous tensioners and belts and ended up 3 sizes smaller and a hydraulic tensioner from a different motor, I got no support from Active except this has never happened.

Then the tune nightmare came, every revision was like pulling teeth, finally I get a revision that seemed ok but my M52 2.8 blew a ring land, I asked nothing from Active for the M52.

I had a brand new S52 built, I had to send my DME to be tuned for the S52 & paid 325 extra, the revisions were slow to come & towards the end, it was summer & 120 in Phoenix and I stopped driving but the last revision I was told the file looked good and was asked how the car ran. It was fine.

11/2024 it was 45 degrees and I went for a ride & melted a piston.

I have spent the last four days being run around with prove it’s their file, then did you modify the tune, then did I modify the hardware every response was no, finally, Karl, the OWNER says he has to discuss with MANAGEMENT. Then it is MANAGEMENT says I bought from a vendor, talk to them. I bought from a vendor because when I called to ask pre purchase questions, the salesman, Alan said I had to buy through a vendor.

I’m wondering if they are using the insurance company decline, delay system to run me around.

I am only asking for 2000.00 the cost to replace and machine the block, and the machining of the head and am getting nothing but nonsense.

The last tuning email I got from them said it looked ok:

"this is Karl-3 file from May 6th correct? Its not bad at all a tad lean as the engine starts to warm up, is the drive ability ok when cold moving off from a stand still? If it is not bad then I would say lets leave it there and evaluate some more as you drive the car more. "



During this back & forth I got these emails, this one he says he does not want to tune anymore, which I have paid for TWICE!!:

"ok either way we look at all this, I am deemed guilty even after you/we had so many issues with one bank not showing any any values, the TPS was not showing us 100% when the throttle is wide open.

The bottom line is even after 6 months I never got a call or email saying we should go further. The only email I got was "the car is running great". Nick is surprised as well that we did not go further.

Nick said you told him you dont drive the car in the summer so I guess maybe thats why we never heard from you during the summer months, is this true?

I dont mind taking responsibility if I am 100% at fault.

I have tuned hundreds of these L1 sc on the E36 M3 and Z3M and no issues , but 99% of them even in a remote situation had no issues like you were having with the TPS and we were replying on your feedback on top of this.



I have a gripe with all this.



So I am seriously gun shy with even tuning the car after you install the new motor, I believe the car still has issues with some hardware, I dont think we even have the TPS reading properly. I say this because all the logs we have from you dont show any with anything more than 40%-50% on the TPS /load values."



This one he says the file is corrupt (from the read currently on the DME he made me send proving I had not changed the tune:



"I am looking at the file and it is corrupted in a few areas, not sure why, the ignition map is showing 72 degrees of ignition in some places! This will surely melt the pistons! "



I wish I had never heard of Active Autowerke.

[BimmerBreaker]

Damn. There are quite a few "reputable" companies and tuners that are really popular that in actually sell sub par stuff. I always thought AA was somewhere in the middle but this is unfortunate to hear. Is there any chance it was some sort of sensor fault or something else going on?

Have you thought about cutting your losses with this kit and going turbo?

[e30cabriolet]

Right now, I'm giving them another day before returning the kit & allowing the chargeback to complete. If it goes back, I'm seriously considering just "living" with the S52 as it is.

I very much wanted to make this work, there may be some sensor issue but that would not cause this level of detonation, it completely destroyed the #2 cylinder.

As I said, I never went full beans, and the primary frustration is the lack of any empathy or attempt to offer any solution other than blaming me/telling me to gtfo.

[nevan]

Oh wow, really sorry that happened. Also really surprised to find out how they are acting up on you. That really $ucks.

[e30cabriolet]

Thanks. It is beyond shocking the lack of any glimmer of support they have offered.

[pbonsalb]

If you brought the car to AA in Miami, would AA agree to sort it out? I don’t mean pay for your engine, but rather figure out what is wrong and make it work correctly? I tend to agree with both sides here — could be the tune or could be an installer or hardware issue.

I write that as someone who has had supercharged S52s, tuned by Karl at AA, installed the systems (Dinan and RMS) myself, had issues at times that were my fault — including melting one S52 due to detonation or lean running. Fortunately, I was able to sort out the car with help from a more knowledgeable friend and the second S52 survived.

[e30cabriolet]

I am in Phoenix and have no intention of giving him my car nor sending him anything but his hardware under the agreement he was refunding 100%. Seeing as I asked for the 2k to pay for the 1/2 current price block that my builder gave me & machining and not only has he refused that but offered nothing I don't see him doing anything more than telling me to go away.

I left him a 1-star review on Google reviews where he responded he was working it out with me but I have not heard from him.

I went to small claims court to file yesterday but got there too late, absent something, I will go back Monday.

[pbonsalb]

I did not read what you wrote as Karl closing the door, but rather expressing his concerns about attempting further tuning on a car that has shown repeat problems. But it seems like you are closing the door and that is OK — you have spent a bunch of money that appears mostly or entirely wasted and are justified in not wanting to invest further time or money.

Does small claims court in AZ have jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants? Some states have it and some require you to use a higher level court. Even if you can file and you get a judgment, you may have to file in FL to enforce it. Worth looking into before spending the time and money on litigation.

I would say try a turbo but Z3 are pretty tight. I changed to a turbo after the centrifugals on my E36 and prefer it — still have it and it took some sorting as well but did not lose any engines. Maybe do an S54 swap in the Z3 or sell it and buy a car that is already faster. E9x M3 are a lot of fun — I had one for 10 years, and priced relatively reasonably.

