http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Air-charge-tem...QQcmdZViewItem

Received mine yesterday and fitted it today, for first few minutes it was working fine, now the disply just reads Lc.

Anyone have any idea why?

Cheers

 

I just got one last week. For something that's meant to be designed specifically for in-car use, it's a piece of crap. But when it's actually working, it does do its job well. If you read the PDF file they will email you if you ask, it mentions how it might not work properly on a very small minority of cars.

When I installed it I took the live off the *** lighter and took a handy earth from the transmission tunnel. Job done you would have thought, seeing as every single other in-car electrical item would work fine off of this unless it demands a hell of a lot of current. But it hardly works at all, apparently because of 'spikes' in the power supply. When you switch the ignition on it's 50/50 whether you'll get the temp reading show up or just the backlight. If you get the backlight only, then that's it - it has gone into 'safety' mode to 'protect' it from further 'spikes' and simply won't work until you turn it off and on again. Then it's 50/50 whether this time it will work etc etc. I've found that it usually takes 3 or 4 twists of the ignition key before I get a temp reading showing. Next hurdle is that in the first minute after start up, pretty much anything except just idling the engine will switch the unit off as well - e.g. turning on your stereo, your wipers, lights, revs etc. Even once it's settled down after say, an hour of driving, all I need to do to switch it off is to use my rear wiper and the temp reading is gone and it's backlight only.

Further emails to them once I had found out all these problems revealed that this was a known problem that occurred apparently on '3 cars out of 800' and therefore my Subaru has some kind of sub-standard charging system that isn't stabilised. Which is obviously nonsense - it's their product which is not properly built.

Oh forgot to mention, sometimes when I start up the car it will for no reason switch to degrees F instead of C. Great.

However crap it might be though, it does work and the backlight is very handy, even though you can get the identical non-backlit thing for about £8 or £9 including the probe from Maplins. So I asked for a partial refund and got a fiver back. I accepted it, so I guess I can't really complain, but it was only because I couldn't face having to undo all the wiring and routing I'd done to get it fitted! Otherwise I would have returned it and asked for a full refund.

One glimmer of hope exists though. It will run perfectly fine off a standard 9v battery, the little ones that you use for smoke alarms etc. So forget about chopping into your car's wiring. Simply get a switched 9v battery box from Maplins which costs a measly quid, wire it to the display and that's it. Make sure you get a partial refund off him first though.

 

I had the same problems,so fitted it to a small 12v sealed battery.I still get a blank screen when booting it,but a lot better than it was.I found that the probe lead picks up interference from HT leads and any other wires close to it,which will lock it out.

 

These are what i use, i have two, one each side of the intercooler, gives you a good idea of the how good the intercooling is, especially if you are changing intercoolers as a comparisson.

Just out of interest, where do these ebay jobbies put thier probes and how do they fit them?

 

My probe is under the intercooler/throttle body hose. The one i had on the cossie was a nomad racing one and it never skipped a beat. Then that one was £40!!

I thought this was the same... obviously not.

Heres mine mounted in a carbon panel below my stereo. The response from the seller i got was to check for damaged sensor wires so im going to just cut their wire out at both ends and fit my own. Hopefully this should suppress the noise if i use beefier wire.

 

Is there any point to having one permanently plumbed in? If your intake temps are too high, get a bigger IC, surely

 

Its there so i can monitor the temps mate, I didnt know what the sti cooler was doing anyway. Also wanted to see how effective my water spary is if at all.
No harm in having it there

 

From looking at the pic. It looks like the DIY temp guage kit you can get from Maplin just with a black surround.

I use one for coolant temp on my Land Rover, as it has a built in output to switch on the cooling fans (it was cheaper and easier to plump in than a thermoswitch ). And I use a voltage regulator to clamp vehicle's voltage at a stable 9volts (about 80p )

 

Matchmaker - 'permanently' means having to go through the hassle of finding a mounting position somewhere around the dash and routing the wire through the bulkhead. Not running it in armoured ducting, P-clipped every 6 inches, then covered in silicone sealant just for good measure LOL Better to know your charge temps than ignore them, if you're interested in that kind of thing.

