MPower Motorsports

I wanted to share my recent experience with throttle actuator replacement on my E90 M3. The car has 80 K KM (50 K miles), and is not a daily driver. For the last 6 months I have had intermittent limp mode problems. The fault code was P1628 (Bank 1 failure). I was able to clear the fault code and the car worked fine for a few weeks, and then the problem reoccurred. In the late summer the car went into permanent limp mode so I needed to fix the problem. I did much research on this before I started, and then had a dialog with Abdul at MPower Motorsports. They are the exclusive distributor of rebuilt (and upgraded) actuators from RebuildUK. Abdul was very attentive and answered all my questions. Since I live in Vancouver, Canada, I had concerns about shipping and duty on the actuators. Abdul assured me that everything would be taken care of. I ordered the actuators on August 31, they were shipped on September 3, and received on the 9th. I received an e-mail and texts from Mark, VP Sales & Marketing when the parts were shipped. As Abdul had promised, MPower handled everything flawlessly.

I have worked on cars for many years, but have never replaced the throttle actuators on an S65. I used the DIY post as a starting point. Abdul joked that he could do the job in an hour. I am clearly not in his league. I did the job slowly, and had two friends (E46 M3 and M2 CS) come over on a Saturday to help. It really helps to have an extra pair or two of hands to help lift up the wiring harness to provide enough space to remove and reinstall the actuators. The work was spread out over two weekends, not because it takes that long, just because I didn’t have time. Mark sent a text to see how I was doing, which was much appreciated. When I completed the installation I tried to start the car without the plenum installed. The engine ran for a few seconds and stalled when I tried to rev past 1500 rpm. Before I started the job, I had cleared the P1628 code. I checked and surprisingly, it was still there. I erased the code and the engine fired up. So far, the S65 is running perfectly.

A week ago I received a text from Mark, late on a Friday night, to make sure that everything was working perfectly. Again, this is first rate customer service. I want to thank Abdul and Mark for all their effort, attentiveness, and advice. Did I mention the price? - great. MPower Motorsports is in all respects a very professional organization and I highly recommend them.

Thanks for the write up! Was on the fence between ordering oem or with them!

I too had a good experience with them. I ordered my rod bearings and bolts and I’m also in Vancouver bc.
One thing I was quoted 3 days for shipping but it ended up taking about a week. Not their fault but I’m assuming that they quoted shipping time within the USA and it just takes longer to ship international.

One of my replacement TAs took a dump a couple weeks after installation (replaced both "while is was in there"). Sucked a lot. MPower made me swap side to side before they would warranty. Bit of a PITA but I got though it.

They shipped me a replacement. Still, car was down for another couple weeks waiting for a replacement to be available and to get to Canada.

All has been good since then with the TAs.

Hi Rev V8 wrote

I wanted to share my recent experience with throttle actuator replacement on my E90 M3. The car has 80 K KM (50 K miles), and is not a daily driver. For the last 6 months I have had intermittent limp mode problems. The fault code was P1628 (Bank 1 failure). I was able to clear the fault code and the car worked fine for a few weeks, and then the problem reoccurred. In the late summer the car went into permanent limp mode so I needed to fix the problem. I did much research on this before I started, and then had a dialog with Abdul at MPower Motorsports. They are the exclusive distributor of rebuilt (and upgraded) actuators from RebuildUK. Abdul was very attentive and answered all my questions. Since I live in Vancouver, Canada, I had concerns about shipping and duty on the actuators. Abdul assured me that everything would be taken care of. I ordered the actuators on August 31, they were shipped on September 3, and received on the 9th. I received an e-mail and texts from Mark, VP Sales & Marketing when the parts were shipped. As Abdul had promised, MPower handled everything flawlessly.

I have worked on cars for many years, but have never replaced the throttle actuators on an S65. I used the DIY post as a starting point. Abdul joked that he could do the job in an hour. I am clearly not in his league. I did the job slowly, and had two friends (E46 M3 and M2 CS) come over on a Saturday to help. It really helps to have an extra pair or two of hands to help lift up the wiring harness to provide enough space to remove and reinstall the actuators. The work was spread out over two weekends, not because it takes that long, just because I didn’t have time. Mark sent a text to see how I was doing, which was much appreciated. When I completed the installation I tried to start the car without the plenum installed. The engine ran for a few seconds and stalled when I tried to rev past 1500 rpm. Before I started the job, I had cleared the P1628 code. I checked and surprisingly, it was still there. I erased the code and the engine fired up. So far, the S65 is running perfectly.

