Procharger: Serious flaws

Hi there. My name is Seth. I have a 2018 tacoma and have had a d1sc procharger tuner kit on the truck since april 2023. I have had some issues, and figured I would list them off. Truck is on stock pulley, stock Procharger tune, stock intake, 4.88 gears, 35’s.

1. I have broken 3 belts. I know two other guys that have broken belts. Procharger ships with a k060663 belt, this belt is too long, you need to get a k060658HD belt. The tensioners will push the belt into itself at high rpm and cause belt to burn. This may become an issue with the HD belt, time will tell as it breaks in.

2. the all thread bolt thats one of the main 3 bolts that mounts supercharger needs to be upgraded to a hardened steel bolt, the other 2 bolts as well. At high rpm the blower shakes and vibrates, as well as at low rpm below 1000 at idle.

3. the belt gets very hot. Even with a csf radiator , need to find a better way to cool belt

4. you cannot use any cold air intake. You must use the oem intake, the position of the MAF is very important, it will throw codes or not fire if using different intake

5. Procharger is not very helpful. Do not expect any support from them at all.

6. would i do it again? No

7. email me seth.watrous@gmail.com if you have questions. I hate the messaging function of this forum.

 

Good info, thanks for sharing, curious as to what others will chime in with.

 

That sucks to hear

 

The blower itself has been fine. Want to be clear about that, but obviously thats irrelevant when you break a belt every month

 

Just speculating here; I doubt these companies have the resources to properly R&D such large projects/kits.
They seem more like a tinkerer’s delight

 

Procharger is a 20 million dollar company annually with 66 employees. Im not saying they should have an R and D department. I do however think the $8500 product I bought from them should operate in a normal manner. I also believe when you email them over months trying to explain the issue, they shouldnt ignore you, especially when multiple other people are calling with the exact same issue. Making excuses for these companies isnt helpful, it will only decrease the quality of future products for everyone.

 

Just have to ask but did you try calling them?

 

Who installed it, and what do they think? Have you inspected the broken belts to see if you can find a trending wear pattern on each? Could be anything honestly; I'd start with inspecting pulleys for burs/making sure all parts are the shape they're intended to be.

 

I would check components for alignment. Belt a month is screaming something isn't true. Hows the tune setup with pro charger?

 

Man that is terrible to hear. The idea of a supercharger is awesome, but I haven't ever quite gotten enough nerve to pull the trigger on that investment. Based on your experiences that you've shared, I'm certainly glad I haven't yet at this point. If I were to have the issues you were having with reliability, I would lose my mind. Then to compound the issue you're not getting support from the company? Double ouch! To be honest, I'd really consider pulling that thing off if I couldn't get it sorted out in short order and just chalk it up to not all mods are good mods. Most of us have been there and done that to some degree.........cams, etc in the old days! Good luck to you.

 

I get it, I understand you’re frustrated and may have read that the wrong way.
I was not trying to make an excuse,,, rather I agree,,,it is inexcusable, but still the end user should understand the reality. Unfortunately, you found this the hard way, and that sucks.
In my younger years, I put a supercharger on a Honda Civic (hahaha I know, I said I was young!) and without two friends that were also Honda techs, and their buddies at the dealer shop,,,, that project would have went waaaayyyyy over my budget and skill level.

 

Was definitely thinking this myself. If it was a DIY…

Worst case, return it, go another route

 

Sounds like they barely tested it, which is pretty awful for $8500, not to mention a lack of follow up support. At that price I'd be looking at my legal options to get my money back.

 

Good luck with that. Imagine trying to file a lawsuit for the price of your entire brand new truck because you kept blowing tires a few months after ownership. You don't just get a new free truck, you take it back to them (the shop that installed it in OP's case), find the root of the issue, and seek resolution from there. In that case, you'd likely find it was not aligned properly, or something warped, causing premature tire wear. In OP's case, his shop would likey find a warped pulley, or something not to the spec it was supposed to be. Simple fix from there. In the case OP did all this work himself, well, we all see where thats going..

 

$8500,00 charger on a truck that's only worth $25k

 

Unfortunately all mods have their pros and cons. The procharger has a big pro, more power! The con of blowing belts is something some people could live with. I'm not one of them. If you want more power consider buying a Ford or Chevy with the 6.2.

 

what did you expect tho

 

This is nothing. When I was younger I was putting $4,500 superchargers on cars worth ~$250 dollars.

It was awesome.

 

On porsche 944 the timing belt in early versions didnt have a metal separator to keep the belt and idler/tensioner pulley from causing the belt to rub itself. This was later fixed and guard studs molded into the water pump. that separator could be a starting point for a DIY solution. Even porsche didnt get it 100% right when making a production vehicle.

https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/12635...qrgl7qfYLeIYG9ncEOliqfho0mUEuYXRoCVx8QAvD_BwE


or you can try to move the procharger farther away and help with the belt length (or find a shorter belt)

 

I’ve been having the same issues. I had the guys at Mountain Yotas in Denver and install it. Same thing happened, the 060663 belt came a part and tore up my engine compartment. Knocked off hoses, the thing overheated, etc. I’m installing the CSF radiator and a new thermostat. I’ve installed an electric puller fan to try and keep things cool. Which makes it easier to change the belt.

I could not get the 058 belt on. I’m running the 660 length, and so far so good. I’ve ordered the HD belt.

Procharger’s customer service is shit. Their answer to the guys at MTNYotas was that the install was probably bad and blamed them. They’ve had the same problem with at least 3 of them. Plus, they literally do a bazillion of them.

It’s almost $11k installed. Folks usually get hot when something that costs that much fails

I told the owner at MTNYota that I’ll run the shorter belt. If I need to I’ll take it up and have them put the 058HD belt on, I will. But if I keep having problems, I’m going to have them take it off. I can’t be up in the mountains with my kids and have my truck come part.

ProCharger figured out how to make me anxious about the most reliable truck on the entire planet ever made.