kelly does this mean that you're probably going to do the snout swap and get the sniper manifold?

 

So, as you can probably imagine, I was very upset. I PMed dmdicks again, and asked him to talk to Alpine about replacing my manifold. I told him that I had pinpointed it as the cause of the AFR spike that killed my last engine (which was probably premature of me to say), and I threatened legal action if I was not provided with replacement parts in a timely manner. I did apologize for taking that tone with him, but I think we all know Alpine's reputation for terrible customer service; I wanted them to know that I wasn't prepared to screw around.
What I specifically asked for was for them to send me the new part gratis, and to allow me to secure it with a credit card number, so that my car wouldn't be down for however long it would take them to inspect my old manifold. I also asked, and offered to pay for, overnight shipping. I promised that I would be satisfied with a new manifold, and that I would not post a rant on here about it (like I'm doing right now). You guys need to understand that this company once kept me waiting for almost a month for a stupid boost actuator canister, and every time I called John to inquire about where the part was, he informed me that it was being 'shipped today'. He told me this every few days....for a month....while my car sat in the driveway. Would you trust them with your intake manifold?
I got 3 replies from dmdicks this morning. The first was a response to my first unanswered PM, which basically told me to check my TPS. The second one was a response to my request for a replacement manifold and threat of legal action, in which he stated that he didn't know if John at Alpine would do anything for me due to my upgrading the S/C beyond the way Alpine sells it (in other words, my use of NGM upgrades apparently constitutes abuse). He also warned me that any more threats of legal action would cause he and Alpine to end our communication, and that they would not help me out at all after that point. The third PM told me that I needed to send my intake manifold to Alpine for inspection before anyone would do anything for me, and provided me with a phone number for Alpine.
I called John immediately, and we talked for about 45 minutes about the issue. He swore that he had never heard of any holes being cast into any of his intakes, or any porosity issues. He also told me that my idle problem was either an issue with my electronics, or caused by my NGM 460cc injectors. What I thought was interesting was that later in the conversation, he actually told me that the thick black coating that Alpine coats their manifolds with seals the porosity!
I thought he was actually going to send me a new manifold, like I had asked. But toward the end of our conversation, he told me that he had to charge me for the manifold up front, and he would reimburse me once he was able to inspect my old manifold. The cost of a new part? $500! He also quoted me $100 for overnight shipping from Colorado to Minnesota. So I was looking at spending $600 out of pocket, with no real guarantee that I'd see my $500 back. John told me he could not work with me, and he could not secure the part with a credit card number, because he was not allowed to deviate from warranty procedures.
To his credit, he did say that he wanted to help me, and he did seem like he genuinely wanted to figure out what was causing my issue. After our conversation, I also began to rethink my theory about the vacuum leaks leaning out my WOT tune....I don't mind admitting that I'm possibly wrong about it.
But what ended up happening was he told me he would call me right back with a shipping quote, and I never heard from him again. I called back 4 or 5 times throughout the day; the one time he did actually answer the phone, he again told me he'd call me right back- and didn't.
The more I thought about it, the more I began to think that Alpine would probably find a way to blame the manifold failure on me. The fact that they would have my $500 up front made me very leery. I don't really trust Alpine to begin with, especially after hearing stories about all the IC pump failures, manifolds being shipped with enough sand to kill an engine in them, and people waiting months and months for a S/C or part that they paid for up front.

 

well with everyone hear knowing u and your car and this ide say this will help ngm alot and hurt alpine. i was thinking fo either a stage 0 alpine or a sniper ngm and well... i dont wanna wait 3 months for a s/c from alpine and i hear how great ngm treats its costumers. so alpine tride true and tested isnt as true as its said to be, ide take the sniper and get help right away if somthing did go wrong, which it prolly wont...

