Mechanic issue--- hivemind help

Ok, you guys are smart (well some of you anyways) I have a friend who is in a pickle and thought the hivemind may have a few good solutions.

A good friend who lives in Ventura CA has owned his 1966 Mustang vert since he was 16. (he's mid-30s now) He never plans on letting it go.

Recently he paid a local mechanic to replace his tired, original 289 with a mildly built 302 that the mechanic claimed was in perfect working order. (my buddy is keeping the original 289) After the installation, my pal forked over $1,500 and went on his merry way.........well, for 14 miles or so.

He noticed the lifters ticking, so he brought it back to the guy. Then they found metal shavings in the oil, on the pump, and in the pan. Turns out a main bearing had gone bad.

Now the mechanic is saying the motor was fine before the 14 mile drive and he'll give my buddy a break on labor to repair the engine he just paid to have installed.

So---- option 1---- get a lawyer

        option 2----- buy a crate motor, eat the $1,500 and move on ( making sure the BBB, local newspapers and interwebs know that this guy runs a shop to be avoided)

         option 3---- pay the mechanic to fix the engine at his discounted rate

Keep in mind my buddy isn't a hard-core car guy. He does some of his own work, but he's not up to rebuilding an engine himself. This is breaking his heart, as he loves the car, and just wants it on the road again.

Any advice / legal or not would be appreciated.

Option 4: Buy crate motor, take shiny happy person mechanic to small-claims court?

Perhaps---- he's not sure if small-claims court would be worth the expense / hassle. It's frustrating and energy consuming to fight in court. The mental costs are usually ignored, but can be much more harmful than the monetary value.

Since he's planning on keeping it forever, I told him a crate motor was probably the right choice--- money be damned.

I vote for option #1.

The mechanic is trying to berkeley him.

You should go to the shop and do your best Jules Winnfield impression.

If he plans to keep it forever, might as well have the factory engine rebuilt.

Sounds like whichever way he's playing this, he needs a better mechanic first. If the 302 was in "perfect working order" and blows up within 14 miles, the it wasn't and if the mechanic sold him the motor and doesn't stand behind it, that's all he needs to know.

What's he going to do if he pays the mechanic the discounted labour rate and it blows up again after 15 miles?

Hi Joe,

I think “perfect working order” is too vague, perhaps by design, to allow for much legal recourse. In other words, many things work fine until they don’t and the burden would be on your friend to prove that the mechanic either knowingly concealed the defect or didn’t follow broadly accepted industry practices to assess the engine’s condition.

This would all change if there was a warrantee but I assume there wasn’t, right? If it were me, I’d find out what kind of reputation the mechanic has and if it was OK, I’d look into working with him to repair the engine at a reduced price.

There’s a fair amount of proof built into this plan as if he doesn’t take much of a hit on the price, you’ll know he doesn’t care about his reputation and probably knowingly screwed your friend over.

BTW, I live in Venture.

There's such a thing as product merchantability. 14 miles to failure doesn't equate.

So, I'd say a hybrid answer. Someone else with a different motor. And sue the first mechanic.

There should be a certain implied warranty from the merchant.

Of course, local laws very.

I've been down this road. Watching the Motherberkleyer literally laugh at me in the courtroom was hard. The months of preparation were hard, getting experts to testify, the same, the months, and $$$ to only loose royally sucked. I suggest against legal action unless your friend is 2000% sure he can PROVE everything. My educated opinion is to walk and start again, however, I doubt I would have followed that advice if it had been given. Suck.

Life is way to short. If all the details have been presented in full...No course of action should include working with this mechanic based on the story you tell.

That said, there are three sides to every story.

If somebody paid me $1500 for an engine and installation, the warranty would expire the second the car rolled off the lot. "Quit buying cheap E36 M3" would be the mantra I would suggest.

