Yes more DV issues... AWE DV failure...

[The Middle Man]

So yep I messed my OEM DV pretty bad and called AWE for their fix. I have had amazing luck with this company so I figured what the hell. I am running REVO stage 2 and have left the car in performance mode. The AWE valve was awesome and couldn't be more pleased then after 1200 miles it went. I just pulled it out and its torn around the rubber rim about a inch and a half. Im sure they will take care of it no problem but... why wouldn't it happen again?

2nd issue
I have oil all over that area where I just pulled that DV out of. I dont remember oil when I pulled out the OEM valve... is that normal? Thanks guys any help would be appreciated![confused]

[acidrome]

sorry to hear that bud, but I am sure they will take care of you as well. I guess its time to invest in the Forge Motorsports DV

[AudiWxGuy]

I know this is America, and we can say what we want. However, I would call AWE and talk to them before posting a thread like this.

[The Middle Man]

I know this is America, and we can say what we want. However, I would call AWE and talk to them before posting a thread like this.

Im not worried about them not taking care of me but we all need to be aware if there is a part that wont work correctly for our applications. I love the company and praise them for their passion in the VAG tuning community. They are actually the only manufacture who sticker has a committed place on my car.
Im more just curious about anyone else having the same issue. That and the oil thing scares me a little.

[AudiWxGuy]

The oil thing sounds like your PCV went bad as well. I wonder if the two are inter-connected.

[06B7audiA4]

Im not worried about them not taking care of me but we all need to be aware if there is a part that wont work correctly for our applications. I love the company and praise them for their passion in the VAG tuning community. They are actually the only manufacture who sticker has a committed place on my car.
Im more just curious about anyone else having the same issue. That and the oil thing scares me a little.

agree....ive heard different issues about aftermarket DV'S...ive actually heard its better to keep the stock lol but Forge I must say makes a good product, Ive been happy with both products...dv and bov spacer

[Todd/AWE]

Yes, contact us directly about this. We would like to inspect the DV. If you had excessive oil in that area, it may have contributed to a failure.

How much oil are we talking about here?

[The Middle Man]

We aren't talking about a lot of oil but I dont remember any before. I did have an add oil light come on but then it went off after I shut the car off and restarted it later. This problem started when I was on a lengthy drive and passing a large truck up a hill. Im sure I was well into boost because it dropped sharply from 18psi to 5psi but then returned to normal a few miles later.

About a week later I got was driving it harder so it was boosting quite well same thing again only this time the sound changed as it purged back into the intake and boost was cut to 5 psi permanently.

Here are some pics for reference.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/autofocusedphotography/DVCOVER.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/autofocusedphotography/BLOWNDV.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/autofocusedphotography/HOLEINTURBO4DV.jpg

[rayiish]

I just got an AWE DV but didn't install it yet. Is this a actual problem with the DV or just your specific case?

[The Middle Man]

I just got an AWE DV but didn't install it yet. Is this a actual problem with the DV or just your specific case?

I think that AWE and I are very interested in solving that question so that we aren't having more of these issues. Im still trying to reach them but Im glad they saw this post as well.

[vtracer20]

this isn't a good post for awe, since they just released their dv. Hopefully something else caused the failure, but that even shows you quality stuff does brake down....i'll stick with my forge dv for now, no issues for 2000+ miles (5 months)

[Todd/AWE]

That's kind of why we wanted you to remain in contact with us directly so we could get to the bottom of this without creating any premature online drama.

I have no PM or e-mail from you since posting this morning, and John, a salesperson here, says you contacted him when the problem happened, and he asked you to keep him posted directly.

Doing posts on the forum is not the best way to handle this right now. We did *a lot* of testing of this DV on Porsche, VW, and Audis, all making 20+ psi, so we're very confident that it is a much better solution than stock. You'd be the first failure, which makes us very curious and interested in getting to the bottom of the causes. There is a possibility we may need to tweak our install directions or point out other weak areas on the engine that could contribute to a failure like this (for example, a failing PCV system that is dumping a ton of oil into the intake system).

Can you do me a favor and please just keep in contact with us directly until we have had a chance to look at your valve first hand? You can then share our findings publicly. Until then I think you are casting unfounded doubt on this product.

Do you have John's e-mail address?

[The Middle Man]

I dont want you or anyone else on here to get the wrong idea about this at all. I think this needs to be looked at in a positive way. I think it will only help AWE in the way that your company really cares about who they sell to even if its a $150 part you guys are extremely on top of it. Anyone can sell a part, its the customer service and the people we get to deal with that makes the difference to us out here. I may have got a bad part, no problem it happens. If the product isnt correct Im sure you would want to know about it ASAP and correct it.
My intention was educational only trying to find a reason for the oil being present. I dont like to be in or start drama. That was never the point of this post.
I have your email address but I do not have John's.
My next posts will only be related to the fix that we agree upon.

Without AWE my car would only be half as cool as it is.

[Sanjman]

That's kind of why we wanted you to remain in contact with us directly so we could get to the bottom of this without creating any premature online drama.

