Anyone ever had luck getting summit to honor a warrantee for a bad crate engine?

[hamjet]

There's alot of reading here, I might have missed it. As far as the timing chain crank gear, has the timing cover been removed and had the engine been put to TDC to make sure the gear timing mark is in the correct place, (12 oclock). I'm not talking about if it lines up with the cam gear. I've read not too long ago on another forum where the timing mark was stamped wrong on the gear. You tried every thing else, its just one more place to look. I know its a pain to rip it down that far to check it, but if everything else has been done it might be the way to go. be patient, you'll get it..

[Coach]

When you find out from the dealer what the problem was, make sure to let us know, I would be interested to see what it was. Glad it all worked out for you and your truck will be back on the road!!

[marvgarr68]

edited at op request

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by tcrist

Yep, done something similar MANY times. It's worse when your wife comes out and says "could it be this?", and it is!!!.

Ohhhh MAN! I hate that!

Then, when I try to lie and pretend it couldn't be that, she reads my face and knows she's right. Ugh!

[AirSpeed]

Originally Posted by marvgarr68

Wrong these motors are ready to run no break in required it is done at the factory. They have to be for warranty purposes. I work for Chevrolet.

Mine hadn't been run, I went over ever inch of it, no soot in the exhaust, no intake had ever been bolted on, there wasn't a scratch on it. No oil, no balancer, the crank was spotless. Are you sure?

[Coley]

Originally Posted by AirSpeed

Mine hadn't been run, I went over ever inch of it, no soot in the exhaust, no intake had ever been bolted on, there wasn't a scratch on it. No oil, no balancer, the crank was spotless. Are you sure?

I think what the (Mexico) factory does is 'test run' a sampling of motor(s) ever shift to ensure continuity in the manufacturing and assembly methods. If the sample engine goes south they probably do a line backcheck.
Just my thoughts relative to a lot of mass production I've seen.
All Good
Coley

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by marvgarr68

Wrong these motors are ready to run no break in required it is done at the factory. They have to be for warranty purposes. I work for Chevrolet.

That may be done on the high end "complete" engine packages... But not on the generic replacement long blocks. I have one sitting in my garage...there is no way its ever been fired. GM also has break in instructions for the motors.

[chaztruett]

Great, glad to hear! I can get so caught up in a build that sometimes forget some important things to do, it happens. I always bring in a friend to double check me and share in the agony if we do have a failure! LOL

Glad GM is taking care of you.

tt

Originally Posted by AirSpeed

I broke in the cam and used Lucas break in additive. The cam is fine. I couldn't even find any particals in the oil after I changed it, none that would amount to a flat cam. The oil is so clean still that it's hard to see it on the dipstick. I was carefull to do exactly as recommended. I drove a nearly identical truck that recently had the same engine as mine installed, same carb, dist, exhaust and man it was strong! Compared to my engine anyway!
Yea, I hope the third engine is a charm! The first one came with a broken valve. Was almost getting ready to throw my old engine back in!
Thanks!

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by marvgarr68

Wrong these motors are ready to run no break in required it is done at the factory. They have to be for warranty purposes. I work for Chevrolet.

I'm glad you work for Chevrolet but sorry, the factory does not run all of them. See the attached photo of my engine still in the crate. Exhaust ports are clean, no oil or coolant in that motor and the admonition from the factory that it has not been broken in and needs a very careful break-in period before getting to heavy on the right foot.

[Lee H]

Hum, my last GM crate had no fluids in it except for some assembly lube and had quite an extensive break in procedure that came with it. Warnings of locust and frogs if the break in procedure was not adhered to.

[aris_unlimited]

I'm subscribing to this one. Interested to see how the warranty all works out and what was wrong with the motor. Especially considering I am planning a big block swap when I get around to it on mine using a GM crate 454.

[Scott Liggett]

To answer your original question if Summit Racing warranties crate engines they sell. They do not build the crate engines, they are distributors for crate engine companies. They are great to help out their customers as best they can, the actual warranty process goes through the manufacturer of the engine, i.e. GM, BluePrint, ATK, Ford Racing, etc.

In the end, you will be dealing with the company that built the engine. Summit will help facilitate and work with that company to help you out. If you read the warranty that came with your engine, Summit Racing is not named anywhere in it.

Same applies to Jeg's. Both will do what they can, but all warranty claims have to go through the engine manufacturer.

[elimontfort]

So the dealership is replacing a motor that you bought from summit no questions asked and without looking at the truck?? Dealerships aren't in the business of giving away free motors. My buddy bought a brand new integra type r and toasted the rings in it. The dealership sent a engineer to examine the motor before they would warranty it. Kinda weird that gm would just willy nilly give out a motor without having a tech tear down the motor first. Thy usually go for the cheapest fix first and hope it satisfies he customer.

[Eddie H.]

When I worked for a Chevy dealer many years ago, we had 350's and 427's stacked to the ceiling in the parts warehouse. We installed several of them every day, and once in a while got a bad one. We just swapped it out for another one and kept on going. GM never gave us any problem about the warranty.

[chaztruett]

I've done six of these and NONE have been run!

[magwakeenercew2jh]

There seem to be several sub-threads under this one title.

I guess I subbed for all of 'em.

Originally, the OP was asking about the in's and out's of warranties.
That's pretty interesting to me.

But even more interesting is how there have already been two motor installs (I think they both went in the truck), and the next one's still going to be free.
If I do what would probably be incorrect, and discount the broken valves on the first one, then there would have been two gutless motors that sound great
and run like an old Peugeot when the ponies are called for.

