Quote:
Originally Posted by Cdhowell
A freeze plug is a far cry from a new motor. Are there other motor problems as well?
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Boy oh boy is THAT a loaded question!
Maybe the folks here haven't heard . . .
History of the car, in an attempt to be brief:
About 15 years ago I bought this car as a project to fix up. It had been sitting in Front Royal, Virginia, with rodents living in it. I had it shipped here, where I began cleaning it and doing a lot of restoration work. At first I did all the work myself -- not a mechanic, but learning as I'm going. Got the car roadworthy, and although still a bit rough, to the point where I could take it to car shows, locally and even across the state.
One problem I was still having, the motor leaked a lot of oil. I took it to a local mechanic that I trust; he recommended I purchase another motor. The heads have been milled incorrectly; there are other problems and we don't know what -- possibly engine block. SO -- I called up a Thunderbird specialist and parts dealer in Wisconsin for advice on where to get a good engine. He informed me he was building one as we speak. So I offered to buy it.
The motor arrived here, and my mechanic put it in. When I picked up the car, he informed me that he has it running good, but it appears to be using a lot of oil -- watch it carefully. I drove it to Venice and back -- 30 miles each way -- and it burned two quarts. I called, and was told to "Run it hard -- the rings will seat and you'll be fine." Hasn't happened. Meanwhile I've had to change plugs numerous times, and have had to pour in oil by the case.
One day I finally got fed up and had the motor pulled, to send back for warranty. My mechanic was extremely busy and could not change the motor, so I took the car to a local restoration shop. While there I asked them to fix the air conditioner and some other things. The motor was a "valve cover." He sent it back. The shop soaked me clean, and the car has been nothing but trouble ever since. The motor is awful -- problem is blow-by, and my guess is that it has the wrong rings put in. But that's not all; the exhaust manifolds leak, the intake leaks (I ran a bead of RTV along the edges and the vacuum went from 10 to 16), there are oil leaks all over the engine block, I can go on and on; it's a mess. As for the rest of the car, I've taken it back again and again for warranty repair, as everything they did was worse off than before. The "New" air conditioner has worked for only a few days total. I found out much later, elsewhere, that the "new" compressor was actually a junk compressor that was spray painted to look new.
I've talked to attorneys. For the motor, I could sue his pants off except I'd have to go to Wisconsin to do it. For the local shop, it's hard to do much because he continues to say "we stand behind our work." Take it back, and I get a story that "it's the blue wire; we only replaced the red wire, so this is new service and will be another $1,000.00."
So I've gotten nowhere. I'd buy a new motor, but I'm still paying off the bills from the former service. I was almost done with this car, and now I feel I'm back to square one. It's aggravating when I only drive it to a few local shows, and even THEN it's down 3/4 of the time for major problems -- nearly all of which are things that should have been fixed. C'mon, a freeze plug shouldn't blow out of a new motor!
To some people, this story is really getting old. But I guess I'll keep repeating it until it finally gets fixed. As for that local shop especially, the owner knows how visible I am at local car shows. I could become his best friend or his worst enemy; he chose the latter. He's lost a lot of business I know, but he's still there, darn it.
It WOULD be a nice car, if not for the incompetent crooks who have torn it up in the name of service.