so i purchased these about two or three months ago for my HR. driving her today - i noticed a huge power loss and puffing noise under my car. lifted her up and found a huge crack right around the weld mark on the right bank HFC leading into the headers.

anyone else have this issue? i haven't bottomed out/scraped my car since the install. there are no scratch marks or any indication there was pressure applied to cause a crack either.

i've contact Stillen twice already and i keep getting sent to a "customer service rep" v-mail. waiting to see if they cover or not (according to website - nothing is warranted after installation). so i'll keep everyone posted on how this company operates.

sorry if this is a repost - i tried to search for this issue and found nothing.

 

idk much about stillen, but I read a thread about a guy who kept cracking his berk hfc's and Berk sent him new ones. After the 2nd or 3rd replacement set, he went with Test pipes/problem solved...

 

weird. I got Ebay testpipes and they're on their 2nd year now. LOL! And what makes the testpipes tougher than HFC's??

Supanam, try to install engine dampers. This will reduce the flexing caused by the engine movement.

 

Catalytic converters operate at a very high temperature. Test pipes to not. Test pipes aren't tougher, they just don't increase the exhaust temperature to burn up the polluting gases.

 

and theres your answer.. heat, thats it.
it has taken a month, but i now rather like the smell and whistling noise past 3500 rpm of my IMR resd test pipes.

 

Tip:

Remove the support brace off the HFC's. This is how I fixed mine when I had the issue. I went through 3 set's of Berks. Removing the support brace solved it.

 

^stillen HFCs don't have provisions for the support brace, so it's not needed.

That's too bad OP, I had stillen HFCs for over 2 years now, with no issues. very happy with them.

 

yea no brace on my HFCs. i'm thinking the weld line was just weak cuz it cracked so cleanly right on the line.

anyhow - contacted Stillen - sent them some photos of it and rep called me back within 10 minutes and said they typically don't warrant installed items but if i cover shipping to them they will sent me a new one (not pair). so i'm happy with results.

@350zdj - i will try engine dampeners. thanks for input

 

It will be interesting to see if Stillen backs-up their product.

 

well scratch the satisfaction from Stillen. i was just informed i'll only be sending my HFC in for a reweld - NOT a new cat. so i'm out my own shipping cost plus the time to send unit out - wait for reweld - and time to recieve the product back.
i'm better off getting it rewelded at a local shop and gettin it back in a day.
i'm a bit disappointed - i understand Stillen has on their website that they don't warrant installed parts - but this is just poor product quality/manufacture defect and not standing behind their products.

no more Stillen products for me

 

Clearly stated that it's one of the few products that doesn't carry a warranty, as others have stated heat can be an issue, and how these cats are used can dictate how long the catalyst can survive, and we go against that and offer to repair it, and you're still unsatisfied?

We'll receive it, set it back in the original jig, get it repaired and back out to you. All of our warranties no matter what it is (and holds true to almost every consumer product) is repair or replace.. In this instance a repair will be quick and we'll get your part back to you.

 

i've put less than 600 miles on the HFC in 3 months time frame. i figure if i spend $500 on some cats i'd like them to last more than 3 months/600 miles. i bought stillen headers from a 3rd party company and those hit my steering column. i even have stillen adjustable camber arms and toe links - thankfully i haven't had an issue with that. so 2 out of 3 stillen products have worked out for me.

i appreciate Charles taking the time out to help me and extend the services to repair my cat. but as mentioned - a few days to ship - a few days to repair and a few days to return... time is money. i'm better off spending $60 to get it welded at a local shop and get it back on my car same day.

i don't know anybody that would be "happy/satisfied" if they spent time and money on a product that didn't last more than 90 days. just my two cents.
i understand that y'all have ur implied warranties. so i'd rather take care of it myself.

 

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate you being upset, it does appear that there was an issue with the construction of the cats. We're not immune to having occasional manufacturing defects (I'm speaking in generalizations, I haven't seen photos or perfectly up to speed on your specific issue), but I can assure you it's extremely rare, and we have a warranty on products to account for this.

We have sold hundreds if not thousands of sets of HFC's over the years, and I'm not aware of any welding issues, and despite our efforts of building exacting fixtures and jigs to minimize the possibility of error, it can happen, and we'd like to take care of that, and it sounds like you're far enough away that the exchange is troublesome versus taking your car somewhere and having it fixed there.

Please PM me if I can help further in this, I can assure you customer service is a priority for us, and our manufacturing standards are extremely high, but obviously not infallible, and we strive to do what we can to ensure customer satisfaction.

 

I think your missing the point... cover shipping both ways and I'm sure he'll maybe change his tone. Will you warranty the repair? If you won't warranty the repair why would he go through the hassle of taking them off, sending them to you, waiting for the repair, re install them, and then have them do the same thing. One of your competitors has a warranty on their HFC... why don't you? This will only convince other future buyers to purchase another brand name that isn't Stillen.

 

I would have to agree with ^ statement. I have bought a few stillen products over the years and not had any trouble. Even with my boys supercharged z Chuck@Stillen has talked me thru a good bit of info to help me find why the z was not boosting good. Even as old as the car was. I would have to say, even him cover shipping their and you cover shipping back. Both was is very uncalled for let alone down time. Not all of us are ballers and have 6 dd's.

 

so i yanked the cat off - brought it to local weld shop that does custom work for hot rods. he fixed it for $20 - i threw the cat back on and i'm good to go. no shipping - minimal costs - more importantly no down time.

thank you to Al Books Welding in Burien, WA

 

Why would you lose power with a cracked HFC? I mean, It should have no effect on the wide band O2 sensors !

 

the actual HP lost would probably be minimal but the torque would be affected. i'm sure once it's fixed you'd notice a difference