My broken motor: revisiting the scene of the crime

[bstandley1]

Now that the some of the smoke has cleared regarding my recent emergency engine overhaul, I've been trying to sort out what happened. My first task was to review my last large scale repair invoice for work that was completed during the latter part of the winter. I had a shop in Seattle perform a lot of suspension work and take care of some irritating oil leaks. As I read the invoice, I remembered that I had the timing cover replaced and as I read through the parts list, I found a description for one ARP 150- 2501 balancer bolt kit. If you recall, my crankshaft was destroyed by a loose harmonic balancer ......

I have to conclude that my winter repairs were the source of my crankshaft failure. Now the hard question ... since I upgraded the motor as a result of the crankshaft failure, what would be fair compensation from the shop that screwed up? I'd appreciate any of your thoughts . This whole episode has stressful and I take no joy in going after the shop .... but I'm out a considerable sum of money that would have been avoided if the work had been done properly.

Bob

[Brent]

Sorry for your bad luck.

It will be tough for you to get anything out of them. Normally if you have a problem with a repair the shop will ask you to bring them the car and they will make it right. In this case they did not see the damage,diagnose the problem,have an oppertunity to fix the problem, or get the oppertunity to put it back the way it was when you first brought them the car.

If they do anything they are good people.

[dmswann]

A bottle of 25-year old single malt scotch!

[will butterworth]

about right, tough time getting shop to do anything, brother of mine is in same sit. with a cummings eng. and shop in birmingham. Good luck.Will-alabama

[bstandley1]

Thanks for your input .... especially Dennis!. I'm going to play it out and see where it takes me. The shop in question has an outstanding reputation so I'm hoping we can reach a reasonable outcome.

Bob

[Aggressor]

Bob - Did your harmonic balancer remain intact?
I just performed work on a friend's 94 Mustang GT and the balancer was found to be self destructing. It was to the point where the elastomer rubber was slipping out from between the inner hub and outer ring. It was out at least 3/8 inch at one point.
To be honest I did not know that could happen. I've seen old balancers for FE's and small blocks that have cracked and deteriorating elastomer but have never seem flexible live rubber slipping away.
Good Luck with your situation.
-Geary

[bstandley1]

Geary,

The balancer was intact; only the center was chewed up from wobbling ..

Bob

[bstandley1]

About a month ago, I e-mailed the shop that had replaced the balancer bolt and carefully described the demise of my crankshaft. Several days later, the owner called me to talk it over. His first comment was that he appreciated that I explained what happened without injecting any anger or accusations and that he would like to see the damaged parts. Seemed very reasonable to me; I contacted my engine builder and the following weekend, the shop picked up my old short block.

I figured it would be wise to let the first shop have a reasonable amount of time to check out the parts and to wait until I heard from them. I got a call this afternoon from the owner and to make a long story short, he agreed that the failed crankshaft was his responsibility and that he would send me a proposed settlement. I thanked him for his honesty and told him I'll try to send some business his way.

Considering the circumstances, I'm very impressed with the integrity of the shop ....

Bob

[Silk]

Bob,

Nice to hear an outcome like that. Sounds like you've been dealing with an honorable shop, and it also sounds like you handled the situation in a way that made it easier for the shop to do right by you. Sorry you encountered problems in the first instance, but glad to hear it came out as it did.

[will butterworth]

congrats, but, would have bet it would not have happened with responsible party. Will -alabama