Defects by Crower Cams & Equipment Co., Inc.
 

This message is to warn you about possible manufacturing defects by Crower Cams & Equipment Co., Inc. Upon my return from Kandahar, Afghanistan my motor in my 2007 Subaru WRX STI had ringland failure. I decided to up grade certain parts to ensure that my motor would last. I decided to purchase Crower Stage 2 Cams, once my motor was rebuilt and tuned for break-in I broke the car in (The individual who built the motor is a Certified Subaru Master Tech). I did the recommended oil change intervals using amsoil zync break in oil along with constant communication with the shop. I broke the car in for 1,000 miles and continued to about 1,500 miles to ensure everything was seated properly and all parts functioned as they were supposed to.
The next day I got in my car and turned the car on, I noticed the oil light on and instantly turned the motor off, called the shop and had it towed up from Fort Bragg, North Carlona 50 miles to the shop. The shop called and told me that they'd like to take the motor apart and find any possible issues, a few days later I received a phone call stating the issues. I couldn't believe it, I honestly thought it was a joke. The shop sent the parts off for testing and determined the Cams were at fault (took a while to find out).
The shop contacted crower and crower refused to refund any money for the defected part along with all the damaged parts. The shop also had two other identical builds which had the exact same defect. All builds cost over 10k. My car has been at a stand still since November thanks to Crower. Meaning in the past two years I've driven my car for about 2 months thanks to the deployment and the part defect. I'm disgusted by the lack of customer service and disappointed in an un-patriotic company and will post this message on every forum, Facebook page to ensure the public is cautioned from this horrible company.

If something similar like this happened to you or someone you know, please contact me at [email]c.no.evo@icould.com[/email] also a big thanks for taking the time and reading this entire write up - I truly appreciate it.

- Kai

Sounds more like oil starvation from a bad oil pickup tube

That was the first thing that was ruled out, the issue has been identified and the cams are definitely at fault
[QUOTE=xhengmanx;3401014]Sounds more like oil starvation from a bad oil pickup tube[/QUOTE]

What exactly did the cams have to do with the low oil pressure? Specifics including pictures will only help your case. Without them you're just a nutbag talking bad about a company.

For the record, I was a Crower dealer for more than 5 years. My shop had been working with them so long that our account number was literally "7"

In my entire time, I never saw or even heard of a failure of any Crower product where something else didn't go first.

I've been out of the performance industry for years, so have no dog in this fight.

... but I've never seen a bad cam destroy [I]any [/I] engine. The worst thing that could happen, short of a cam snapping (which I've never seen) would be a lobe flattens out. This would deaden a cylinder. It could mess with your bearings, but only because metal shavings got into the oil feed before being filtered out.

[QUOTE=jdblock;3401036]What exactly did the cams have to do with the low oil pressure? Specifics including pictures will only help your case. Without them you're just a nutbag talking bad about a company.[/QUOTE]

Understandable - that's why I'm here posting everything I can to the best of my ability. The oil light came on and I had it towed to the shop - they took it apart and looked at every oil related part along with the oil sensor to ensure those weren't at fault.. They further looked at the motor and inspected the internals and sent a few things off for testing - where it was determined that the cams were 10% weaker than the stock STI cams.

[QUOTE=Lowend;3401041]For the record, I was a Crower dealer for more than 5 years. My shop had been working with them so long that our account number was literally "7"

In my entire time, I never saw or even heard of a failure of any Crower product where something else didn't go first.

I've been out of the performance industry for years, so have no dog in this fight.

... but I've never seen a bad cam destroy [I]any [/I] engine. The worst thing that could happen, short of a cam snapping (which I've never seen) would be a lobe flattens out. This would deaden a cylinder. It could mess with your bearings, but only because metal shavings got into the oil feed before being filtered out.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I was quite surprised to, but I paid the professionals for my build and they ensured they'd find out what was at fault and it was a long process.. Testing showed that the cams were 10% weaker than stock (as I just stated with
Jdblock) which then caused the lobes to wear and cause damage.

Sounds like. Broken oil pick up to me still...

Lobes wearing won't cause low oil pressure. Sounds like the shop is selling you wolf tickets.

I for one wouldn't trust a Subaru certified tech to build anything but a stock engine. Aftermarket parts take different considerations when being assembled.

[QUOTE=jdblock;3401064]Lobes wearing won't cause low oil pressure. Sounds like the shop is selling you wolf tickets.

I for one wouldn't trust a Subaru certified tech to build anything but a stock engine. Aftermarket parts take different considerations when being assembled.[/QUOTE]

He's been building motors for as long as I've been alive man. He has all the documentation that certifies him as a tech, but he focuses on maintaining along with builds.. He's probably one of the most knowledgeable people in this area.

Here's what my buddy posted on nasioc about the situation

So, what happened was the motor was assembled with custom Crower grinds. When they did the grind, the cams weren't re nitrated and the metal hardness test showed that the ground cam lobes were 10% or so softer than that of a stock cam thus when the harder than stock Manley springs were pressed, the lobe started to deform and then started to dimple and wear a hole through the buckets on several valves. It actually wore all the way through and ate a few retainers in the process.

I'm not going to say names if anyone involved or what companies tested what after the failure so don't ask. There wasnt an oiling issue and no cams snapped. The lobes started to flatten. The facts have been collected and the failure point proven. Formulate your own opinions, I could really care less, like I said, I just want to explain the facts as proven for the sake of C NO EVO.

I hate to say it man... I think your shop is trying to dodge responsibility.
There is absolutely nothing that a lobe flattening out could do to mess with oil pressure.
It could lead to a bent intake or exhaust valve, but really that's it.

I used to work with lots of pushrod engines, when the oil formulation changed back in the mid-2000's we saw lots of flat cams...

[QUOTE=Lowend;3401092]I hate to say it man... I think your shop is trying to dodge responsibility.
There is absolutely nothing that a lobe flattening out could do to mess with oil pressure.
It could lead to a bent intake or exhaust valve, but really that's it.

I used to work with lots of pushrod engines, when the oil formulation changed back in the mid-2000's we saw lots of flat cams...[/QUOTE]

The oil light came on because the shavings that came off of the cam lobes and the buckets - then pilled them up in the oil pan and eventually clogged the oil pickup.

Oil starvation is the reason why there is metal shavings on the pan. Now that is normally not associated with the cams unless there was oil starvation which would cause the cams to seize. Sounds like someone or a shop is trying to put the blame on a manufacturer rather then take responsibility.

They need to check the cam journal clearances. If those are too tight, the lobes don't get proper oiling and can do that. The other factor is the initial startup break-in procedure for new cams.

-- Ed

The only way for a cam to cause low oil pressure readings off the idiot light period is if they physically were not present!

Tight or incorrect line bore on the cam journal even in bind would only actually cause pressure spike not pressure loss.

If your builder per you latest posts attributes incorrect rockwall hardness causing bucket wear I'd be very weary as the rockwall tolerance for cam material is huge in variance and from my limited experience bucket wear is almost 100% of the time caused by in correct valve lash which is determined by the manufacturers cam spec's vs spring load.

There ya go c no evo:
Several industry professionals none of which stand to make a dollar off you either way... all telling you the same thing...
[I]The cam didn't do this. [/I]

The good news is you have an opportunity to go back to your engine builder and have a discussion...