A week ago I received a text from Mark, late on a Friday night, to make sure that everything was working perfectly. Again, this is first rate customer service. I want to thank Abdul and Mark for all their effort, attentiveness, and advice. Did I mention the price? - great. MPower Motorsports is in all respects a very professional organization and I highly recommend them.

Thanks for the detailed write-up. It means a lot. I can finally say that we HAVE units in stock and can ship out the same day. It's been a long road here but I have finally made it. No more 5-8 days turnaround time. I will try to maintain this business practice moving forward. Just kindly help me by sending the cores back in a timely manner so we can keep the train going.

Have had these TA replacements in my car for a couple years now. So far so good! Definitely recommend.

We have Throttle Actuators in stock now. Finally! It's been a long journey here but I have finally made it. Anyone who places an order will get the units shipped out the same day or the next depending on what time I receive their order. Thanks for all the support!

Abdul

I wish my experience was better. I was warned that some units go out very quickly. I had plans to ship my car to the mainland and do a road trip and wanted to preventatively change my actuators.

I put them in about a month before my trip and drove my car a couple times prior to my shipping date. Luckily the 2nd time I drove it (about 2 weeks until shipping) I got all the classic actuator faults on bank 1. I put about 150miles on these reman units.

I reached out immediately and Mark helped walk me thru diag. I had a faulty unit. I thought it wouldn't be an issues since they offer lifetime warranty but they were out of units and I had already shipped my cores to them. Mark then reached out to their UK counterpart and there was no way I was going to get a unit in Hawaii before my departure. I asked for a full refund and this UK counterpart was giving Mark and I a hard time since there is a "warranty". Ultimately I couldn't risk it and had to buy new actuators from FCP so my car could be driven and shipped.

I ended up getting the refund after a bit and Mark was very helpful and understanding. My only qualm was this "warranty". A warranty is only valid if there are units always in stock that can be shipped out immediately which was not the case. Even if I had not been in Hawaii I would have been in a car down situation. What if this happened far from home? Who is paying for the labor if you are not doing DIY?

I can't recommend them due to a failure in the first 150 miles but I can say Mark was very responsive and understanding. I don't really understand their business model with the UK company and for a few hundred bucks more I would say just go new from FCP with a real warranty.

dannyboy017 wrote

I can't recommend them due to a failure in the first 150 miles but I can say Mark was very responsive and understanding. I don't really understand their business model with the UK company and for a few hundred bucks more I would say just go new from FCP with a real warranty.

Interesting, I had a customer that provided these TAs who had exactly the same experience, I'm glad I caught it and swapped in one of his old ones which were both working before removing, he also wanted to replace them preventatively.

@dannyboy017 tdott

Thanks for your feedback as well. Between Rebuild and ///M Power Motorsports, we have sold thousands of units to customers all across the world. We have approximately 600 5 Star Google Reviews between the two of us. Thousands of satisfied customers who made a killer savings purchasing units from us, plus enjoy a lifetime warranty.

Now, that's not to say we haven't had units that have failed. We have fine tuned the process to the T now. When these units were first offered to the community many years ago, they only came with a 1 year warranty. Over time, the materials and manufacturing were fine tuned to a point where now we offer a lifetime warranty. We definitely had some units that failed during the years. Each unit that fails goes through rigorous testing to see where and how this happened. Earlier this year, we identified 2 points that needed to be addressed. One was the inconsistency in the gear manufacturing quality from a very REPUTABLE manufacturer. The only good one out there. We decided to begin manufacturing in-house to ensure the quality was consistent. This was huge W for us.

Secondly, we found that 4 out of the 6 units that were returned under warranty incurred damages during shipping. This resulted in the unit failing either immediately or pretty shortly after the units were installed. Even though we always protect and ship our units with ample protection, we took it a step higher and made the necessary steps to fix this problem as well. Knowing very well that couriers handle packages like they are trash.

