[BP single kit] Compturbo died @ 6k miles; looking at replacements

"Comp Turbo; The ridiculousness continues...

As some of you may have seen my post last year regarding my ridiculous issues with Comp Turbo Technologies, I am unfortunately in the position of writing another post to follow up on how Comp “resolved” the problem with me.
I know this is a long post, I have tried to keep it as to the point as possible, but the devil is in the details here:

- Late 2012 I purchased a brand new custom CT591106 for my CTS-V for $2800

- Within 1200 miles the CT591MM began smoking and had a concerning amount of shaft play.

- As I was going to go with a bigger motor in April 2013 I called Comp and asked if they could take the turbo in and check the issues regarding the smoking and shaft play and while they had it also convert the unit to a bigger turbine housing, Ernie a “manager” told me to send it in and they would have it back within “10-14 days of receipt”

- By June of 2013, having not received the turbo back despite countless calls, most of which I was told I would be called back by the receptionist, yet having never received a single incoming call and in a rush to make an event (Pikes Peak Airstrip Attack) I was forced to source a different turbo.

- A few days after the event, the owner of Comp, “Joe” called me to apologize for the problems. I told him I did not need the turbo anymore and would appreciate a refund; he said he could give me a refund, but there would be a restocking fee of 30% ($840+) after going around and around, Joe offered to replace the turbo they had, with a brand new turbo of my choice, while this wasn't what I wanted, it seemed better than losing $840.. but in retrospect I should have taken it.

- I then spent around 30 minutes on the phone with Ernie discussing spec’s for the new turbo they were going to send me, we concluded with a CT58092, and I was told it would ship within 2-3 weeks.

- 2 ½ MONTHS later I received a package from comp turbo… I finally received my new turbo… NOPE, somewhere along the lines, Comp had decided everything they told me didn’t matter, and they would just send me my old turbo, which had tell tale marks from my installation and carbon build up on the turbine from being used (by me).

- Not only was this my old turbo, but it still had the shaft play it had when I sent it in, the only noticeable differences where that the Vband and turbine housing were spray painted black which turned to ash and flaked off within minutes of installing and starting the engine.

- Of course I called Comp immediately to discuss, and as is common practice was told “someone” would call me back that day.

- A week later after several more calls I finally got in touch with Ernie. Ernie proceeded to tell me, that this was not my old turbo, and it was a new 8092… Ernie proceeded to sit there on the phone and act as if I was stupid enough that he could convince me that this used turbo which used to be mine, was a new one. Even when I sat there on the phone with him while measuring the turbo, confirming it was indeed a 91/106 and not the 80/92 we discussed, he still had the audacity to tell me I was measuring wrong and that you don’t measure comps by the compressor inducer and the turbine exducer which “coincidentally” just happened to be the specs of my original turbo.

- Having no other options, I stopped arguing on the size and asked Ernie, if they had at least tested this turbo, as it seemed to still have the same shaft play Ernie replied “ that turbo is in perfect condition, we fully tested it before sending to you”.

- Against my better judgment I installed the turbo on my truck a 2010 Silverado 6.2 when it was ready in November of 2014. After a 500 mile break-in I began tuning the truck. After a few pulls it began smoking a little through the exhaust, but not enough that I was worried, more just frustrated and thinking I would need a new anything but Comp turbo ,soon. And then after another few pulls I threw a rod through the block. After reviewing the logs, it was clear that something went very wrong, I was commanding very conservative timing, anything above 105KPA (3.4PSI at Colorado altitude) was set to see from 14* down to 11* of advance. On all the pulls prior to this that is what it saw, however on the last pull it stayed almost completely at the idle settings of 40* of advance.

- After thinking about it I decided to pull my MAF sensor, and found that it was covered in oil. After pulling my intercooler and draining about a ¼ quart of oil from it, it was pretty clear that the most likely cause of my catastrophic engine failure was caused by the turbo, blowing such a large amount of oil through the intake that it coated the MAF sensor to the point that it was unable to do its job and the ECU could not meter the air going through it and work properly to retard timing according to airflow(a measly 8psi total).

- After several attempts I finally got in touch with Joe, again asking for a refund, JOE TOLD ME HE WOULD NOT REFUND MY MONEY ANYMORE BECAUSE NOW I WAS PASSED THE ONE YEAR MARK even though the turbo had less than 1000 miles since they sent it to me.. He agreed that If I sent the turbo in, and it tested bad, they would send me a new turbo.

- December of 2014 I sent the turbo to Comp.

- Late January 2015 they still had not given any word.

- Late February after several calls Ernie told me they had not tested my turbo but that Joe had agreed to send me a new CT5 8092, which would ship out within 2 weeks.

- Late March, I called to check status as 4 weeks later I had not received. I spoke with Joe, he said the turbo had not shipped yet but he himself would ensure it shipped that day, before getting off of the phone I told Joe that I had just recently moved, and gave him my new address, Joe read the address back to me.

