Whipplesupercharge disaster
Hello, I'm writing this review to prevent future buyers from making the same mistake I did. In 2019/2020, I purchased a Whipple supercharger kit for a Mercruiser V8 5.7L engine mounted in a boat. The purchase was made through Harding Marine, and after some back and forth, we agreed on a supercharger kit, supposedly complete and requiring no major modifications—a "plug and play" kit. Harding Marine praised Whipple, placing them at the top of the market, highlighting the quality of their materials and design. In 2020, I received my kit, albeit a little late. While waiting, even though my boat engine only had 250 hours on it, I had it rebuilt by a professional engine specialist to ensure an optimal engine/supercharger setup. We then installed the supercharger kit, encountering some minor issues due to inaccuracies, particularly regarding the thermostat's position. In short, the installation was carried out perfectly, including engine break-in. Upon starting the engine, after 1.5 hours of idling, a major surprise: there was water in the engine oil. The engine oil was immediately drained, the various heat exchange areas were disassembled, and all the seals and mating surfaces of the compressor on the top were replaced, correcting less than 1/10th of the mating surface. After restarting, water appeared in the engine a second time! Another oil change and cleaning were performed, and I must admit it was a real puzzle. The puzzle was solved with the compressor base supplied by Whipple, which had a major defect: a machining error for a mounting screw that caused it to pass through several parts. This explained the water in the engine oil. We contacted the manufacturer via Harding Marine, and regarding this, without any explanation or apology, they sent a new, non-defective part. The part, which was not defective, was fitted to the engine, started, run in on the bench for three hours, then the entire assembly was reassembled on the boat.
The boat's water test resulted in a complete engine failure after five hours. After inspection: the oil film ruptured, causing the crankshaft bearings to be torn off, followed by engine failure. And the situation is unbelievable: Harding Marine is no longer responding? My questions and requests for assistance sent to Whipple are going unanswered. After resorting to threats, I finally got a response from Harding Marine, who told me they had done their job properly, that they had asked the suppliers to replace the part, and that I had immediately asked for compensation. I remind you that I had a 250-hour engine that I had completely rebuilt, and it broke down. (Do I bear any responsibility for the breakdown? And will they give me a new engine for free?) Besides the cost of the repair, I had to buy a brand new engine for €20,000, and once again, I had to pay out of pocket for the troubleshooting and the mechanic's intervention before they could determine that the new part supplied by Whipple was defective. Having no other choice, we installed the kit on the new engine and ran tests. The boat has been out of commission since 2020, with about thirty hours of testing, without being able to run properly. Mercruiser intervened, suggesting a poorly programmed injection control unit. So, after numerous email exchanges, we sent the control unit back to Whipple, which resulted in a response on average 15 days to 3 weeks later. They boast about having a competition department: I don't know how they manage their competitors, but I'm very worried for them. The reprogrammed control unit was received (a second time), installed in the boat, and now, six years later, the boat still doesn't work, with alarms, safety shutdowns, and a compressor that refuses to operate. The bottom line is, when we contact Whipple by email: to get the meaning of the error codes, they respond completely unrelatedly, as if it were a summer job or the response was written by someone who doesn't understand anything: they give me answers that correspond to a Mercury V6 outboard, even though I have a kit for a Mercruiser V8 inboard.
So, in short, if you're considering buying a Whipple kit to increase your boat's power, run away and forget it. And keep in mind that it can cost you dearly: There's no after-sales service, the parts are defective, the customer service is nonexistent and incompetent, and despite the initial warranties, there are none. My desire to increase my boat's power cheaply ended up as a financial black hole, costing me five times the price of the compressor kit for a boat that, after six years, still doesn't work. And we're now reverting to the original configuration by removing the useless compressor kit, which doesn't work and, above all, has no support or professional expertise behind it. Think about it.