Alex Bruene Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Just finished diagnosing a rough running and smoking 5.4 3V that a local company had decided to diagnose and repair on their own... So, they decided it needed a set of plugs... They tried to change the plugs and broke off all 8. On the advice of a "mechanic friend", they removed the cylinder heads to remove the broken spark plugs. They reinstalled the heads and it wouldn't start. On the advice of the "mechanic friend", they rechecked the cam timing. It still wouldn't start. They finally gave up and had it towed in. Turns out the problem was a leaking down fuel injector. We replaced the leaking injector, and the engine now starts, but makes some awful noises. Turns out there was a bit of a collision between the pistons and the valves. So, trying to avoid paying a $100 diagnostic fee, they're now into a long-block. When will people learn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 ...... and possibly even a cat on the bank that had the leaking fuel injector too. As far as pistons kissing valves, these engines usually will still run if one of the cams are off by as much as a tooth and a half (but will instantly throw the Check Engine light on the moment it's fired up), but any more than THAT ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 There are two things that drive people to even think they can work on their own iron. First is an intense distrust of those of us in this trade that many people have. And it's not like there aren't enough hacks and under-qualified people out there that make sure the trade deserves the disrespect. Second are the myths... We have a "majik masheen" that tells us exactly what the rpoblem is - after that all we gots to do is undo a couple bolts and slam dunk a new part. How hard can that be? Third... the door rate in approaching $140~$150 in some areas. We is making money hand over fist. That's why we all wear Armani suits to work and drive brand new luxury cars. The worst part is that time is rarely spent to educate customers. We gave the customer a quote for $1175.62 worth of repairs. He went home and put $1600 worth of parts on the car.... yeah, he kinda stripped out some holes and broke a bolt or four and shoved a screwdriver through the cooling stack but that shouldn't matter but the car don't run any better and now we are asking for $3000 for the same repair... We should be ashamed of ourselves. The ones I really like are the guys that fix something you tell them not to. They put $3000 into their car and now it is worth $1200 resale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Saunoras Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I just made a road call to a local independent shop today for a similar incident 2011 F-550 V10. Won't idle or accelerate worth a damn, keeps stalling out like it's not getting fuel. Shop puts cats in it, then a fuel pump and a driver module. All these parts were purchased at our shop over the counter. The parts guy gave me a heads up a few days ago about this truck and we got the call today. Went down with IDS, verified concern, no DTCs, saw a skewed MAF pid reading KOEO and that was the beginning of the end of that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Bruene Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Got a bit more info on this one today, which makes it even better... We got the head off on the bank in question... The failed cylinders piston sits about 3/8" lower than the other 3 pistons when at TDC. As it turns out, the engine was hydraulically locked from the leaking fuel injector, so they put a HUGE bar on the crank pulley to see if they could get it to turn-thus shortening the rod just a bit. We told them they needed a long block prior to pulling the head off, and removing the head would just add money to the total bill, but they wanted to know exactly what happened to the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 yeah, he kinda stripped out some holes and broke a bolt or four and shoved a screwdriver through the cooling stack but that shouldn't matter but the car don't run any better and now we are asking for $3000 for the same repair... We should be ashamed of ourselves. The ones I really like are the guys that fix something you tell them not to. They put $3000 into their car and now it is worth $1200 resale. After spending the last two hours trying to get a fourteen week old puppy to sleep, I read this and bust out laughing. Dog's awake now, due to the screwdriver through the cooling stack comment. Lmao. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Puppies don't sleep, they just idle for a while then throttle right back up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredsvt Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Tell me about it! Got my dog at 14 weeks on June 23. She's gonna be like this for at least 3 years if history repeats. She's a Husky mix. Endless energy w/2 hour sleep bouts between. Luckily she's good with the crate, and makes it through a night since I got her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Saunoras Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 We have a 7.3 in the shop that just had 8 injectors and a fuel pump put in elsewhere. The vehicle was misfiring badly and continued to miss after the repairs. Seems whoever did the repairs missed the fact that there's 20 gallons of gas in the tank. Even after draining all the gas and filling it up with diesel it's still not running worth a damn. Hmmm those injectors had a pretty short life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Had an '02 Explorer yesterday, customer said it skipped when hot. They had replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition coil (4.0L) and done a fuel injection service. They through in the towel and brought it to the dealer. I took if for a spin and noticed it bucking immediately, put in 4x4 high and all was good. I checked the tires and the rears were old worn out snow tires and the fronts were brand new with about 2 extra inches of tread circumference. The customer just shook their head in defeat when they got the news. Although they did learn a lesson in the fact that dealerships are not all crooks and we could have saved them quite a few dollars and time invested in this repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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