Truck Repairs.....Gotta Rant!!

[L_Kilkenny]

Bought an 1995 F150 off an estate a couple months ago. 100% straight, no paint fade, almost zero rust and 107,000 miles. Felt I got a good deal at $4200. I drove it a month or so and then changed the oil, plugs and wires. No biggie. That was on a Saturday. Drove it around that day/night and then home and it sat till Monday morning. Started it up to a god awful ping in the top end on Monday morning. Bang, bang, bang. Let er sit a couple days and then changed the oil to a thicker Mobil 1. Helped some but still had the ping. Let er sit again and then pulled the drivers side valve cover and checked torque on the rocker/lifters. Everything checked fine.

Off to the shop it goes. I tell em I checked the lifters and they seemed fine, leave it for them to check and get a call later. They say it's definitely a lifter and recommend I change all of them on the drivers side, 8 in all at $25 each. Total for everything = $800. I cringe but bite the bullet and agree.

Next day I get a call, Bad news. They have it back together, replaced lifters (even though they didn't see a bad one) and it still has the ping. Well they sent a scope down thru the spark plug hole and find #5 has a bad gouge in the wall. Oh No!! They recommend pulling the motor, honing the wall and installing a new piston and rings. Cost = $1400. Ouch.

Move forward to today......... Get a call, bad news again. Gouge is too deep to hone, rod bearing is shot and the block needs sent off to the machine shop for some boring. Argggggggg!

Don't have the quote yet, keeps getting deeper and deeper. One big issue I have is the the constant miss diagnosis. If they had said I was needing all this work in the beginning I would of told em to put it back together and I'd of driven it till it dropped then put a rebuild in myself. As a matter of fact, I have an older truck with the same motor that I could of parted out after the existing one blew. I plain and simple don't have money for a rebuild PLUS LABOR right now.

As of now I'm in the red with the shop. If I have them keep working they'll eat part of the work I've already had them do but if I pull it home they want the total bill. In the end all I'll have is a truck with the motor sitting in the box and have to pay for the privilege.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not all that upset at the shop. They are trying to make it right and I've done enough service work that I know sometimes things just go wrong. But it doesn't make it much easier to swallow. Started in the hundreds, moved into the 1000's in a blink of an eye. All this with an empty checking account. Oh wow life is good!

LK

[Kansas Ed]

Your signature line is totally appropriate for this subject!

It is the curse of man to try and offer advice...so I'm going to try and decline my instincts to do so, and just sympathize...so in your behalf...that really sucks!

Ed

[AJMD429]

One good thing is that it's a truck, and not a person...

a) easier to replace (...and get parts for...)

b) with all the ridiculous and counterproductive 'regulation' to 'control costs' and 'assure quality', if it were a health-care issue, you could multiply all the numbers by a factor of ten, plus have some idiot bureaucrat tell you what options you could and couldn't do.

I sympathize with you though, but I feel even worse for the folks who have the same thing happening with their health...

[iceman]

Hindsight is always 20/20. Since the motor is already out (I assume) probably cheaper to replace it with a rebuild or scrap yard motor. Maybe your shop will credit you parts already installed for no reason and move on. Mechanical stuff gets expensive once you start digging into the heart of an engine. My trade is large refrigeration equipment and that gets expensive real quick once you start taking things apart. Good luck.

[Old Time Hunter]

LK, it would probably be cheaper to get a remanufactured long block. With you living in Iowa, there are a ton of engine rebuilders and suppliers for the IMCA modified crowd. Hap's up in Ames is one and also Midwest over in Lincoln, Ne. They have "claimer" motors, are all rebuilt and built better than factory (caue they race 'em). A few years ago I got one from Hap's, complete long block 351" 5.8 Ford for less than a grand. It is now on it's second truck and has 247,000 miles on it with good oil pressure and no blow-by. It has all the OEM fuel injection and electronics on it, they just mounted right on.

[Andrew]

They could have easily rebuilt the entire engine for what you paid. Seriously, even if they are trustworthy they dropped the ball on this one. You could have almost even went with a re-manufactured for the dough you've already coughed up and it would have a warranty.

I would argue away the lifter charges and settle somehow on the labor they are asking for. Not the full bill.