[e30cabriolet]

Firstly, Karl had all week to offer SOMETHING, nope. He claimed he had to discuss with management, then when I called him out as the owner (per linkedin) he said he has partners, still no offer, then it was talk to Auto Talent, the vendor they pushed me to when I tried to buy from them.

It all seems pretty fishy to me. Finally, there is the last sentence here:

"ok either way we look at all this, I am deemed guilty even after you/we had so many issues with one bank not showing any any values, the TPS was not showing us 100% when the throttle is wide open.

The bottom line is even after 6 months I never got a call or email saying we should go further. The only email I got was "the car is running great". Nick is surprised as well that we did not go further.

Nick said you told him you dont drive the car in the summer so I guess maybe thats why we never heard from you during the summer months, is this true?

I dont mind taking responsibility if I am 100% at fault.

I have tuned hundreds of these L1 sc on the E36 M3 and Z3M and no issues , but 99% of them even in a remote situation had no issues like you were having with the TPS and we were replying on your feedback on top of this.



I have a gripe with all this.



So I am seriously gun shy with even tuning the car after you install the new motor, I believe the car still has issues with some hardware, I dont think we even have the TPS reading properly. I say this because all the logs we have from you dont show any with anything more than 40%-50% on the TPS /load values."


I have already discussed my situation with 22RPD, bought their MAF & when I have an engine, I'll be getting their tune.

If nothing else, a judgement would allow me to post it on the forums & be able to say what happened & it was upheld by a court.

The Z3 was purchased to enjoy in the winter as top down is not my idea of fun when it is 120 (6 months of the year, this is the second lost winter.

[e30cabriolet]

I just spoke to Auto Talent, the vendor I was told to buy through, and said I have to work with AA says go ahead and sue, has offered nothing.

I will grant his wish!!

[e30cabriolet]

Not shockingly, Karl has done nothing, I picked up the new motor yesterday at least.

[XnWarden]

The lawsuit, if you pursue one, isn't going to be so straightforward. The company is going to allege that your car is a piece of crap, and that's why their products didn't work on it.

Are you doing any of the labor yourself? Is it possible that there was a pre-exisiting hardware issue which led to catastrophic failure? This combination of engine/tune/supercharger has been around the block many many times now. Not trying to point blame at you, but clearly there is something different about your particular setup.

I would revisit your original point of receiving the wrong parts in the kit. If they sent the wrong parts once, maybe they gave you the wrong software too. I would frame an argument based around that, and then cite your bad experience with customer service to really drive the point home in court.



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[e30cabriolet]

The 1st motor, was 158k oem motor, I chalked it up to a tired motor, built a "new" one professionally with used internals but a machined block & head. It lasted 1k miles thanks to massive detonation. I dropped the dead block off Saturday & got the new one with new eagle rods & Mahle forged pistons.

At this point my only "recourse" is getting the word out seeing as regardless of fault, a vendor that gave a crap would offer something. AA does not give 1/2 of a crap & has offered nothing but get lost.

I am taking slim solace in the possibility that these threads (on several forums) and my reviews on Google & yelp are costing some manner of purchase trepidation with prospective customers.

[NickG]

You should read out the knock adaption, lambda adaption, and fault codes (if any) from the ECU for reference and diagnosis purposes.

[e30cabriolet]

It'll be getting tuned by 22RPD, I have their 3.5" MAF.

[XnWarden]

You should read out the knock adaption, lambda adaption, and fault codes (if any) from the ECU for reference and diagnosis purposes.

It's rare to see the legend posting personally. Not to thread hijack, but can you recommend any good books on engine tuning and management? I've completed corky bell's maximum boost and want something more technical.

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[NickG]

It's rare to see the legend posting personally. Not to thread hijack, but can you recommend any good books on engine tuning and management? I've completed corky bell's maximum boost and want something more technical.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Anything by Greg Banish is good. I also like the Bosch Internal Combustion Engine handbook.

[e30cabriolet]

Finally got it running yesterday! Been a long slog. Happened just in time for the worst rain in memory.

[BMWManiac]

If you do a search for my name on here, you'll see that I didn't have a great experience with AA either. Their rep tried to sell me a 20g with GT30 internals, or some garbage like that. Their Stage I turbo setup with the 20g was horrible. Car really didn't feel fast at all I was bummed for spending so much money for what I felt was nothing really gained. It was an bypass system so you didn't even get the "whoosh" which, in 2005, was important to this 26 year old kid. I shortly went to their stage II setup and their turbo stage II tune never worked right for me. The setup was nice though and had a modified AC bracket so I could still run AC. I was chasing issues for a long time though with the tune. Karl would just say how "there are many cars running this tune, and all making great power." Again, didn't know enough to really to think the tune could be the problem. BUT, all I did from there was change to NickG tune, MAF/injector package from ICS back and my car turned into the rocket I thought I was always getting....even my mechanic excitingly called me to tell me that he's never seen the car run so well. Changed to a CES setup in 2014 and its really be rock solid!

[e30cabriolet]

My solution was a standalone, the car runs perfectly now & no MAF as it has onboard MAP.

Crazy what the right software does!

Karl & AA were awful to me, (and I have since found over a dozen threads all over the net with similar experiences I wish I had seen before I wasted my time/money on AA) I hope they get what they deserve.