Stillen Gen 3 Intake ate through my A/C Pipe...
 

Does anyone have any issues similar to mine?

I visited my dealer because my air conditioning stopped working.

5 days ago, the sun was up high so I turned on my A/C and it started making weird noises.

After few minutes, the noise was gone and I noticed the air was bit warm.

The next day, I figured the A/C stopped working so I booked a reservation to check what the problem is.

The dealer says that my aftermarket intake was 'rubbing' the A/C high/low pressure pipe and eventually ate through the pipe.... :ugh2:

They are charging me 650 for labor and 80 for parts (A/C pipes)

It's not under warranty since the aftermarket intakes caused the problem.

To fix the problem a rubber should be wrapped around the intake (Passenger side) and gasket has to be placed so that the intake will never harm the A/C pipes

Does anyone have similar problem like mine? :shakes head:

first time to hear such a thing

how long have you had the intakes?

Yeah, anyone with Gen 3's that doesn't wrap the a/c lines in that one particular spot will eventually have the same problem.

Sucks big time!

Is it in the instructions?

Doesnt the instructions tell you to wrap the AC lines with a rubber hose?

The instruction says to wrap the A/C pipes with rubber?

I got a shop work on my intakes, I had no idea the instruction said so...

I will check on that later.

Thanks !

Thats unfortunate but you're not the first! The instruction clearly state to cover the AC lines with a piece of rubber due to the proximity of the intakes and AC lines. I used pieces of heater hose to wrap the AC lines and have not had any issues.

You should have read the instructions. They *clearly* show that you must wrap the A/C lines. It could not have been more clear. Oops. :shakes head:

If you don't have the instructions any more, go online to Stillen,com they have a PDF file online that is the instructions. Then print it out and demand the morons who installed it for you pay the Nissan bill.

I wrapped mine with a split silicone hose.

yeah this is clearly in the instructions, whoever installed the intakes for you should be paying your repair bill

Is this only an issue with the stillens? Anyone know if the injen could have the same issue? I bought my Injen intakes used and did not get directions. I just figured it out as I went.

The Injens do not have this issue. The only other thing about installing the Stillen intakes is that you have to do some cutting, nothing overly difficult but it deters some people. The Injens on the other hand sit very low to the ground and so it is not advised to drive through deep puddles as you can suck in some water.

Edit: with the Injens you also have to replace your washer fluid tank for a smaller one supplied by Injen!

I know my G3s came with some rubber tubing for the AC Lines. How long have you had yours? I bought mine back in August I think and installed it myself so I know it came with that.

Last winter... so probably around november.

That truly sucks, Stillen includes some extra hose to cover the A/C lines to prevent this from happening. I agree with the others, the shop that installed your intakes should be held accountable for ignoring instructions which then caused the damage.

bummer

Same thing happened to RCZ I believe.

I tried to make sure that when I installed mine that there was a good gap between the two and added some split rubber hose around the line just incase things moved. It is noted in the installation instructions.

I bought mine months ago and the only rubber hoses that came with it is the ones that you use to connect to the intake and the intake resonators. But as always I read up on everything that I install before doing so. So I knew what to do. So I bought some fuel hose to wrap my AC lines and my oil cooler lines.

Mine just went because the installer didn't wrap the AC lines...got mine installed in October. Weird it took about the same amount of time to rub through.

did you go back to the shop that installed them? What did they say?

This sucks, I feel your pain, and it is common here (there's a few other threads from years past) When i got my G3's two years ago they didn't come with the rubber piece. They tore through 1 set of AC lines and I had to get it replaced. Then I installed my own rubber piece to keep it from happening and it almost tore through that over 18 months. Now I'm moving on to different intakes.

They say that silicones or rubber whatever they should have used to cover the intakes, are too weak, so they put cement on it and rubber on top of it.

What other intakes are you looking at?

This is a big issue since Stillen V3 is supposedly one of the best intakes for our cars...

Seems like a few have already had this issue...

Anyone have a stronger suggestion or recommendations? I guess we have to keep an eye on the A/C lines?

I can't see how that could happen if you used heater hose or even a piece of garden hose to wrap the AC lines and secured with zipped ties. Is your intake tube really loose because the hole that was cut is way too big?

It's only an issue if you miss that step about wrapping the AC lines. The G3 is still the best intake to go with.

:iagree:

It's the best intake if you don't track. I'm considering removing mine if I can't find a proper way to insulate it. At the end of a session my intake tubes are at 200 degrees and bringing the intake charge temp up quite a bit. Heat soak is a killer. Plastic is an effective insulator, so I think Nissan got that part right.

Hey Chris, Have you looked at a thermal blanket? I'm having to Canyon Carve and have noticed the difference once the intakes reach max temps under the hood and was looking at a way to keeping the intakes at or close to ambient as possible.

Are you saying the metal tubing is heating up? You've got a point there...the Gen3's might be more effective if the tubing was plastic. The filters are in a great position already (out of the engine bay). However, when you're running, the air is traveling pretty quickly through that area, you do you think it actually has a chance to warm up significantly in that second or two that it takes the air to enter the plenum?

I heard that whole water thing is just a myth... or perhaps it's just with turbo'd cars?

No Myth! it has happened.

http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...e-flooded.html

Yes it is. The performance fall-off is quite noticeable.

That's what I'm think about. I know wstar did that to his right away but it hasn't really been tested under track conditions. As long as it doesn't melt or catch on fire I'm willing to try it.

Where did you hear that? You are on a roll with intake comments.

ive heard the 370z doesnt even have intakes

:icon18:

This guy

yup, so apparently this happened to me as well. I took it to the shop and they say the intake ate thru the a/c line. I was so excited to install the intake that i hovered through the instructions.. I bought the a/c line at the dealer for 45 bucks, but they want around 1000 dollars for labor

hyunsoo, did you ever get it fixed?

I'm sure labor would be cheaper outside the dealership.

did you have the PVC pipe installed in order for it not to cut the AC lines?