I have no PM or e-mail from you since posting this morning, and John, a salesperson here, says you contacted him when the problem happened, and he asked you to keep him posted directly.

Doing posts on the forum is not the best way to handle this right now. We did *a lot* of testing of this DV on Porsche, VW, and Audis, all making 20+ psi, so we're very confident that it is a much better solution than stock. You'd be the first failure, which makes us very curious and interested in getting to the bottom of the causes. There is a possibility we may need to tweak our install directions or point out other weak areas on the engine that could contribute to a failure like this (for example, a failing PCV system that is dumping a ton of oil into the intake system).

Can you do me a favor and please just keep in contact with us directly until we have had a chance to look at your valve first hand? You can then share our findings publicly. Until then I think you are casting unfounded doubt on this product.

Do you have John's e-mail address?

I agree... but for those of the few who have bought it already should be aware of any issue before they install it. I look forward to hearing positive feedback and results, until then... I think it is okay for him to say right now... "hey something came up with the AWE DV... everyone hold before installing until I get this resolved"... only ones causing the drama are the ones who get upset that the OP didn't explain the full issue. I don't think he meant to use this thread to bash on your product... just yet... and his post does not imply he is in any way upset with your product or your services.

[vtracer20]

yea i dont mean to cast any doubt on you guys awe....i love your products and i've been very happy with mine.

[rayiish]

I don't think anyone thought badly of AWE because of this post. I just wanted to have the issue resolved before paying someone to install the DV and new boost gauge I bought. If it was the part then I would have paid for installation for no reason.

[Todd/AWE]

I dont want you or anyone else on here to get the wrong idea about this at all. I think this needs to be looked at in a positive way. I think it will only help AWE in the way that your company really cares about who they sell to even if its a $150 part you guys are extremely on top of it. Anyone can sell a part, its the customer service and the people we get to deal with that makes the difference to us out here. I may have got a bad part, no problem it happens. If the product isnt correct Im sure you would want to know about it ASAP and correct it.
My intention was educational only trying to find a reason for the oil being present. I dont like to be in or start drama. That was never the point of this post.
I have your email address but I do not have John's.
My next posts will only be related to the fix that we agree upon.

Without AWE my car would only be half as cool as it is.


Thanks for the kind words.

We take product development very seriously here, and we don't bring a product to market without long term testing.

So when we see something like this happen, we want to examine the part asap, and prefer to keep the information off the forums until a fair analysis has been done. Otherwise, the product can unintentionally get a bad rep.

For example, we sell an intake kit for the B5 S4 and long ago we suddenly got reports of filters collapsing. It seemed like a quality problem, but in fact, the filters were collapsing only on cars making over 400hp. So it wasn't a problem with the intake kit, it just needed a warning put on it not to use it above a certain power level.

It could be that excessive oil from a blown PCV system is somehow putting excess stress on the DV, and until we know the root cause, I'd hate to see incorrect negative assumptions made about it.

Anyway, I noticed that your RMA request has come through, so we'll take this offline with you now and keep you posted on our findings when we get your DV back here.

[Todd/AWE]

Hi folks,

Just a quick update on this situation.

We received back Middle Man's torn DV today and I am relieved to report that it is not a defect in the product.

It looks like the rip was caused by installer error.

However, since we now see how the valve can be installed incorrectly, we have adjusted our install documents to warn about the problem, and we will be covering this valve under warranty for Middle Man. He already has a replacement so we'll credit him.


Here is what happened:

http://www.awe-tuning.com/media/products/awe/diverter_valve/dv_rip.jpg

If the valve is installed on an angle into the turbo, it looks like it is possible to catch the edge of the rubber diaphragn outside the groove in the DV's plastic cap.

You can see at the red arrow on the left a small indentation of the lip. It is hard to get a picture of it, but this indentation continues around the outside lip to the red arrow on the right. The tear is between the two green arrows.

The simple solution is to make sure the DV is square to the turbo before compressing it to instal the bolts.

So far, there have not been any other reported failures, so thankfully it looks like this kind of installation error is pretty hard to do.

[RedS-line]

props to middle man for making this a topic on these boards. I am very interested in this kit and I like hearing from both sides of the table when it comes to new products. Everyone behaved civilly and this incident has not turned me off to the kit. Our cars are so complicated to work on that any post showing a problem and then the answer is good knowledge. Much better than another "which chip is the best thread?" Knowledge is power

[Sanjman]

always good to hear good news

[STaSIS_2.0T]

props to AWE, for being professional and solving the issue immediately. So many tuners just don't care

[The Middle Man]

I just wanted to report back on this as well it has been a while since I had installed the replacement valve and it has worked flawlessly! I will point out I am not a mechanic by any means but I think that part of the contributing factor was the OEM PCV valve. I think anyone needs to replace that OEM part under warranty before they boost their ride or things like this will happen. Mine was replaced after the first fail and before the replacement.

Thanks to all the help from AWE.

[06B7audiA4]

Very impressed you were able to replace it, thats very good customer base relations...I will be purchasing this DV valve kit ASAP.