Ali-B - it does look exactly like the Maplins one, you're right. Only difference is the Maplins one has a larger white bit at the back where you can short the pinouts for different functions, and it doesn't have a backlight. However the Maplin's probe is quite chunky and rounded, with a round cable to it, whereas the ebay one is twinned flattish wires with a dead flat probe under a layer of very thin plastic - in other words it's much better for slipping under jubilee clips and I/C hoses.

TBH though the only thing I wanted was the backlight which IS very useful. Can you retrofit a backlight into a Maplins display?

 

Okay im not a happy bunny,

Ive found out why its stopped funking working. The tiny probe on the end isnt there!!!

Ive looked in the throttle area and what i can see of the inlet manifold and cant see it!! Now im terrified where the funkin thing is. Its stopped working whilst i was out giving her a good run, maybe its already gone through the engine, i dont know.

Seriously pissed about it though!! Can i buy the temp probe from Maplins?

 

I assume its just a thermistor but which one?

 

Im afraid its a classic case of paying low money for cheap e bay crap - not having a go as i have done the same in the past.

**** it off and get a nomad one. 100% reliable, accurate, end wont fall off with potential consequences, looks o.e and not like some tacky add on.

Great bit of kit £40 is nothing compared to the info it gives you, especially if you are running a TMIC.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/p1mark/temp5.jpg

 

 

I had the nomad one in my cossie, and it was flawless!!

Really pissed that i didnt get the same again, but TBH i didnt think there was much to funk up about one.

Have you got a pic of where you mounted the nomad one in your intercooler? Did you drill/tap the cooler?

 

Nope, carefully take the plastic away with a knife, leaving the probe covered in the heat shrink on its own.

Punch a small hole in the TB hose, carefully push it in. seal with a dab of silicon or super glue if you are worried but i dont bother.

I wanted it as close to the TB as possible, as i did not want it measuring soak in the intercooler or manifold.

You can just see it in the pic, at the very bottom in the TB hose. this is on a FMIC but you have the room to put it in the same place with a TMIC

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ark/FMIC19.jpg

 

Whoa, if you puncture the hose you may have problems with boost leaking out of it.

 

My dyno sheets and boost profile show not (405BHP and 1.5 bar all the way to 7000+).

plenty of people do this, the samco is very stretchy and seals perfectly 100% every time. Some people put a dab of super glue or silicon on but i have never found the need.

 

yesh there shouodnt be any probs so long as you pop a bit of glue/silicone in as you said.

 

Okay guys, read from the bottom up as to my contact with the company. I tried all day to call them but nobody picked up either fone.

My responses are in blue

Okay, let me just say that im not green to this kind of item, i had one very similar on my previous sapphire cosworth.

The sensor was gently located under the silicone hose between the throttle body and intercooler and was NOT damaged in the process. It was protruding into the airflow approx 10mm.

I am a prototype engine development engineer at Ford development europe, so its not as though ive just rushed it on the vehicle with no knoledge of what im doing.

As for wear and tear, this is not the case as the unit had been fitted to the vehicle approx 10 mins of driving time when i noticed a fault with the display, later proving to be a poorly attatched sensor that has ended up in my engine. I do not call 10 min of gentle driving wear and tear.

Im VERY lucky to hopefully not have suffered serious engine damage due to this fault at present.

I would like to have spoken to you today to explain exactly over the phone what had happened but having called both telephone numbers , one landline and one mobile only to be greeted with an answering machine all day between 10am and 6pm this was not possible. I did leave numerous messages with a contact number on both phones requesting somebody contact me, of which nobody did.

I am certainly not prepared to pay another £10 + postage for another sensor of which in my honest opinion was not right in the first instance.

I would like to either return the goods to yourselves for a full refund or be sent a replacement unit. I do not feel this is unreasonable concidering the circumstances of possible total engine failure.

Please feel free to contact me regarding this issue on 07946 ******, i hope it is resolved without delay.

Kind regards

Frazier Cohen




>The items do have a 12 months warranty which covers against break down of
>the units but unfortunately not wear and tear. The sensors are very strong
>and we have never had any issues with these being fitted to air intakes,
>induction cones or even intercooler intakes so I cant think of a reason why
>the tip could of come loose. I presume the sensor was inserted rather deep
>in or not secured strong enough hence coming loose. The sensors are very
>sensitive and only need the tips inserting to read. Unfortunately we do not
>supply the sensors on there own but on this occasion we are prepared offer
>you an additional unit for £10 plus postage and packaging if you wish to
>replace the sensor on you current unit. If you can describe where the sensor
>was placed we may be able to help you further in why you have had this
>problem.
>
>
>Okay ive had it all off again today and found out whats wrong. The temp
>probe has fallen off and there is no sign of it anywhere?
>Ive checked as much as i can see inside my intake manifold and cant see it.
>Im hoping it hasnt done any damage if it has already gone through the
>engine.
>
>Im not best happy about this to say the least, where do we go from here?
>

 

Caveat emptor!

