Perrin Oil Cooler Issues

[deange]

I puchased a Perrin Oil Cooler through FT86 Speed Factory that I installed yesterday along with one of the Koyo Radiators. I planned this to do both so I wouldn't take the front clip off multiple times after hearing from several posters on here that repeated removals of the front clip would result in body lines no longer matching up correctly.

Both the radiator and the oil cooler fit great. The radiator looks fantastic to boot, especially the welds. The oil cooler kit was one of those rare aftermarket parts that really did fit perfectly. It wasn't until I actually started the car that any issue showed up.

As soon as there was oil flowing through the actual cooler itself oil began to shoot out of it in a four foot stream. I shut the car down immediately. The oil was coming from a spot on the driver's side of the cooler itself (not one of the fittings) as you can see in the picture below. A little disappointed I left the car where it was and sent Perrin Performace an email and also left a message asking them to give me a call.

The next day I gave them a call around 9 and spoke to Chris. I explained the issue to him and he let me know that they had experienced some issues with the fittings before, but never a leak from the actual cooler. He explained that he couldn't ship me a replacement because they had none in stock. He also didn't know when or if they would have more in stock because they were waiting on Mocal to get back to them to fix previous issues.

After I got off the phone with Chris I called FT86 Speed Factory and spoke with Jeremy about what to do with it. Jeremy also did not have any in stock. He actually was waiting on some for customers who had already ordered it. I asked him if he had any idea what else I could do. He said he would have to talk to Perrin to help me out. I told him I'd just call them again.

I did some looking around and found at least 3 places that have the Mocal 235 13 row coolers (which is what Perrin supplies in their kit). Prices were generally around 150 retail. I called Chris at Perrin back to ask if since they didn't have any of the coolers and didn't know when they would get some in if they would either purchase one for me, or reimburse me the price of a cooler from another vendor since the one they sent me was defective. I mostly was simply trying to avoid the work of taking apart the front end, removing the cooler and putting it all back together again, just to do it all over again when new parts showed up. Chris said that wasn't something they were interested in doing and that he wouldn't be able to help me.

I called Jeremy at FT86 Speed Factory back and let him know what Perrin had said. I didn't see and wasn't offered any other recourse than just taking the cooler back off completely and returning it to get my money back. Jeremy was really good about it and is sending me a shipping label to cover the return shipping.

Reader's Digest Version

Perrin sent out a defective oil cooler and apparently knows there is an issue with the Mocal coolers they are getting. As a result they don't know when they will get more kits and if anyone has issues they are SOL. I would really suggest not buying the oil cooler kit from Perrin despite the fact that it is a well designed and executed kit simply because it seems like they aren't going to stand behind it for the foreseeable future. FT86 Speed Factory was caught in the middle but did their best to pick up the slack though.

[FirestormFRS]

Before you throw everyone under the bus.....could have been damaged in shipping?

[deange]

Could it have been damaged in shipping? I doubt it. Perrin's stuff was packed well, and the cooler was inside a box, in another box, inside another box when I got it. I know I didn't damage it either.

The mistake isn't that big of a deal. Stuff happens, things slip by, it's the real world.

What I ask of a company is that when stuff does happen, they do what they can to make it right. Apparently Perrin knows they have been having a problem with the cooler, but I still wound up with one. When I did have a problem they basically said... sorry, can't do anything for you.

That does bother me and that is why I'd recommend against trying to buy that particular product from Perrin. They don't actually make it, Mocal does. They put their name on it and mark it up. I don't mind the markup either since they supply all the parts in one nice box. I just mind it when won't support a product with their name on it.

[Lonewolf]

Ft86 speedfactory has been a consistently good vendor...

I would hope that Perrin can do better for you than they have done thus far...

I hope that you can get your situation sorted out soon...

[post_break]

Dropped the ball on that one. The radiators are pressure tested before they go out. This situation could have been dealt with a lot better.

[PERRIN_Chris]

HI Deange, You forgot to mention that we were not able to send out another cooler because we wanted to be 110% sure that a good oil cooler was sent out so the problem won't happen again. I have no problem getting the original oil cooler you have back, and sending a good one as soon as we get our next batch back from Mocal making sure that they are OK. We just don't want to purchase another cooler from another company that could potentially have the same problem.

We have sent every oil cooler that we have in stock back to Mocal, and are in the process of figuring out if there is a problem, since Mocal has told us that every cooler is being pressure tested before they are shipped to us.

It's true that a few of the coolers that have been sent out have had a leak(most have not leaked at all), and I have actually emailed every customer that has purchased the kit directly from us about it and to keep an eye out for it.

We will for sure take care of every customer that has this problem, and we are just waiting at Mocal right now. It might take a little while, but to make sure everything is right, we are going to wait till Mocal has tested their coolers before shipping replacement coolers.