We now maintain stock in USA and if ever, someone has a warranty issue, we can ship a unit out the same day! In the past, this wasn't the case since we couldn't maintain stock here.

Advising people to buy the same OEM units is almost like telling people to put OEM bearings back in their cars. The OEM Idle controls Valves (our next project) and OEM Throttle Actuators are pieces of Junk. Whoever designed the internals on these ought to be fired. The gears used in here are not even strong enough to last a lifetime opening a sunroof! The electronics are not graded to be in high temperature settings. It's possible that an engine can last a lifetime on OEM bearings. But it's IMPOSSIBLE that an S65 or S85 motor will last a lifetime with OEM units. Every single units WILL FAIL. Why put the same garbage back in your car?! Why give money to the same system that screwed us in the first place?

Finally, I have a very special addition to my lifetime warranty policy. This will be a game changer. That's how confident we are with our current set up. Starting from December 2021, our lifetime warranty policy will also cover LABOR CHARGES up to a certain amount in case our units fail! So not only will you never have to pay for the units again, you won't have to pay for labor again as well!

Abdul

This is the daily feedback we get.

Abdul wrote

Finally, I have a very special addition to my lifetime warranty policy. This will be a game changer. That's how confident we are with our current set up. Starting from December 2021, our lifetime warranty policy will also cover LABOR CHARGES up to a certain amount in case our units fail! So not only will you never have to pay for the units again, you won't have to pay for labor again as well!

Abdul

That doesn't help when you previously say you'd do something, then stop responding and failed to process core refunds in a timely manner.

Let's hope that changes, but still it's a word of caution.


Edit:
This issue is now resolved after a few months of "misunderstanding" the refund is now received. Happy I made this post. Otherwise it probably wouldn't have.

tdott wrote

Abdul wrote

Finally, I have a very special addition to my lifetime warranty policy. This will be a game changer. That's how confident we are with our current set up. Starting from December 2021, our lifetime warranty policy will also cover LABOR CHARGES up to a certain amount in case our units fail! So not only will you never have to pay for the units again, you won't have to pay for labor again as well!

Abdul

That doesn't help when you previously say you'd do something, then stop responding and failed to process core refunds in a timely manner.

Let's hope that changes, but still it's a word of caution.

LOL. I just replied to your PM as well. Hopefully, once you read it, you'll understand your position on this is completely off.

Like I said before, happy with the warranty but a little miffed that I had to swap banks to prove the failure was the actuator after only 3 weeks - even though all the codes and the test routine pointed to a failed actuator. Lucky I could do all the wrenching myself or that step would have added even more labor costs.

Happy to hear supply chain issues are being addressed. I would likely buy MPower again.

@abdul from M Power Motorsports is the freaking man. Extremely honorable and generous. He had a tough year last year losing his 22-year-old brother (https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1766565&highlight=condolences). Whatever delays there were must have been as a result of this. I'm sure most if not everyone will vouch for him. I'm a repeat customer. Purchased throttle actuators, ACL bearings, and ARP bolts for my s65. And then purchased F80 OLED taillights from him as well. Recently purchased Aspheric Mirrors (Euro Spec) from him as well. Best price guaranteed. And the best part is that he is a fellow enthusiast.

Abdul wrote

We have Throttle Actuators in stock now. Finally! It's been a long journey here but I have finally made it. Anyone who places an order will get the units shipped out the same day or the next depending on what time I receive their order. Thanks for all the support!

Abdul

Just ordered =)

Totally missed out on the promo...of course right after the promo ended my actuators went out

IntegraXTR wrote

Abdul wrote

We have Throttle Actuators in stock now. Finally! It's been a long journey here but I have finally made it. Anyone who places an order will get the units shipped out the same day or the next depending on what time I receive their order. Thanks for all the support!

Abdul

Just ordered =)

Totally missed out on the promo...of course right after the promo ended my actuators went out

I can still honor the discount. No worries. PM and I'll share a promo code with you.

Abdul wrote

I can still honor the discount. No worries. PM and I'll share a promo code with you.

Thank you. Already placed the order prior to posting