Milodon Bad Part Experience
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Re: Milodon Bad Part Experience
Thanks for the useful advice angel71rs!
It is people like you make the internet the great place it is.
You should think about being a proferssional advice giver.
Your words of wisdom will help me with my knitting.......
How can I ever repay you?
It is people like you make the internet the great place it is.
You should think about being a proferssional advice giver.
Your words of wisdom will help me with my knitting.......
How can I ever repay you?
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 1,431
From: Pacific North West
Re: Milodon Bad Part Experience
Originally Posted by markinkc69z
Yes, absolutely. Maybe its because I've spent the last 18 years in the automotive aftermarket as a professional and an enthusiast. I've been in your situation and Milodon's. I do empathise with your situation but Milodon is not responsible for your inspection and install. YOU or the installer/builder is responsible for inspection and the suitability of the parts installed. Its not much different the burning your tongue on hot coffee and then wanting to sue for damages. Milodon builds good parts and most of the key employees have been there for many years. Ken Sink, their sales manager came to Milodon after spending many years at Weiand before the Holley buyout.. He himself is an enthusiat with a roots blown hotrod.
In the aftermarket performance industry you run across all sorts of unfortunate situations where someone wants a company to be responsible for their action/inaction or lack of experience or skill. This is part of the business. Milodon went above and beyond by offering you some cash to help with machine work and parts. I don't think they deserve a bad rap on a board for an isolated incident that was preventable by both parties involved.
Moral of the story: If you're going to be a participant in the performance scene inspect your parts and accept personal responsibility for the work you do yourself. Take pride in that work.
In the aftermarket performance industry you run across all sorts of unfortunate situations where someone wants a company to be responsible for their action/inaction or lack of experience or skill. This is part of the business. Milodon went above and beyond by offering you some cash to help with machine work and parts. I don't think they deserve a bad rap on a board for an isolated incident that was preventable by both parties involved.
Moral of the story: If you're going to be a participant in the performance scene inspect your parts and accept personal responsibility for the work you do yourself. Take pride in that work.
Bad comparison. Coffee burns bring millions!
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 10,745
From: Buffalo, New York
Re: Milodon Bad Part Experience
I don't know of any company that would pay for your engine in these circumstances. You could have a long debate about what would be right or wrong. Any of you can think of a list of pros and cons. But about the only thing I will add is this, 'cause it's analogous to the "hidden" cost of malpractice in Medicine, something I have spent a lot of time with. If manufacturers of performance parts all warranteed "secondary damage" as happened here, what do you think the price of the parts would become? The cost of just figuring out if their part was defective and what percentage of the damage the part was responsible for would be high. You do realize that plenty of people would deliberately try to blame someone else for their own screw-up, don't you? And of course, there would be many situations where it simply not possible to reconstruct an iron-clad causal chain.
I agree that it "should" never have happened in the first place. But human activity is inevitably associated with error. Good manufacturing processes and quality control can lower the error rate. There is a conflict though between customers desire for a lower price and for very high quality. I am always amazed to see someone post "what is the best part" or "who offers the best service" and then when the answers come in, they say "well, I can't afford that." Don't ask what the "best" roller lifter is when you want to know "what is the least expensive one that may work" for example. In that example, you can buy lifters from ~$150 to ~$1,000. There is probably some relationship between the price and the quality control, though unfortunately that isn't always the case either.
As any product or service is made better, each subsequent incremental imporvment becomes more and more costly. The only way out of this conundrum is a "revolutionary" change in design or manufacturing process. Maybe powdered metal rods will turn out to be such, though to me the jury is till out on that one.
Anyway, thanks. It's a good reminder up to me and I bet to others to check everything when assembling a motor.
Essay mode off, for now.
Rich
I agree that it "should" never have happened in the first place. But human activity is inevitably associated with error. Good manufacturing processes and quality control can lower the error rate. There is a conflict though between customers desire for a lower price and for very high quality. I am always amazed to see someone post "what is the best part" or "who offers the best service" and then when the answers come in, they say "well, I can't afford that." Don't ask what the "best" roller lifter is when you want to know "what is the least expensive one that may work" for example. In that example, you can buy lifters from ~$150 to ~$1,000. There is probably some relationship between the price and the quality control, though unfortunately that isn't always the case either.
As any product or service is made better, each subsequent incremental imporvment becomes more and more costly. The only way out of this conundrum is a "revolutionary" change in design or manufacturing process. Maybe powdered metal rods will turn out to be such, though to me the jury is till out on that one.
Anyway, thanks. It's a good reminder up to me and I bet to others to check everything when assembling a motor.
Essay mode off, for now.
Rich
Last edited by rskrause; Aug 7, 2006 at 04:19 PM.
Registered User
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 181
From: Wilton, CA, USA
Re: Milodon Bad Part Experience
Id have to say that Milodon F-ed up... But on the other hand I have never known a company to replace anything but the part that failed... Who knows maybe if I noticed that I got a bad part id throw it in a crappy *** motor just to have them replace it... (I know that you didnt do that and most normal people wouldnt.) But once again, great companies are built on customer service and if they admittedly cost a customer a motor they should bend over backwards to help him out... I guess its moroso stuff from now on for me...
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