MISHIMOTO OIL COOLER IS A FIRE HAZARD!!

[chadstyle]

I purchased a Mishimoto oil cooler from @FA20Club.com and I was initially really impressed with the sandwich plate and other CNC parts. The banjo fittings felt a little cheap but everything else looked really nice.

I installed the kit, mind you that you have no instructions at all other than a horribly made video, and it wasn't anything complicated. Install went smooth and I took it for a ride. Everything was great.

Next day and I take the car out again. It starts smoking at a light really bad from under the hood. I pull over to find that it looks like it's leaking from the two hex bolts on either side of the sandwich plate. I check both and they are tight. I pull apart the whole sandwich plate setup and apply teflon tape to the two hex set screw bolts and put the whole thing back together. Problem solved and back to driving the car. All is good..for now.

I run a few errands and take the wife out for date night. Mind you that every single stop I'm popping the hood and checking for leaks. All is dry with no oil leaking. We finish up dinner and run a couple errands and eventually come home. On the way down our street the hood starts pouring out smoke. I pull in the driveway as I kill the motor and coast it in. Pop the hood to see oil EVERYWHERE!! I mean EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! Both of the cheap anodized banjo fittings have come loose. I spend two hours cleaning everything up and torque the fittings down to spec. Start the car and all looks good...for now.

This morning I decided to take the car to @FA20Club.com shop for him and the crew to inspect. I live about 5 minutes away so it's a short drive. In the 5 miles on the way there I lost a ton of oil again. I'm beyond pissed at this point and hope that the guys at the shop find something stupid and say "hey idiot, look what you missed here" but that wasn't the case. The guys at the shop were very patient and methodical and put the car on the lift and started the install again from scratch. They thoroughly cleaned the belly pan of my car and all of the parts that were coated in oil. Such a mess and even more of a safety hazard. They put everything together and tell me to take it around the block. On my way down the street in 3rd gear a huge cloud of smoke came out of the front of the car..I knew right away it happened again.

The guys at the shop all complimented my install and how clean it was. I went out of my way to make it extra nice just as I do with any part I install on any car. That's just me and what I do. Toni decided he wanted a crack at it and he started messing around under the hood. I arrived at the shop at 9 AM and we are now at 3 PM. He gets it a little better but not perfect..still dripping oil under load. The problem is that we can't tell if it's the banjo fitting or the sandwich plate as it only leaks under load. We replaced the washers on the banjo fittings with copper washers so they would crush and seal a little better but that didn't seem to help.

I told Toni that I purchased the oil cooler for better reliability, not to make the car Unreliable! He agreed 100% (he has been awesome since day one, not a single complaint about @FA20Club.com or his crew!) and he called up the distributor for the part. They emailed support and CC'd him on the email..the email said "we have another leaking oil cooler, this makes two. Please advise" and that was it. They are out of stock so I had him call Mishimoto direct..this is where the story takes a turn for the worse..as if it wasn't bad enough already.

Some jerk named Pat answered the call at Mishimoto. He was rude from the beginning of the call to the minute Toni hung up. He basically blamed all the problems on the install without even hearing what Toni had to say. We requested a new set of banjo fittings and a sandwich plate so we can hopefully fix the problem. Pat said that they don't have any inventory either. No inventory at the distributor and none at Mishimoto either. He asked Toni to go run my car again until it spewed hot oil all over the hot engine and then take a picture. REALLY? I wasn't ready for Car-B-Que round 2 so we refused. He then tells us that they are in the process of moving and couldn't give us an ETA of parts or when they will even be shipping again!! I already waited for 2 and 1/2 weeks for the cooler and now that it's defective they can't even fix it. Not only can't they fix it, they can't even tell us when they will have more so they can!! The guy was a total prick and I have never heard a company treat a shop selling it's parts so poorly, especially in front of the customer!