 

I also feel that I was being extremely reasonable with my request; I mean, I even offered to cover the shipping myself!
So after my conversation with John, I got pissed off, went out to my garage, and swapped a stock upper intake manifold, throttle body, and belt onto my car. I touched nothing else, except for disconnecting the power to the IC pump and alcohol injection controller- I didn't change the tune, fuel pressure, or even bother resetting the ECU. When I was done, I hit the key, and the car started right up and ran beautifully. I drove it 6 miles to work, and 6 miles home, mostly city driving, with hardly any issues. I did notice a rolling idle a few different times, but I'm sure it's because the ECU had learned it's way around the vacuum leaks, and also because my fuel trims are probably all out of whack. Regardless, the car runs and drives 100% better.
You guys know that I have always said how much I love my Alpine setup, and I have always defended Alpine and John- with the exceptions being their crappy vac canisters and their terrible service. I have always had the attitude that you get what you pay for, and their low prices were due to the fact that they sometimes cut corners. Well, I see that has all come back to bite me on the a**, huh. I would encourage everyone to steer clear of this company, unless you want to end up in my position.
In response to your questions, I'm hoping to find a used Alpine manifold for the time being. I would love to upgrade to the NGM Sniper setup, but it's just not in the budget. Paying John $500 + shipping for a new Alpine manifold would be like flushing money down the toilet; I'd have to pay to get it ported again, and pay to get T.C.'s heat exchanger installed in it- by which time, I'd have spent almost as much as it would cost to go with the NGM manifold. And believe me- comparing NGM's manifold to Alpine's is like comparing a Lamborghini Murcielago to an '87 Yugo.

 

I will post the video of the leaky manifold shortly, so you can all see for yourselves. And I have saved all of the PMs and everything. I know dmdicks is gonna show up any minute and start trying to do damage control; I can post them in their entirety if need be.

 

well with everyone hear knowing u and your car and this ide say this will help ngm alot and hurt alpine. i was thinking fo either a stage 0 alpine or a sniper ngm and well... i dont wanna wait 3 months for a s/c from alpine and i hear how great ngm treats its costumers. so alpine tride true and tested isnt as true as its said to be, ide take the sniper and get help right away if somthing did go wrong, which it prolly wont...

Well, it's the same blower, but T.C's manifolds are hand fabricated; Alpine sand-casts their intakes out of what looks to be some pretty crappy aluminum. Alpine's runners and ports don't even come close to being symmetrical....you should have seen how terrible mine looked.
T.C. would do anything for his customers....this crap with Alpine is just a slap in the face. And you also have a ton of upgradeability with T.C.'s stuff, where the Alpine manifold pretty much limits you to around 300 whp...and even then, your setup is shaky because the Alpine IC core is pretty much worthless at that power level.

 

man that sucks. I've had the blower on my car for close to 3 years now. With about 60k miles on it...not to metion how many miles Alpine put on it while testing...and no problems with it at all.

I'm trying to think of what your problem might be...but o the V6s there really are not that many vacume lines...I would make sure that you have the brake booster and Purge valve lines on right....

 

You neglected to mention how poorly you treated John right when he picked up the phone threatening legal action, and he still was willing to help you. What you fail to understand or even grasp is that you have had the kit on your car for over the one year warranty period. Not to mention you violated about every part of the warranty you could possibly violate, and yet John was still willing to help you. Even after all the legal threats and posts, he was still willing to help you.
The money required for the new manifold was to protect Alpine from giving away a free manifold in the case that the old one failed due to misuse or abuse. This is standard operating procedure for most companies with warranty work, not to mention the fact again that you are out of warranty. The bottom line is this. John was willing to help you out buy sending out a new manifold and then taking a look at your old one to see what happened. If what happened was due to your abuse and use of the product beyond its stock or approved upgraded form, then it will not be covered under any sort of warranty or gratis replacement.
John was willing to help you out even though it was obvious that you voided the warranty. You've done nothing but bash John and Alpine in this thread. Next time I speak with John I will recommend that he not do a damn thing for you. It will be his choice as to whether he takes my advice or not.
Oh, and for the NGM Fan Boys, please re-read all my postings ever made. I never once said NGM's products were inferior to Alpine's or that they were bad in anyway. Unlike you people I do not reduce my self to the level of pondscum and criticize every other manufacturer. That will be the downfall of this site.

 

So Dm are you sigesting that the increse in manifold pressure would cause a failure? wouldn't it always be there but not as evident with lower maifold pressures? I know you and John are trying to work things out but these kinds of things have left a bad taste in some members mouths. I ordered an actuator a while back and it took 2 months and when it got here it was the wrong one. I still have my old one that i had to fix the nipple broke off and i had to put a metal air hose fitting on there. John is a very nice gut but maybe he's a little too busy for his on good. Just like TC, his products are great but you have to wait and TC twice lost my order. When you spend 3K+ on a product it should be damn near perfect. thats all i haveto say about that

 

As far as im concerned NGM is your one stop shop for all your forced induction needs enough said and yes im the biggest ngm fanboy there is hahahaha. Good luck kellydood:3_bier:

 

hmmmmm...

