[Tom Droze]

ESS Super Charger Update... I am done! Continuous check engine lights, Idle hunting and stalling, hesitation and stalling as I try to accelerate from a stop. I am taking my car back to the shop on Monday to have my new fuel pump replaced under warranty because of a bad sending unit and I am having the supercharger removed. I will be have approximately $1,400 in labor for the supercharger install and removal, which I will attempt to recoup from ESS Tuning. And yes, I am F'n pissed off, as the hesitation and stalling has almost resulted in two accidents.


Update 09/19/2016:After the post above and the subsequent posts that have followed, including being contacted by AJ from ESS Tuning, here is an update as to the status of the ESS supercharger. The CEL I was getting had to do with the O2 sensors responding slowly. AJ believed this was a result of the increased turbulence in the intake tube as a result of the boost being generated by the supercharger, and the MAF sensor not being able to handle the increased intake turbulence. ESS had already designed a new intake tube with a baffle inside the intake tube to shield the MAF sensor but the newly designed intake tube was in Noraway, so AJ had the intake tube and a new MAF sensor overnighted to Arizona. This newly designed intake tube is for the N51 since the tune for the supercharger for the N51 continues to utilize the MAF sensor where the tune for the N52 does not. After having the new intake tube and MAF sensor installed one week ago, the car has been running very well. I just completed a 600 mile road trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas and back and the car ran very good. The idle is much more stable now with only an occasional minor dip in RPM. When AJ installed the new intake tube he tested my throttle body, which is a redundant back up on our cars in case of valvetronic failure; and he said mine is not working, and he recommended I replace it at some point. AJ said he's discovering a faulty throttle body this is fairly commonplace. Please remember, the tune for the N52 will utilize the throttle body full time whereas the tune for the N51 does not, with the possible exception of some low speed idle transition.

Also, because my car, with the N51, utilizes the MAF sensor, I am not able to run the smaller 115 MM pulley because the MAF sensor is at its air flow limit with the 120 MM pulley. The difference between the two pulleys is about 20 horsepower.

While this endeavor was very frustrating for me, including having issues with the new fuel pump installation and a new car battery that were not directly related to the supercharger itself, they would not have happened if I did not have the supercharger installed, and added significantly to my overall frustration.

Now that the tuning issues appear to be behind me (knock on wood), I love the way the car runs, especially above 3,000 RPM. I'm hoping to be able to do my post supercharger zero to 60 run now that the tuning issues have been resolved.

Also, I want to say the concern and customer service provided by ESS Tuning have been outstanding once they became aware of my tuning issues.

[W37V]

Damn man! So sorry to hear that. I hope you get your $$$.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Tom Droze

ESS Super Charger Update... I am done! Continuous check engine lights, Idle hunting and stalling, hesitation and stalling as I try to accelerate from a stop. I am taking my car back to the shop on Monday to have my new fuel pump replaced under warranty because of a bad sending unit and I am having the supercharger removed. I will be have approximately $1,400 in labor for the supercharger install and removal, which I will attempt to recoup from ESS Tuning. And yes, I am F'n pissed off, as the hesitation and stalling has almost resulted in two accidents.

Really sorry to hear this. Hope you can recoup some or all the money. Certainly has made a spectacle of their product here, and justly so I think.

[Cdutch513]

Damn dude. Can you try one thing for me? I wanna see if you were having the same problem as me, because it sounds like the issue i was having.

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by Cdutch513

Damn dude. Can you try one thing for me? I wanna see if you were having the same problem as me, because it sounds like the issue i was having.

What would you like me to try?

[CobraMarty]

Sounds frustrating, but what if all the issues and problems you are experiencing are really due to a bad fuel pump and bad sending unit and not the ESS supercharger kit.

[bmw201113]

I've heard nothing but good review this review terrifies me

[Ruddigger]

Sorry to hear that, Tom, what a headache. The ESS superharger seems like a nicely made kit, too bad the tuning has been such a let down for so many people.

[JayTriggy14]

Sorry to hear about the issues. Is the fuel pump replacement oem? Maybe a stronger fuel pump like the Walbro 255 lph will resolve the hesitation?

[tetsuo111]

Sorry about your experience, Tom. Sounds very frustrating. Hope that ESS takes care of you properly.

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by TheAxiom

Are they offering to come out to you, like they did for Cdutch?

They are local to me but AJ has been out of the country. I sent the codes to the shop that did the installation over two weeks ago and have been following up, and I'm being told there is no updated tune. Of course the shop has been closed this week for vacation.

let's not lose site of the fact, my car was in the shop for nearly three weeks as they tried tune after tune after tune after...

Finally, the shop was "lucky" enough to catch AJ in between trips and he spent a day and a half working on a custom one-off tune to get my car to run right--and it did for a about a week or so before it started throwing codes. I can tell you the shop that did the installation is frustrated too as they had way more hours invested in trying to tune my car than they billed me for.

Last Saturday I was having breakfast with the local BMW club and I was talking to one of the members about the supercharger and the first thing he asked about was the state of the tune; he said he's known six people who had ESS superchargers installed and everyone of them had tuning issues and two got so frustrated they had them removed.

When your car stumbles and dies in the middle of a busy intersection, it's a bit disconcerting; especially with an automatic that requires your car to be in park and your foot on the brake to restart it. Or when you're braking to a stop and the idle starts hunting and the RPM's jump up causing the car lurch forward because the engine speed is suddenly higher than what you're braking for, the first time it happened I almost tapped the bumper of the car ahead of me.

[hassmaschine]

It seems like the hardware part of the kit is good but it doesn't sound like the tuning is there unfortunately. That's a bummer.

[E91 M Sport]

That sucks man. I'm really interested to see what BPC could/would find. They sounded like they want a crack at one but logistics just aren't favorable for anyone at the moment.

[Mike.]

sorry Tom

[Zajac1]

That's why is hard to find any updates about this kit cause it's another failure shit
I feel sorry for your loose ;/

[Cdutch513]

Originally Posted by Tom Droze

What would you like me to try?

Click the start button without your foot on the brake and see if you can hear the throttle body clicking.

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by Cdutch513

Click the start button without your foot on the brake and see if you can hear the throttle body clicking.

From the driver's seat I did not hear any clicking.

[JayTriggy14]

Hey I found this while doing some initial research on the V3 supercharger unit. Maybe this helps!

http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/page.php?id=33508

[Cdutch513]

Originally Posted by Tom Droze

From the driver's seat I did not hear any clicking.

Your throttle body is the problem. Most people would never know about the problem because the N52 doesn't use the throttle body unless valvetronic fails, but the ESS tune must know the position.
Mine was doing the same thing so I pulled it off, sprayed down the electrical connector, and using my hand made the throttle plate do a full cycle of open and close. After that try it again, if no clicks still I would say it's your throttle body. You can find them used on eBay for like 100 bucks.

[rick100]

It must be the aa headers causing it!!

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by rick100

It must be the aa headers causing it!!

No AA headers here, but I have a brand new set of AFE catted headers I'll sell you.

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by Cdutch513

Your throttle body is the problem. Most people would never know about the problem because the N52 doesn't use the throttle body unless valvetronic fails, but the ESS tune must know the position.
Mine was doing the same thing so I pulled it off, sprayed down the electrical connector, and using my hand made the throttle plate do a full cycle of open and close. After that try it again, if no clicks still I would say it's your throttle body. You can find them used on eBay for like 100 bucks.

Thank you, I will give it a try.