Chalk it up to experience and buy a Nomad one.

F

 

Group buy from Nomad???

Oh and by the way, might be an idea to remove your mobile number.

 

At which point do you blokes stop watching the instrumentation and start watching the bloody road?

 

These are self powered units that are designed for the PC. Only sampling every 3 secs but still dont have the problems above.

 

Todays response.

Nice customer care eh ?

We do not offer telephone support on ebay items which is one reason we do
not put our telephone no on the ebay auctions, however we do offer technical
support via email which we do advertise on the auctions. This is clearly
wear and tear or false fitting as we have sold in the excess of 400 items
and only ever had this one be damaged. We test the items before they are
sent and all are checked. We have been more than reasonable by offering an
additional unit at £10 which is something we do not have to do legally. I am
very sorry the unit has broken but this type of fault / damage would not be
covered by any company or person for any type of product. I am sorry you
feel the way you do but we are not prepared to offer you a refund or
replacement as we have been more than reasonable by offering a you a heavily
discounted replacement especially as this would not be covered by any
warranty.

 

My reply this morning

Whats wrong with picking up the phone to help a customer or discuss his issues, surely you're trying to run a sucsessful business??

You did not offer me a complete unit, you offered me a replacement sensor, which is just the probe if im not mistaken??

You say you've had over 400 sensors without a problem, thats fine but surely could this not be the first time you've encountered a problem???
Are you telling me that every item you will ever sell will be perfect regardless of wether the part or workmanship is faulty???

I feel this is very poor customer care on your behalf, im lucky to not have blown an engine due to this. Its a shame i've already left you positive feedback as your aftersales is appauling.
I assure you I did NOT fit this incorrectly, besides, how can something be fitted incorrectly that doesnt come with fitting instructions??

Surely i am quite within my rights to send this item back to you as its a matter of hours old and does NOT conform to wear and tear. Do i now have to contact Ebay to explain to them my issues?

I am part of a very large car community that will be shown how poor your product and service is, its a shame because i would of liked to have shown them how good your product is and recomended you to them.

Regards

Frazier Cohen

 

Great reply!

"how can i fit something wrong that does not come with instructions?"

 

also fraz you can add extra comments on your Ebay feed back....

 

Im obviously not gonna get anywhere but its just out of principal now.

Im gonna try a set up a group buy with either Nomad or Mike Rainbird for some decent ones

 

Follow up from them

Your only stating we have not offered customer satisfaction because I we
have not done what you have asked, well I am sorry but cant tell people what
to do and when to do it. I am stating that the item fault is not covered
under the warranty we offer and to be honest we don’t have to offer a
warranty on ebay as they are auctions but we do. To say we have never had
one sensor go wrong does give me the impression that it wasn’t fitted
correctly especially when we test then in house first. I have offered you a
full unit as we only buy the parts in bulk and build them up in bulk which
means we don’t have spare parts I could of offered you the sensor only but
though It better to offer the full unit as I would be supplying it at £10
regardless so this way you would have a spare lcd if you ever required it
but obviously this is not what you want therefore I must be offering a poor
customer service (I want doesn’t always get). Fitting instructions are
available id you email us asking for them as it CLEARLY states again on the
auction. And please odnt threaten to show everyone how poor ( your words)
these products are that would not effect our business as anyone with common
sense would read all our positive feedback and see that was a fitting issue.

I didn’t want to get into a slanging match and I did offer my support which
is clearly shown as I would like you to get your sensor up and running, the
reason we havnt answered all you calls is because 2 staff are on holiday
because it’s the end of the year and we do most of our work out of office.

I have been more than reasonable by offering a heavily discounted
replacement and I am sorry you feel that is not the case.

I will class this issue as closed now.

 

Funny that,
I have to email them to get fitting instructions ????

WTF!!