Rant!

[Fraser Beatty]

I don't normally do this, but today I AM REALLY TICKED OFF! My Dad had a rebuilt 350 engine put in his truck on March 9 by a local business who are supposed experts in doing this kind of thing. We've had nothing but trouble since Day 1 with it. Right from the get-go it lacked power, backfired, and missed. Several trips back to the business and about a dozen carb adjustments later, the truck finally seemed to be running okay. Well next thing that went was the fuel pump, which they had supposedly replaced. It left my Dad stranded on the side of the road, and we had to tow the truck back home and slap a new fuel pump on ourselves.

Okay, all fine and dandy, the truck has been running fine the last 3 or 4 weeks. Well, all of a sudden today, while about 65 miles from home at an auction sale, something went terribly wrong....we started smelling antifreeze in the cab, so stopped and pulled over to check it out. Upon opening the hood a cloud of steam poured out and we saw antifreeze splattered everywhere. In a matter of seconds we had lost 1/2 the antifreeze. We didn't get a good chance to look at it there on the side of the road, but right now we are thinking blown head gasket or a popped frost plug. THE ENGINE ONLY HAS 3063 MILES ON IT! Thankfully the warranty was 90 days or 3200 miles, so the business that put it in is going to be paying for their mistake.

Short of the story is, we hiked up to the nearest farm house, called home and got my Mom to come pick us up. The truck is still out there, waiting for tomorrow when we can find ourselves a car trailer or arrange a tow truck to go out there and get it. I'm not normally one to b!tch but when you pay someone a decent chunk of $$$ to do a job you expect it done right. Oh well thanks for letting me vent.

[vern350]

Sorry to hear that. I know i get ticked about little things, I couldn't imagaine a motor. Hopefully all goes well. It does feel nice to rant once and awhile.

[Fraser Beatty]

It sure does feel good to rant...it's gunna be "fun" retrieving the truck tomorrow. We don't have a car trailer, which means if we were to bring the truck home ourselves we would have to tow it with a chain/rope. But since my 83 isn't on the road right now we don't have a good enough vehicle to tow with. Plus it's way down around Glencoe area, a bit of a drive from our place in Sarnia (rougly 65 miles from our place to the truck). Looks like we're going to have to foot a massive tow truck bill

[old Rusty C10]

I would be on the doorstep of that shop that did the rebuild with one heck of an attitude and make THEM foot the tow bill then i would threaten them with legal action if the truck is not properly repaired once and for all..
Im hoping for your sake that the shop used decent parts.. years back i had a dealer here (Villa Marin Pontiac) where i bought a used dodge minivan do a transmission rebuild using the cheapest aftermarket asian kit they could get their hands on , then only replacing the parts internally that needed it so the dern thing lasted like eight months when it blew again and that time it was taken to Bay Ridge Chrysler where it was properly repaired with a factory rebuilt trans
I just hope by you doing the fuel pump you didnt give the shop some ammunition saying you invalidated the warranty
Keep us posted

[Fraser Beatty]

That is the plan. Retrieve the truck, take it back to the shop, and make them repair it. Apparently, (according to my Dad) even if they claim the warranty is invalid, under the Motor Vehicle Repair Act of Ontario they have to fix their mistake. This could get interesting as he used to be a lawyer (back in the day) . I'll keep you all posted on what happens.

[spr85gmc]

if you wanna use my trailer its all your just come get in.. anyway best of luck

[Fraser Beatty]

Thanks for the offer, but San Antonio is just a biiiittttt too far to drive for a trailer .

[spr85gmc]

ehh just try to do my part

[gchemist]

One reason I installed my own engine.

[hdflstf]

People wonder why I do all my own work (as much as possible...).....


Good luck getting your problem solved.

[wicked_sky_gazer]

Man that makes me sick, I wish you the best on getting that problem taken care of, and i agree with hdflst on the own work part and any work that i have to pay to have done is done buy two of the U.S.'s most renound IHRA preformance tranny and motor shops that are convieniently down the road, Lesters Gear and Tranny, and Moritz Machine. I truly wish you good luck on this!

[Fraser Beatty]

Yeah we would have liked to have fixed up the 305 that was in there ourselves but we're kinda inexperienced when it comes to engine rebuilds...and the truck being my Dad's only vehicle, he couldn't afford to have it tied up for a couple of weeks while we figured everything out. So we got this place to swap in the 350.

[seanconnery]

Let us know how it shakes out if you and your dad have to put the legal whoop on the shop. I know all to well about the lack of shop responsibility.

[Fraser Beatty]

Update on the situation: We have a tow truck hired to go and retrieve the truck sometime this evening. It's the cheapest one we could find, but it's still gunna cost $115. We've also been trying to get ahold of the shop, with no luck so far. Will keep you posted on what happens.

[babyJay]

It sure feels good to get stuff like this off your chest! Just make sure that shop makes things right with you.

[PhilaTruck]

Originally Posted by Fraser Beatty

We've also been trying to get ahold of the shop, with no luck so far. Will keep you posted on what happens.

Get your Dad, or better yet, one of his associates, to break out their letter head and send them a little note. I guarantee they'll get back to you.

Good luck-

-Todd

[Fraser Beatty]

Update: My Dad went with the tow truck driver late last night (guy was supposed to be ready to head out by 8:30pm...didn't show till almost 11pm) and had it hauled into the business, where he left it with a note in the window. He actually got through to the owner of the shop this morning to confirm the situation, and the owner agreed to take a look at her. Called back a few hours later, the guy was stumped. Although the way the antifreeze leaked seemed to indicate the head gasket, everything was fine and dandy. Other areas of suspicion turned up nothing. Well, he fiddled with her some more, and turns out the leak was only coming from a hairline split in the lower rad hose (which was supposed to be replaced when the engine was rebuilt). There must have been enough pressure built up to open this crack and splatter the antifreeze all over the passenger's side of the block. Musta been a gosh awful small crack, the first thing we did on the side of the road was check all the hoses. One new rad hose later and we are good to go. I think all parties are quite relieved it turned out to be nothing serious. My Dad gets his truck back within a day, and the business owner is only out the cost of a rad hose and a tow!

[old Rusty C10]

ive seen radiator hoses do some wierd things but that one makes me wonder if its a split, if someone didnt split it or something.. usually when its hot it will leak and you should have been able to see it leak.. oh well all's well that ends well so hopefully nothing else happens with the truck

[Fraser Beatty]

Yeah it made me wonder too, I have never seen nor heard of one doing that before. Especially weird though because the truck wasn't that hot, we'd driven maybe 4-5 miles.

[vern350]

good to hear everything worked out for you. Hopefully thats it for troubles.

[kevinr1970]

On the hose it is possible it was up against something with a sharp edge? Sharp enough and with enough pressure against it it wouldn't take it long to go.

When you get it home I would check to make sure all the parts (like belts and hoses) that you paid to have replaced have been and that they aren't doing strange things like rubbing against sharp edges.

Good to hear it was nothing serious and good to here the shop took care of it AND the tow bill.

[PhilaTruck]

All's well that ends well.