Hey everyone. After weeks of waiting for JBR support to help and eventually falling flat, I am finally ready to post my incomplete review of the JBR oil cooler for the first gen Mazdaspeed 3. Why it's incomplete will be explained below.
TL: DR; Buy a Damond one, they have a better kit and have much better customer support.
I purchased a brand new JBR Oil Cooler kit a few months ago and quickly got to installing it, and subsequently finding myself more disappointed the further the installation went.
The unboxing and contents:
First Impressions:
TL: DR; Buy a Damond one, they have a better kit and have much better customer support.
I purchased a brand new JBR Oil Cooler kit a few months ago and quickly got to installing it, and subsequently finding myself more disappointed the further the installation went.
The unboxing and contents:
First Impressions:
- Kit doesn't appear to be sufficiently packaged, as there's damage to the heat exchanger
- Sandwich plate quality is strange, looks seemingly used/dinged up
- Instructions are not included like competitors
- Parts look different than those pictured in instructions online
Despite JBR claiming this won't fit on a car with a FMIC, it indeed can. I have a Treadstone TR8 and was able to fit the oil cooler in without too much trouble.
Here's the mounting for my Treadstone TR8:
Installing the heat exchanger onto the mounting bracket is simple enough, however since mine was damaged I had to watch the painted metal break off of the mounting points which sucked. One side was much worse, and that side subsequently has a half-connected side piece that moves freely now.
None the less, doing the hardware is simple enough, albeit annoying. Hoses go on the bottom and require two wrenches to ensure you don't snap the flanges off the heat exchanger itself.
Moving onto mounting the bracket & heat exchanger to the car, I noticed the use of spacers in lieu of an appropriately bent/formed bracket like the Damond has. Additionally, the bolts and washers included leave much to be desired in terms of quality and fit. Keep in mind the photos do not show things tightened up, merely loose for fitting purposes.
Next, the instructions mention simply using the included bolts and washers to install the crash sensor back onto the new mounting bracket. The problem is there's no way to do this without cutting the tabs off the sensor, as the bracket doesn't have the two holes for the OEM tabs to go through. While this isn't a deal-breaker, it's not even mentioned in the instructions. The ironic part is the picture for this step shows a 2nd gen, despite the instructions being specific to the 1st gen. This is lazy, in my opinion.
Solution: snip off the OEM plastic tabs.
We're still not in the clear though, as we have to put a bolt through this sensor into a nut now that there's no OEM threads built into the JBR mounting bracket. This is inferior to OEM in my opinion because you basically have to put the nut into an open ended wrench behind the mounting bracket and then hold it in place while you install the bolt.
Annoyances aside, we've now got a mounted heat exchanger above a FMIC!
Sandwich Plate Installation: Installing the heat exchanger onto the mounting bracket is simple enough, however since mine was damaged I had to watch the painted metal break off of the mounting points which sucked. One side was much worse, and that side subsequently has a half-connected side piece that moves freely now.
None the less, doing the hardware is simple enough, albeit annoying. Hoses go on the bottom and require two wrenches to ensure you don't snap the flanges off the heat exchanger itself.
Moving onto mounting the bracket & heat exchanger to the car, I noticed the use of spacers in lieu of an appropriately bent/formed bracket like the Damond has. Additionally, the bolts and washers included leave much to be desired in terms of quality and fit. Keep in mind the photos do not show things tightened up, merely loose for fitting purposes.
Next, the instructions mention simply using the included bolts and washers to install the crash sensor back onto the new mounting bracket. The problem is there's no way to do this without cutting the tabs off the sensor, as the bracket doesn't have the two holes for the OEM tabs to go through. While this isn't a deal-breaker, it's not even mentioned in the instructions. The ironic part is the picture for this step shows a 2nd gen, despite the instructions being specific to the 1st gen. This is lazy, in my opinion.
Solution: snip off the OEM plastic tabs.
We're still not in the clear though, as we have to put a bolt through this sensor into a nut now that there's no OEM threads built into the JBR mounting bracket. This is inferior to OEM in my opinion because you basically have to put the nut into an open ended wrench behind the mounting bracket and then hold it in place while you install the bolt.
Annoyances aside, we've now got a mounted heat exchanger above a FMIC!
Here's where my story takes an unfortunate turn, as the sandwich plate install ended up being the most annoying part. To start, you need to drain your oil and coolant, which is shockingly not mentioned in the instructions at all, albeit potentially obvious. In any case, drain the oil and coolant, and essentially bend one of the coolant ports on the OEM oil cooler towards the front of the car for clearance of the new oil cooler lines.
Once you are ready to install the adapter, make sure you realize there are two DIFFERENT ones included, again not being mentioned in the instructions. One of them will not work at all, and the other one evidently has different threading to allow it to work, barely.
I can't tell the difference, and I forgot which one works. Try both and you'll know.
Installing the sandwich plate is a terribly ill-confidence inducing experience. The adapter that does work only bites a few millimeters onto the OEM spin-on housing threads. It lacks any kind of confidence as far as securing it goes. In any case, turn it the one or two times you can by hand and torque to the 35 ft/lbs per the instructions.