- Mid April 2015 I still had not received the turbo, so I call again, speaking with the receptionist she told me my turbo had been shipped, I asked which address it had shipped to, and of course she proceeded to read back my OLD ADDRESS. Asking to speak to Joe or Ernie, I was told one of them would call me back, no one did.

- The next day speaking with Ernie, he told me I would have to wait until Fedex Found the turbo, that was marked delivered to my old address. I asked how long this would take, he said it could be up to a month. I told Ernie If I didn’t have a turbo within 2 weeks I would go public with my experience with comp turbo.

- Ernie and Joe, continued to stall, until finally on May 22nd 2015 I made a post similar to this one, listing the problems I have dealt with. In two days it had over 30,000 shares, 100,000 views and hundreds of people commenting that they had seen the exact same type of issues.

- Very soon I received my first incoming call ever from Comp Turbo, despite being told countless times I would be called back over the course of two years! It was Ernie, he acted very hurt that I would do what I specifically warned them on multiple occasions that I would with regards to making the post. He even had the nerve to say it was unethical! I simply explained that if they didn’t like me telling the world how I had been treated, that they should not had treated me like that.

- He told me that, what a coincidence, my turbo had been found and it was on its way to me (only a short 7 months after I had sent it to them). He went on to explain and I suppose take me on a guilt trip about the ongoing problems that they had faced and the difficulties they see as a “struggling company in a competitive industry”. To which I told him repeatedly, as a business owner myself, the things that they had failed at the most were very avoidable; they consisted simply of calling the customers back when they say they will, and not promising things they won’t deliver.

- Feeling sympathy for god knows what reason, I removed the post after I got tracking information.

- Apparently I had sparked a lot of people to come out of the wood work and tell their story about how comp treated them, Ernie contacted me again, asking me if I could help them because a lot of people were posting negative reviews… I was dumbfounded at this request and explained that I had no control over their other customers posting reviews… And looking at their facebook page today, it appears that they have removed the option for people to leave reviews, companies who do good jobs for their customers don’t typically do this.

- Still, it wasn't until August, 7, 2015 that I actually received the turbo (9 months after I sent mine in, almost 3 years that I had been dealing with this crap). And since then it has sat in the box in my basement I've had a CX Racing 80mm turbo installed which worked perfectly fine for me, while I was tempted to sell the Comp turbo I didn’t want to take the chance that if it was bad, someone would be pointing the finger at me. And I figured my cheap ebay $450 turbo wouldn't last long anyways…

- Last month (March 2016) my CX finally started smoking and I installed the brand new Comp that had been sitting since August of last year, brand new in box. It seemed like a quality turbo. I put 1000miles on it before I ever did any WOT pulls, not wanting to take any chances with the considerable history I’ve had with Comp’s turbo’s.

- Once it was broke in, and I did the first few pulls it did fine and felt great, this was around 10psi. Of Course I religiously checked my charge piping for any signs of oil, thankfully there were none. Once I tried to turn it up however, I found that no matter what, the turbo will not exceed 13.9PSI, I'd have the boost controller cranked all the way, the wastegates don’t even open; still 13.9PSI.
- Nothing was changed whatsoever other than unbolting my old turbo, and bolting on the new one, the CX Racing turbo was making 20psi no problem. I checked for boost leaks with a smoke machine, and inspected closely for exhaust leaks nothing.

- Still trying to give the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe it is something with my truck, I tried swapping the turbo with a friend’s 5.3 Camaro 13.9PSI!

- At this point I was furious; after 3 years, and losing a motor because of Comp’s junk, I still don’t have a working turbo. This morning I wrote a polite email to Ernie and Joe asking to send back the turbo for a refund. After not hearing back all day I called and spoke with Joe.

- Joe told me that “no company would give me a refund, that this turbo is in essence 3 years old”. Even after I told him no, this turbo is brand new and has no more than 1200 miles on it, 1000 of which were break in, he told me that I should be thankful that they had tried to help me in the past, but were done being “harassed”. He went on to say that this exact turbo works great for everyone else, and that there is some inexplicable problem with both the cars I tested the turbo on. He could not explain why other turbo’s work fine on these vehicles, but insisted the turbo I have is fine… I told Joe one last time, all I wanted was a refund, I had nothing to gain, if it was up to me his turbo would work. He started offering to test the turbo, I explained that I had been dealing with this **** for over 3 years, and would not accept anything other than a refund, he refused. I let him know I would be going public again, he said "that is fine with me"

I only took the time to write all of this so that people will hopefully not make the same mistake as me, I am out $2800, a $3000+ motor, and several hours dealing with these clowns...

PS If you want to buy a 80mm turbo that’s good to 13psi for who knows how long, let me know, ill sell it cheap, right now its just an extremely expensive paper weight. :-/