If anyone has any questions, please send me a PM. My notifications on this forums aren't working right, so I may not see if there's a reply to this thread.

[charged86]

Originally Posted by PERRIN_Chris

HI Deange, You forgot to mention that we were not able to send out another cooler because we wanted to be 110% sure that a good oil cooler was sent out so the problem won't happen again. I have no problem getting the original oil cooler you have back, and sending a good one as soon as we get our next batch back from Mocal making sure that they are OK. We just don't want to purchase another cooler from another company that could potentially have the same problem.

We have sent every oil cooler that we have in stock back to Mocal, and are in the process of figuring out if there is a problem, since Mocal has told us that every cooler is being pressure tested before they are shipped to us.

It's true that a few of the coolers that have been sent out have had a leak(most have not leaked at all), and I have actually emailed every customer that has purchased the kit directly from us about it and to keep an eye out for it.

We will for sure take care of every customer that has this problem, and we are just waiting at Mocal right now. It might take a little while, but to make sure everything is right, we are going to wait till Mocal has tested their coolers before shipping replacement coolers.

If anyone has any questions, please send me a PM. My notifications on this forums aren't working right, so I may not see if there's a reply to this thread.

thanks chris nice to see your on top of it. so are going to discontinue the oil cooler program from your side?

[Hanakuso]

Good to know. I hope the issue gets resolved soon since I'm in the market for an oil cooler

[stockysnail]

I had a leak that was very small around the fitting that the hose on the right, the part shown in the picture. The fact that I'm local to them probably helps a lot because when I talked to them they told me to bring it in and they'd replace it for me. Jeff the owner spent an hour or so, going through 2 brand new radiators as both would have a super small leak on the grey fitting part. They went above and beyond for me because they didn't have to install it for me. He also did an oil change for me while he was at it (which I brought in a filter and oil for so not really any extra work to do). They were super nice and accommodating to me. Like I said though this may be because I'm local to them and they actually had some radiators there to swap parts with. I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

[ATL BRZ]

I ordered one yesterday not knowing about these issues. Now I know why they are back ordered with no ETA. Not sure there's a better complete kit with thermostat out there.

I'll wait for one that's been pressure tested, I guess.

[deange]

Chris was very nice over the phone and I'm sure most of the stuff they actually make works very well.

This particular product has issues and I certainly didn't hear about it before I bought one (purchased a week ago). I wish someone had said something and that's why I posted.

All that Chris offered was to send him the defective part... wait around for a new part. It wasn't that they weren't "able to" get a replacement cooler to me. They weren't willing to. Any other place I've dealt with when there is an issue with a part usually goes more like this: Something is wrong with our part? We'll send you a replacement and a shipping label to return the bad part, or even we are going to overnight you a new part, don't worry about the old one.

The kit is nice and well thought out. I'm just not going to pay extra for a kit and not get what I feel like is the appropriate response when something isn't right. If I had been paying someone to install this for me I'd be out a some additional money since generally people aren't going to work for free when parts you supplied are the issue.

[SubaSteve]

Originally Posted by deange

Chris was very nice over the phone and I'm sure most of the stuff they actually make works very well.

This particular product has issues and I certainly didn't hear about it before I bought one (purchased a week ago). I wish someone had said something and that's why I posted.

All that Chris offered was to send him the defective part... wait around for a new part. It wasn't that they weren't "able to" get a replacement cooler to me. They weren't willing to. Any other place I've dealt with when there is an issue with a part usually goes more like this: Something is wrong with our part? We'll send you a replacement and a shipping label to return the bad part, or even we are going to overnight you a new part, don't worry about the old one.

The kit is nice and well thought out. I'm just not going to pay extra for a kit and not get what I feel like is the appropriate response when something isn't right. If I had been paying someone to install this for me I'd be out a some additional money since generally people aren't going to work for free when parts you supplied are the issue.

I'm going to have to stop you right there. He let you know that they are waiting for replacements. He let you know why they aren't buying them from other vendors. Why would they buy a part from some other vendor when they could potentially have the same issue?

Perrin will replace the part when they get ones they find are up to their standards. This isn't a perrin part but a part from another company that malfunctioned so it definitely is a unique situation as they would most likely have just sent you another one right away.

[jamesm]

The entire point of buying a kit rather than piecing it together yourself (from the exact same parts they're using), making a couple brackets and saving $150 is the expectation of fit and finish/customer service in the event of an issue.

[deange]

Suba Steve, I would agree with you if the majority of the coolers Mocal sent out were defective. If they were I think we'd have heard about it prior to now. As Chris said "It's true that a few of the coolers that have been sent out have had a leak(most have not leaked at all)". I might even agree with you if they could offer any kind of eta on a replacement.

If you've already sold something and there is an issue you do what ever you have to in order to fix the product that has already gone out the door. At least make an attempt.