So @Mishimoto..is this how you deal with all of your vendors? How bout customers, do you treat them like shit too? At least when Borla had issues with their header they admitted fault and took care of those of us that had an issue. They made the best of a bad situation and have made me a customer for life because of the way they handled the situation. @Mishimoto has done the complete opposite..they added insult to injury.

I would suggest that anyone looking at oil coolers for their car absolutely get one and install it asap. The results are amazing. Just don't buy the Mishimoto one..buy Perrin or another reputable brand that actually cares about their customers and stand behind their products.

[evo4g63]

Damn, I was about to order one tomorrow. Looks like I won't be after reading this

[ATL BRZ]

Oh lord jeezus, I was very close to buying a Mishi cooler.

Glad I went with the thermostatic option with a pressure tested core from Perrin. Nobody's perfect and Mocal did supply Perrin some leaky cooler cores and fittings in the past, but they stand behind their product no matter who their supplier is and they took care of everyone immediately. Customers should never have to risk their own safety based on assumptions from a seller/manufacturer. If it leaks, they should replace it, no questions asked.

We don't need another John Visconti around here...

[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by evo4g63

Damn, I was about to order one tomorrow. Looks like I won't be after reading this

None to order even if you wanted to..back order. It would be one thing if it was just a defect but to see that two from the first batch leaked isn't a good sign. Then to be so rude and condescending on the phone..that was the final straw.


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[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

oh lord jeezus

I smell a fiiiiiiaar!!


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[the.big.kahoona]

Mishimoto are generally known for their after sales support, this is weird...

[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Oh lord jeezus, I was very close to buying a Mishi cooler.

Glad I went with the thermostatic option with a pressure tested core from Perrin. Nobody's perfect and Mocal did supply Perrin some leaky cores in the past, but they stand behind their product no matter who their supplier is and they took care of everyone immediately. Customers should never have to risk their own safety based on assumptions from a seller/manufacturer. If it leaks, they should replace it, no questions asked.

We don't need another John Visconti around here...

My sentiments exactly. Well said.

[mad_sb]

ain't nobody got time fo dat.

[Diode Dynamics]

Have you tried contacting them again? Maybe speaking to a different customer service agent?

I know Mishimoto is a reputable company and will remedy the situation. You have to give them an opportunity to make it right.

I can certainly understand your frustration though, it sounds to me like you installed it correctly and you made the right call taking it to the shop.

I'd uninstall it and wait for a replacement from them. It might take some time, but at least your car won't burn to the ground lol.

Sorry to hear your having issues with it, good luck with the fix!

Nick C.

[Dipstik-sportech]

Another reason I went full blown

[JDKane527]

Another reason I went Robispec

[FT-86 SpeedFactory]

We've had nothing but rock solid reliability with the cooler on our vortech car. We even have two silver kits in stock here.

Are the threads on the banjos, and the housing side okay? No cracks in the housing from maybe too much torque... just thinking out loud. We've installed a couple now and all are doing well. The side ports do need the teflon tape though which would be nice if they were sealed out of the box.

[DoctorNick]

I can't believe they would actually tell you to put load on the car so it sprays oil all over the place. Especially since they were talking to someone who sells their stuff, not just some "dumb customer".

[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by FT-86 SpeedFactory

We've had nothing but rock solid reliability with the cooler on our vortech car. We even have two silver kits in stock here.

Are the threads on the banjos, and the housing side okay? No cracks in the housing from maybe too much torque... just thinking out loud. We've installed a couple now and all are doing well. The side ports do need the teflon tape though which would be nice if they were sealed out of the box.

I checked for cracks first and then the shop checked again today. I have been very careful not to crack the bolts by over torquing them.

Let me ask you something..are the two plates that accompany the sandwich plate both black with the silver kit? The black kit I have included a silver sandwich plate and black spacer plate and black catch cup on top. The reason I ask is that the black finish has some texture to it and we were all a little curious if the wrinkle finish was enough to create a leak under pressure.

Thanks for the reply and no worries for thinking out loud.