I may not be an "expert" but I am a trained mechanic and have worked in the re-manufacturing field for the last 6 years. Feel free to PM if you have any kind of questions.

[BenT]

That sucks ! I have 35k on a new motor (5.0 L)in my 92 F150 that I'm going to be selling for $900 . It's my plow truck and plenty rusty. I put a long block in it about 8 years ago and it cost me around $1100. Wife bought a newer truck last fall so now I have three, so this one has to go.

[madman4570]

If that was my truck(and its in really good shape as you say---at least the rest of it)
I would get it away from that shop and find a quality engine install shop and have them put in a new crate engine.
With all things considered I think you would be better off.new engine/(5/year 100,000 mile warranty etc,)
http://www.psengines.com/FORD8.htm

Which type engine is in it?????????

[adirondakjack]

I find it odd that an engine with ONLY 107K on it is "toast". Unless somebody dropped something into a cylinder, how did we go from a good running truck to junk in just changing out plugs, wires and oil, ran ok a couple days, etc? Gouged cylinder AND a bad rod bearing? Come now, somebody is messed up here.

Argue that bill down or take em to small claims and tell your story. I don't suppose a judge gives em all that for a truck that is still a mess.

OH, BTW, yeah, get ya a motor....

[madman4570]

I find it odd that an engine with ONLY 107K on it is "toast". Unless somebody dropped something into a cylinder, how did we go from a good running truck to junk in just changing out plugs, wires and oil, ran ok a couple days, etc? Gouged cylinder AND a bad rod bearing? Come now, somebody is messed up here.

Argue that bill down or take em to small claims and tell your story. I don't suppose a judge gives em all that for a truck that is still a mess.

OH, BTW, yeah, get ya a motor....

Yep,
Heck for that $2200 probably can just about get a new crate engine put in!
They messed up!

[FWiedner]

Make it look like an accident.

[stretch]

Geez, that is NO fun!

It's always a nice idea to give the local shop your
business. I even do it sometimes when it's not
the ABSOLUTE best deal if the guy/gal does good
work. The local fella won't be there if
he never gets any business............

But a factory rebuilt motor is the way to go here.
So,

"Make a deal."
"What kind of a deal?"
"A DEAL deal!"

(What movie is THAT exchange from?!)

I'd talk to them and ask them what they could do
for a final price with all the water that's gone
over the darn (darn! - I meant dam )
already.

Good Luck!

-Stretch

[L_Kilkenny]

If that was my truck(and its in really good shape as you say---at least the rest of it)
I would get it away from that shop and find a quality engine install shop and have them put in a new crate engine.
With all things considered I think you would be better off.new engine/(5/year 100,000 mile warranty etc,)
http://www.psengines.com/FORD8.htm

Which type engine is in it?????????

Thanks for the link. I'll more than likely go this route. 302 @ $1369 shipping included is $400-500 cheaper than a rebuild around here and the warrentee is much much better.

Like I said, the shop is being "ok" to work with. They are gonna eat the first $800 and let me buy the motor/parts myself (no mark up for em). They're suppose to get me a final labor number tomarrow and I'll order the motor.

Here's the Truck BTW:



LK

[madman4570]

Good Deal then ------------------Hey, I like that truck!

[adirondakjack]

With any luck at all ya end up with a good horse that will soldier on well and strong until ya foget this agony.

[Lawyer Daggit]

Bought a Mitsubishi Pajero (you probably know it as a montegro or Shogun) given what Pajero means in Spanish.

40,000 km, bought as retirement vehicle by an old chap who liked to fly fish. Serviced every 5,000 km by the local Mitsubishi dealer since new, vehicle was immaculate. Old chap had died of a heart attack. I found the vehicle on a dealers lot and tracked original owners widow via log book.

Engine was gulping oil. I was originally told it was the turbo. I paid for a rebuild on the turbo, vehicle still drank oil.

Took it to another 3 mechanics who all recommended a rebuilt engine which would cost almost as much as the vehicle was worth.

At that point I traded the vehicle on.

For a low km or engine to be sounding as a trucker neighbour described it 'last truck I drove that sounded like that was a borrowed Kenworth with almost a million km on the clock'.

It makes you wonder. Was it the product of friday afternoon production?