Hi guys.

Im in a bad situation. I just had a new motor built by AMS in Shreveport. Its a 355 with AFR heads and all the goodies. I installed the motor in the car about a month ago and it ran just fine for about 1000 miles. Last week, I took off in it for the weekend to go out of town. I was in 6th on interstate when the car filled with steam. I shut it off asap and pulled over. I towed it immediatly to AMS and had them find out what happened.

Both my head gaskets are melted. The temp sensor in the head on the driver's side is melted.

Now, they are trying to refuse to fix it under warranty. My water pump is still functioning, as is my thermostat. The only problem the car had was an unplugged 02 (the wires were pulled to tight on the FLP's).

When they got the car, it was very low on water. The oil is fine, I checked that myself. Im assuming the water was being pumped out through the cylinder via blown head gasket.

I have to establish some kind of fault before I contact my lawyer, but I have no idea why my head gaskets would go after 1000 easy "break-in" miles. The heads got VERY hot, and I can only pray that they arent warped or cracked.

The motor was rebuilt last time because I collapsed a lifter, dropped an exhaust valve and blew a head gasket.

Its a forged 355, AFR heads, mild cam, all bolt ons.

Can anyone think of something I should check when I get my car back in the morning?

 

Another note:

The owner of the shop said that since it over headed, it isnt their problem. Im wondering if overheating it caused the HGs to go, or if the head gaskets going caused the car to over heat. Im thinking the head gaskets went first. With a functioning water pump and T-stat, and they say they cant keep water in it now, Im thinking it over headed due to the water being pumped out of the motor. The guy is a total ***, and has a record of screwing people over when something like this goes wrong.

Questions I have:

Is it possible they didnt deck my heads during the rebuild. Would the HG's last 1000 miles given that the car was never driven hard in its infancy?

They rebuilt my old lifters. I guess the one that collapsed last time could have done so again, causing the same issue.

 

They are trying to refuse warranty service because your car was operated low on water? Do you have all papers with terms and conditions for your warranty? Examine them, and probably you can avoid lawyer fees. If not - get some help, I am positive that your motor will be fixed for free I think they don't want bad reputation more than spending their money on your motor.

 

Thats my take on it. However, I was 200 miles from home when it overheated. Had I been low on water, I would have not made it those 200 miles. I flushed the air out of the system perfectly when the motor was installed, and the car was running fine before this.

Im going over there to have a word with him face to face.

 

Update:

After several attemps to get the shop to look into the cause for my head gasket malfunction further, I am left answerless and pretty upset.

I dont know what could have caused them both to go, so in the search for more answers, I will provide more info.

The car overheated in this process, and the shop and I have conflicting arguments as to when that happened. They are inclined to beleive that the head gaskets blew because I over heated the motor in some way. I think the head gasket leaking water out of the motor caused it to overheat. His response to this was, "You cant overheat a motor with a blown head gasket. It wont run long enough to get that hot."

He told me that they tried to check to see if the waterpump was functioning, but that they couldnt keep water in the motor long enough to test it. As they put water in the radiator, it was coming out of the tailpipes. Personally, I think thats a good sign that the WP is functioning. The guy at the shop seems to think the motor is being gravity fed. I really cant think of any way to test the pump other than what they tried.

My theory:
As I mentioned earlier, I originally had the motor rebuilt because of a blown head gasket that was caused by (to the best of my knowledge) a collapsed lifter. I found a rocker off the pushrod on an exhaust valve of the cylinder that chewed up the gasket. When I had the motor built, I was on a budget and the shop offered to rebuild my lifters to save some cash. Id never heard of such a process, but this guy is the expert. Im still wondering if they neglected to check/rebuild my lifters. I didnt get on the gas on the new motor much, but it felt weak. There was a miss that I figured was my opti, so I ordered a new opti. It was supposed to go in this week. Im wondering if it was even the cause.


Last question...
The guy at the shop told me that a rich condition can cause this situation. My 02 sensor had the habit of coming unplugged at random, and was unplugged when the car got to the shop. Am I right in thinking that he is looking for any way to get out of paying for this?

 

Looking at it from the shops side, you can't overheat a car without the temp gauge going into the red. If this happened and you missed it, it's on you.

I replaced a head gasket for a guy with a Accord. A week later a clamp came off and it overheated and toasted the engine. He blamed the whole thing on me and took me to cort. Even the dealer said if he had seen the temp rising and pulled over there would have been no damage. I offered to install a new engine at no labor to smooth things over but he paid the dealer $3500 (ouch) to replace the engine. Eventually everything was dropped.

#1: A O2 sensor comming unpluged will not cause a head gasket to go. When it happens the engine will run rich and this will cause combustion temps to go down.

#2: I can't see how a collapsed lifter would cause a head gasket to go. I also can't see how an exhaust valve would mess up the head gasket.

#3 depending on how bad it is blown you can drive a car with a blown head gasket. I bought a Honda from a girl that drove one for three months before she got tired of putting water in it. If yours is loosing water so fast it can't even get up to operating temp without loosing all the water, they are blown bad.

From your description, I can't think of one thing that could cause your problems. Head gaskets go all the time, normally not both at once (except during severe overheating). He could have used cheap gaskets or possibly reused torque to yeild head bolts (do we use them???).

Good luck. Read your warranty. It will cover abuse and overheating as reasons to void the warranty. This is why he is saying he dosn't have to fix it.

 

Your in tough place man I feel for you. Like was said before to blow both headgaskets it must have gotten really hot and to melt the temp sender wow thats smokin. Didnt you notice the guage was it working? It sounds like you should talk to him again and see what he will do for you to make you a happy customer. 100 happy customers is about the same as one pissed off customer. Maybe you can work out a deal you pay for parts he does the labor free. I warranty my work and I think my old boss said it best I can sell you the car but I cant teach you to drive it. In other words if your oil pressure light comes on and you drive another 100 Miles till the rod blows through the side of the block how much is the shop responsible for? Did they plane the heads or check them for being flat. I am not sure about reusing the torque to yield bolts as I have not had one of these apart myself yet but it could be an issue.

 

Bad deal man. This is just a idea about getting those a#$ holes to fix you car without a lawyer. I know A lot of the local tv news stations like these kind of stories. I would car one of the local stations and tell them you problem. I bet if they contact them (engine company) and put the story on the air everthing will be fixed fast. Good luck

 

Why didn't you stop driving it as soon as you saw the temp climbing into the red?

 

Have they torn it down yet to see if you cracked the block? Sounds like alot of water getting through for just a headgasket.