It even says it in his tag line.. Alpine Sucked

Sorry Kelly, I went thru the same thing with them... as soon as you call them on a bad product or "warranty" issues... they get all mean and annoyed... I recently was given a bare casting direct from them to see what I could do with it.. and I tell you, I can make a better casting in my kitchen... The manifold had to be ground on for 4 hours, just to make it able to take paint.. Alpine has the right ideas.. they just need to take a little more time when carrying them out...

As far as the shipping issue, it took 3 months for me to get my s/c after I ordered it, and each week, it was " being shipped"

 

..................not to mention the fact again that you are out of warranty. The bottom line is this. John was willing to help you out buy sending out a new manifold and then taking a look at your old one to see what happened. If what happened was due to your abuse and use of the product beyond its stock or approved upgraded form, then it will not be covered under any sort of warranty or gratis replacement.
John was willing to help you out even though it was obvious that you voided the warranty. You've done nothing but bash John and Alpine in this thread. Next time I speak with John I will recommend that he not do a damn thing for you............

Kellydood for real why you dont take that manifold to solder those "leaks" :3_nosthum

 

I used to work as a warranty administrator for a national company. I handled well over a million dollars worth of claims every year. Alpine's actions are standard practice and not wrong in any way.

If you were out of your warranty Alpine doesn't have to do a thing for you.
If you violated their warranty policy by using unapproved parts they don't have to help you.
Having you send them back the part for inspection first is standard policy (especially if you're out of your warranty period)

I'm not saying the part isn't faulty or that Alpine is a wonderful company or anything like that. It's quite proven that they don't have the best customer service but if they were offering to help you at all in this situation that's them going above and beyond what they have to do.

Again, I'm not saying the part isn't faulty or Alpine is wonderful. I'm just saying that how the situation was handled isn't any different than any other company out there. Some companies would say that if you are one day out of warranty they won't even talk to you.

 

I agree.

1. You are out of warranty, You are lucky they payed attention to you.

2. You modified the hell out of the Alpine kit. Again, you're lucky they paid attention to you.

3. Taking a deposit from you is STANDARD. If you are in the right, then they'll give it back.

4. It's not their fault you don't have a backup car. Since when do you expect to modify a car to run 3 seconds faster in the 1/4 mile and not expect it to be down every once in a while?? You knew those days would come, so don't bring this part up.


Here's what I would recommend:
1. Either fix the leaks yourself, or pay the $500. I would fix them myself.

2. Your next mod should be a nice 1998 Elantra for $2000. They are everywhere and reliable for your downtimes. :3_nosthum Not to mention you could swap a nearly new Beta in for $300.

 

Kelly, my heart goes out for you. hope you find what cant get with them, a care.
Come on over to NGM, im sure hell treat you right.
i have NO NGM products on my car at this moment, but im sure thatll change soon, help a company that wants to help you.
Waiting to gasp at this video.
Chase
Truly sorry to hear kelly. your car is my cars idol!!!
i hope everything works out and you can enjoy your car again soon...........

 

Kelly, my heart goes out for you. hope you find what cant get with them, a care.
Come on over to NGM, im sure hell treat you right.
i have NO NGM products on my car at this moment, but im sure thatll change soon, help a company that wants to help you.
Waiting to gasp at this video.
Chase
Truly sorry to hear kelly. your car is my cars idol!!!
i hope everything works out and you can enjoy your car again soon...........

Yea, cause I'm sure if the NGM blower malfunctioned, then NGM would just mail you another, no questions asked.

And if John didn't care, then he wouldn't have made the offer to someone who is OUT OF WARRANTY and VOIDED THE WARRANTY to begin with.

:3_frusty:

 

man that sucks. I've had the blower on my car for close to 3 years now. With about 60k miles on it...not to metion how many miles Alpine put on it while testing...and no problems with it at all.

I'm trying to think of what your problem might be...but o the V6s there really are not that many vacume lines...I would make sure that you have the brake booster and Purge valve lines on right....

I disconnected them and plugged the ports off while testing. Thanks, though.

 

I agree.

1. You are out of warranty, You are lucky they payed attention to you.

2. You modified the hell out of the Alpine kit. Again, you're lucky they paid attention to you.

3. Taking a deposit from you is STANDARD. If you are in the right, then they'll give it back.

4. It's not their fault you don't have a backup car. Since when do you expect to modify a car to run 3 seconds faster in the 1/4 mile and not expect it to be down every once in a while?? You knew those days would come, so don't bring this part up.