Take the money he'd have spent on a lawyer and hire some dude in a Statue of Liberty costume to stand out in front of the mechanic's shop holding a big sign explaining how much of a crook he is.

Have the original 289 rebuilt and warmed up by a reputable engine builder. Cut your losses with the other joker.

However, I like the idea with the guy in a Statue of Liberty costume.

Streetwiseguy wrote: If somebody paid me $1500 for an engine and installation, the warranty would expire the second the car rolled off the lot. "Quit buying cheap E36 M3" would be the mantra I would suggest.

…pretty much what I was thinking.

Obviously 14 miles indicates an initial defect so it’s not right but part of price of only paying $4.96 per cubic inch is that you’ll have less of a leg to stand on if something goes wrong.

Step 1 - Follow mechanic home after work. Burn his damn house to the ground. Step 2 Get a crate engine or remanufactured engine from a reputable source. I'm curious if anyone ever checked the oil pressure. I've seen the oil pump drive shaft not properly connected to the pump. A simple oil pressure guage may have prevented this from happening.

ncjay wrote: Burn his damn house to the ground.

Um, do we warn women, children, and pets first or does everyone deserve to die a fiery death.

I'd consider the 1500 gone in the wind. I'd have the 302 gone through, but not by the guy who sold it to him. I don't think he'd have a case as he'd have to prove the mechanic knew the used engine had a defect that would lead to failure.

Also having to use a mechanic is expensive, so if he is trying to keep cost down he should learn to do things himself.

Pay with a credit card and contest charges next time. This time I would walk and hire a voodoo queen. Bad mojo sucks and he owes.

If you stop and look at this objectively...$1500 for an installed used engine is pretty cheap. Call it "Rolling the dice cheap" if you will. You don't always win.

Wasn't there a thread recently, about busting knee caps?

RX Reven' wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: If somebody paid me $1500 for an engine and installation, the warranty would expire the second the car rolled off the lot. "Quit buying cheap E36 M3" would be the mantra I would suggest.

…pretty much what I was thinking. Obviously 14 miles indicates an initial defect so it’s not right but part of price of only paying $4.96 per cubic inch is that you’ll have less of a leg to stand on if something goes wrong.

I kind of agree, and when even I'm thinking along these lines, you know it's serious.

I paid $750 for a "ran when parked" engine (minus accessories...just head + block) and the labor of having it swapped into my Samurai (about 1 step above a lawn tractor in job difficulty) by the backyardiest of mechanics. It suddenly started burning oil quickly within a few weeks, and then ate E36 M3 a few months later and I didn't complain. It was installed in good faith, for cheap, but the difference may be that I know the guy well enough to know he wasn't trying to screw me over.

Now it's possible the mechanic is trying to screw him, but it's also possible that it was an honest mistake, so maybe he shouldn't rule out option 3 which is probably the cheapest way to get the car driving again.

I could have taught your friend the same lesson for half the price.

Unless your friend has any sort of paperwork stating the condition of the engine and a warranty period he doesn't have much to go on. He should get the hell away from that mechanic for sure.

Tell your buddy to get his car down to JBA in San Diego (http://jbaspeedshop.com/). It won't be cheap but it will be right.

maybe its just me but $1500 doesnt sound cheap for the work performed, i would think its about right.

used engine - $500 15 hours of labor at ~$65 = ~$1000 (and i wouldnt think it it would take 15 hours to swap a sbf to a sbf.)

but personally i would just accept my lose and do what i could to give the shop all the bad publicity i could

Sooo, my friends wanted to buy a new car.

They bought a Subaru Forester off of a local older couple. They asked me check it over before they bought it.

The car was immaculate except for a small fender bender that had been fixed well.

The engine ran great and all the fluids were good.

They bought the car. They drove the car home. The next day, the engine dropped a valve that did quite a bit of damage to the engine. Luckily, they did not blame me!

My point is that it IS possible that the engine just decided it was time to E36 M3 the bed through nobodies fault.