Now for the worst part of my experience, oil leaking out of the sandwich plate allen plug. After filling the car back up with oil and fluids, I started it and let it run to check for leaks. After a minute I noticed oil seeping out of the allen plug on the sandwich adapter. Time to drain it all again.
Per the instructions:
This was nice and tight, but still leaked. In the end I used Teflon tape (not mentioned in instructions) and tightened it a bit more. I never got to see if this ended up working due to what happened next.
Upon tightening up the allen plug and going to install the sandwich plate adapter for the second time, I followed all the same steps I did the first time, except I sheared off the threads on the spin-on oil filter housing. This was only during the torquing of the sandwich plate, so I assume it was simply over torqued.
Here's pictures of that fun experience:
Time to order a new spin-on filter housing.
New Spin-on Filter Housing:Once you are ready to install the adapter, make sure you realize there are two DIFFERENT ones included, again not being mentioned in the instructions. One of them will not work at all, and the other one evidently has different threading to allow it to work, barely.
I can't tell the difference, and I forgot which one works. Try both and you'll know.
Installing the sandwich plate is a terribly ill-confidence inducing experience. The adapter that does work only bites a few millimeters onto the OEM spin-on housing threads. It lacks any kind of confidence as far as securing it goes. In any case, turn it the one or two times you can by hand and torque to the 35 ft/lbs per the instructions.
Now for the worst part of my experience, oil leaking out of the sandwich plate allen plug. After filling the car back up with oil and fluids, I started it and let it run to check for leaks. After a minute I noticed oil seeping out of the allen plug on the sandwich adapter. Time to drain it all again.
Per the instructions:
"Tighten the large plug with a 14mm socket and install the small plug into the opposite side of the sandwich plate adapter using a 3/16” Allen wrench as shown below."
This was nice and tight, but still leaked. In the end I used Teflon tape (not mentioned in instructions) and tightened it a bit more. I never got to see if this ended up working due to what happened next.
Upon tightening up the allen plug and going to install the sandwich plate adapter for the second time, I followed all the same steps I did the first time, except I sheared off the threads on the spin-on oil filter housing. This was only during the torquing of the sandwich plate, so I assume it was simply over torqued.
Here's pictures of that fun experience:
Time to order a new spin-on filter housing.
After getting a new housing from Edge and going back in for a third time, aiming to be more careful than ever, I noticed the adapter wasn't feeling too good when I went to thread it on. Rather than go with it, I decided to really get a closer look and see what was up. Turns out, the over torquing messed with the threads inside the adapter, causing it to be askew when installing it.
JBR doesn't think this is an issue, but I won't install it if it doesn't fit perfectly. It spins askew and doesn't seat flat as intended.
Customer Support / Next Steps:JBR doesn't think this is an issue, but I won't install it if it doesn't fit perfectly. It spins askew and doesn't seat flat as intended.
After the shearing of the spin-on housing I reached out to JBR to see if I could get any insight as to what happened, as I followed all the instructions. James asked if I had used an extension on the torque wrench, which I advised I did. I simply couldn't get a torque wrench in that space without using one, so I used the shortest one I had available, ~3in.
Assuming responsibility, I asked if I could simply purchase another adapter, as everything else should work just fine as intended. I was advised they were out of stock, but would let me know when they had more.
Two weeks later I hadn't heard back and decided to follow up with them again, and was unfortunately met with an unsatisfactory response. They now told me they didn't even stock this part at all.
Weeks of my time wasted unfortunately, all to have a product of now-no use to me. In theory I could purchase just this adapter from somewhere else, but JBR hasn't responded to my inquiry regarding the details of said adapter.
Conclusion:Assuming responsibility, I asked if I could simply purchase another adapter, as everything else should work just fine as intended. I was advised they were out of stock, but would let me know when they had more.
Two weeks later I hadn't heard back and decided to follow up with them again, and was unfortunately met with an unsatisfactory response. They now told me they didn't even stock this part at all.
Weeks of my time wasted unfortunately, all to have a product of now-no use to me. In theory I could purchase just this adapter from somewhere else, but JBR hasn't responded to my inquiry regarding the details of said adapter.
After this 6 week ordeal I'm pretty defeated and exhausted from dealing with all this. I can take responsibility for over torquing the thing if the extension is what caused that, but for that simple mistake to ruin the entire install just sucks. Furthermore, the customer service from JBR leaves much to be desired, and I don't appreciate being told one then and then the opposite two weeks later.
I can't recommend this product when better options exist. I couldn't even find any reviews about this product itself, which potentially speaks volumes. I hope this review helps someone, and I'm sorry I couldn't actually get to test the temperature differences as I wanted.
This July heat in Arizona had me seeing 232* coolant temps just trying to get up to speed on the freeway, so this oil cooler was much needed.
FMIC Fitment Picture Help:I can't recommend this product when better options exist. I couldn't even find any reviews about this product itself, which potentially speaks volumes. I hope this review helps someone, and I'm sorry I couldn't actually get to test the temperature differences as I wanted.
This July heat in Arizona had me seeing 232* coolant temps just trying to get up to speed on the freeway, so this oil cooler was much needed.
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