Here's what I would recommend:
1. Either fix the leaks yourself, or pay the $500. I would fix them myself.

2. Your next mod should be a nice 1998 Elantra for $2000. They are everywhere and reliable for your downtimes. :3_nosthum Not to mention you could swap a nearly new Beta in for $300.

1. Sending me a new manifold wouldn't hurt them.

2. I polished the inside of the manifold, and ran a bigger than stock crank pulley. Since when is this modifying the hell out of something.

3. That'd be fine if they were a trustworthy company.

4. Who said anything about a backup car? Who said I don't have one? Don't sit here and try to put words in my mouth and make me look stupid. I've seen the way you talk to other NT members who have problems, and as far as I'm concerned, you can just take your a** back to RDTiburon.com or whatever and hate on those guys over there.....we don't need it.

As far as fixing the leaks go, genius, it's not very likely.....I'd like to see you plug all the holes in a piece of swiss cheese.

And screw your Elantra; my current engine cost me $350.

 

assume much????
i never said anything even REMOTLY like that.
NEXT.
Chase

K, then I'll break it down for you:

Hope you find what cant get with them, a care.

Here, you're stating that Alpine doesn't care. Well, like I said, John obviously did care since he talked to Kellydood about his problem and offered him a solution, even though HE DOESNT HAVE TO.

Come on over to NGM, im sure hell treat you right.

Nutswinging on NGM.

help a company that wants to help you.

Again, making it seem as though Alpine didn't want to help.



So did I "assume" that you accused Alpine of not caring? Doesn't look like it. Looks like its plain as day.

 

Yea, cause I'm sure if the NGM blower malfunctioned, then NGM would just mail you another, no questions asked.

And if John didn't care, then he wouldn't have made the offer to someone who is OUT OF WARRANTY and VOIDED THE WARRANTY to begin with.

:3_frusty:

Why don't you just stop posting in my thread? You aren't saying really contributing anything of value here whatsoever.

And if I bought a blower from T.C., I bet you a million dollars that he'd send a new one if my current one failed.

Funny thing is the things T.C. has done for Alpine have really made them popular here. I didn't see Alpine crying at all these people who were running 10, 13, and 15 psi setups and telling them they voided their warranties.

 

K, then I'll break it down for you:


Here, you're stating that Alpine doesn't care. Well, like I said, John obviously did care since he talked to Kellydood about his problem and offered him a solution, even though HE DOESNT HAVE TO.


Nutswinging on NGM.


Again, making it seem as though Alpine didn't want to help.



So did I "assume" that you accused Alpine of not caring? Doesn't look like it. Looks like its plain as day.

Get out of here before this thread gets locked.

 

2. I polished the inside of the manifold,

And thinned the walls of the manifold. You just shot yourself in the foot right there.

 

Why don't you just stop posting in my thread? You aren't saying really contributing anything of value here whatsoever.

You're just upset cause not everyone here is taking your side on this.

And if I bought a blower from T.C., I bet you a million dollars that he'd send a new one if my current one failed.

You have got to be kidding me. I'm almost tempted to ask them this myself.
"Here you go sir, a shiny new $1k blower. Just be sure to return the defective one."
bwahahaha!!!

Funny thing is the things T.C. has done for Alpine have really made them popular here. I didn't see Alpine crying at all these people who were running 10, 13, and 15 psi setups and telling them they voided their warranties.

No, they're not gonna go out of their way to come here and tell everyone. But you better belileve that they'll tell you over the phone when you try to get them to replace a part after you modified it.

 

And thinned the walls of the manifold. You just shot yourself in the foot right there.

Seriously.........you have issues.

 

Never called him back, 2 months waiting on parts, being lyed too, yea thats a GREAT company, i dont have NGM parts to nut swing on, wish i did though cause id be swinging from here to high horspower heaven if i did, some ACTUALL customer service, not some ******* alpine (wait dont they make turbos for 4cyl, thats right) made in South africa, cheaply made, all the problem having.
wait why am i bashing you guys (alpine) its not like i care if you loose the or get screwed from dicking the guy with the sweetest (most coolest, yes im nut swinging now jack ****) and ALOT of other tibs look up to.
Chase
Your Alpine, thats all that needs to be said.....

LMAO!! Can anyone translate?