Four mpg and the motor sounds great? No ponies and the motor sounds great?

No response (at least, that *I* could find in the thread) on the tranny rebuild, rear end gearing, compression ratio, or torque converter install.

Digress: I remember I had a phantom problem with starting...more like *not* starting.... after this last build.

I asked you all what you thought.

Then I caught myself thanking, yet telling each responder why what they were suggesting as a possible fix was something I'd *already done*. Well, guess
what? If something's wrong, and one THINKS he's already addressed all the possible problems, HE HASN'T.

And, you can AMHIK!

I'm gonna guess that, unless there is some magic I don't know about lurking in this issue (a strong possibility, 'cause there's a lot I don't know), or unless
someone finds something simple like that TH350 or torque converter are not doing their jobs correctly, the or dizzy, or timing gears, or the TDC is marked
wrong on the balancer, or the torque plate is fubarred, and one or more of these possible issues snap into place on the third install, the third motor ain't
gonna be the answer.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the third motor goes in then and the truck climbs Pikes Peak in 6 minutes flat.

I'm going back to enjoying reading all the topics on this thread.

I don't work for Chevrolet, either.
But I drive one.

[tcrist]

The problem is for us that have built their own motors and motors for others hundreds of times, this problem makes no sense. If everything that has been suggested has been tried/checked correctly that is.

Without actually looking at it yourself, you do not know what has been looked at and if it was looked at, was it looked at correctly?

It will be interesting to see what is wrong. If GM actually checks that motor out or just replaces it. I really do not see them just replacing it without at the very least doing some standard diagnostics on it first.

I have worked on many vehicles that the owner says "All I did was tune it up and now it wont run correctly". Every time is was because of something minor not adjusted correctly. Not setting plug gaps and the such.

Most of the time as soon as it is not running correctly, someone grabs the dizzy and just starts cranking it back and forth.

Ok, rant over.

[giantofgreen]

I actually just dealt with a gm motor that failed after the first drive that i purchased from summit. long story short the warranty has nothing to do with summit and what your supposed to do is take the truck to a local dealer and they will inspect it to determine what is causing the failure.

[tcrist]

Originally Posted by giantofgreen

I actually just dealt with a gm motor that failed after the first drive that i purchased from summit. long story short the warranty has nothing to do with summit and what your supposed to do is take the truck to a local dealer and they will inspect it to determine what is causing the failure.

What were the symptoms of and what ended up being wrong with yours?

[Hubscrub]

Glad your getting this worked out, looking forward to updates.

[giantofgreen]

Originally Posted by tcrist

What were the symptoms of and what ended up being wrong with yours?

Well mine winded up being a shattered piston that must of cracked when the wrist pin was installed. Do to simple miscommunication I was under the impression I needed to take the long block that I had purchased from summit to a local dealer. So I took the whole thing back down to the way it was when I got it (assembled from crank to heads) right back into the crate. Then there was two weeks of phone calls to summit and the local GM dealers both of which saying I needed to talk to the other guy. Finally I talked to a manager at summit and I sent him the emails that led me to believe that I should pull it apart and he was very understanding and immediately took care of everything. As I had purchased the long block more than 6 months prior I was refunded my money.

[giantofgreen]

I'm sorry the symptoms was a very loud unmistakable knocking sound. That sounds nobody's ever wants to hear, especially on a brand new motor.

[tcrist]

I had an engine that had a wristpin knock. Very uncomfortable feeling not knowing if it was going to come apart.

[truckster]

Originally Posted by tcrist

The problem is for us that have built their own motors and motors for others hundreds of times, this problem makes no sense. If everything that has been suggested has been tried/checked correctly that is.

Without actually looking at it yourself, you do not know what has been looked at and if it was looked at, was it looked at correctly?

It will be interesting to see what is wrong. If GM actually checks that motor out or just replaces it. I really do not see them just replacing it without at the very least doing some standard diagnostics on it first.

I have worked on many vehicles that the owner says "All I did was tune it up and now it wont run correctly". Every time is was because of something minor not adjusted correctly. Not setting plug gaps and the such.

Most of the time as soon as it is not running correctly, someone grabs the dizzy and just starts cranking it back and forth.

Ok, rant over.

A second set of eyes never hurts. I couldn't count the times someone has told me, "I already checked that." So I say, "Well, let me check it again," and guess what - I find the problem in something that's "already checked."

[Ironangel]

Damn! That was a six beer thread! I sure hope you follow up and give us a heads up on the failure AirSpeed...I bought the 260hp version of the same "Mexico" built motor from GM Performance, via JEGS website on ebay for a whopping $1275.00 delivered. I purchased that motor back in April of 2014 and it's still on the stand out there in the shop waiting as a back-up motor for my 72 LWB daily driver/tow vehicle as I have two. One for driving, one for racing and cruise nights...I've done alot of research on these motors and for the most part, all good, key words being "most part"...With that said and after six beers of reading through your dilemma, here's some info that may help explain the phantom that eludes...It was brought to my attention (too long ago dont ask) that some of these crate motors did in fact get the "Friday Attentions" and wrong or faulty cams, lifters, push rods, bolts, etc, installed...After reading two thirds of this thread I was thinking "wiped out cam" and then my failing memory showed up to reinforce the possibility of an inferior component(s) installed...I sure hope you've done a follow up on the motor in question so the rest of us can get a heads up. If not, you owe me a six pack of Bud Platinum! Good on you and GM for replacing that pig...~ Michael of the clan Hill~