I remember you complaining about how they had your engine exposed back then... and that was a while ago. not really surprised... did you take pictures of the way they kept your car like reccomended?

 

no i didnt get a chance to, he had the heads on b4 i could. then he told me it doesnt matter about the heads being uncovered. so i was like whatever, hes the mechanic ill just let him do it. like i said he told me he would blow all that crap out. i guess im stupid for trusting him in the very first place. and also they were blasting rock in the area, been doing it for months and everything around there was always dirty. my car looked like i went offroading in it. its too obvious this is what happened. but he says theres no way the dirt caused this...

 

if you dont pay him off, be careful he doesnt put a mechanics lein on your car.

 

Tell him to do something unnatural with himself. You've got a junk car now and obviously he didn't do something right. Buy a manual and build the car yourself, or tak eit to someone else. And...KEEP YOUR 350 bucks.

I would look for a good used stock short block and keep it cheap. Don't even think about a rebuild unles you have 2-5 grand in the bank. Don't charge your CC up for this stuff...not worth it.

I feel truly sorry for you. You are in a tough situation. However, don't give this crook another dime. The car is in YOUR possesiom, right? If not, pay the 350 and get it away from this clown. He doesn't care about the car or you...or his work .

Ryan

 

Ok this question might seem a little "out there" or strange but i have to ask. Just before i took the car the other day, the mechanic said he needed to tighten up some bolts near the cat. He had me start up the car for some reason while he did it, i said ok. well the way the lift was the car was at an angle, front in the air, exhaust tips touching the ground. Keep in mind the car was a good foot in the air on the lift. I started the car while he tightened the bolts. Took about 2-3 min. Wouldnt the oil pump have trouble pumping oil with the car at such a severe angle, or is this irrelevant?

 

well usually when you spin a bearing, you can smell it, and its quite distinct. you said he did a timing chain too...id pop the timing cover off and see what all is going on up front. you could also pull the cam out and see if it is indeed a cam bearing aswell. its also a long shot, but the random shut off, and then the rough idling running...almost sound opti related...maybe something in the opti like part of the rotor or something is broken off inside... do you have a stethoscope at disposal?

 

It wouldnt have harmed anything if there was plenty of oil in the pan, if it had been reved for a little while like this is could have uncovered the oil pick-up tube but very unlikely.

These situations are one reason why I like to do my own work. I allways keep the shortblock covered completely while the heads or intake , or anything for that matter is off. I'll bet if you ask the mech that tears it down he will either attribute the bearing failure to particle contamination or blockage.

All it takes is for a bearings oil film to be too thin or gone for a second or two to spin a bearing especially at 3000 rpm.

 

Might have smelled something funny, but i wouldnt know what that smelled like. the rapping is coming from the back of the bottom end. I wont know untill i get this to someone else.......working on it.

Ur not saying 3000 is too high to rev are u? i might have had it at 3000 twice. I was actually shifting at 2500. when it happened i was driving down the highway at night luckily, it was at about 2500-3000 in 4th and i was keeping the gas steady there because i felt some hesitation/sputtering earlier when giving it steady gas. So i was trying to feel for it. Then as soon as i pushed the clutch to shift into 5th, thats when it just shut off. Nothing alerted me b4 hand

 

Is it possible he installed the cam wrong and you had piston to valve contact?

 

I guess anythings possible. Rather than speculate ive got plans to have the car towed tomorrow to a NEW mechanic whos been doing work for my dad for many years. So hopefully hes somebody i can trust. I will keep u posted and let u know how the rebuild goes. Thanks for all of your help i would be lost without u guys, really thanks.

 

Well... the reality is that this guy isn't going to give your cash back, so I wouldn't pay him one more dime. With cars it's just a hit or miss thing, so you always have to be careful of who you trust. With Cam swaps on LT-1's it's a 50/50 thing depending on who installs it... noting how they took care of your car with volunerable parts expossed... I don't think that helped at all. even if he flushed it.. or blew it out... he could have blown a large enough chunk of debris into the oil. But it's over now and the cars ruined... a mechanic will never say "it's my fault" they never do.

If your oil pressure is 0... your bearings are gone. Can be for a number of reasons.

your next step is to do a tear down and have the block put back together if all else is good. Just get qoutes don't dish your wallet out, and remembr if it cost more $$$ to rebuild.. you can usually find a good built shortblock from the vendors on here for a reasonable price.

Goodluck... it's always tough when things like that happen at the fault of another.

 

What I meant was even with as little a 1500 rpm much less the low 3000 , like said no oil film for a second is dead bearings.

 

You lost that $1500 because all this work will be have to done again (if your bottom end is shoot), and add at least another $1500 for engine rebuild…

I would sue this SOB...That’s for the small claim courts it for. Tell him that, usually small claims courts rule in favour of the customer...
Sebastian
ps. In many cases when the intake is off the engine and all oil paths are exposed something might fall in (any piece of metal), and it will easly damage your bottom end

 

do a search for people with untouched bottom ends that put heads/cam on it. It seems like it is a 50/50 chance of spinning a rod bearing. Some go in 10 miles while others hold out for a thousand miles. Mine went in 500 miles. Seems to me that it is just the nature of the beast. I'm not saying that the mechanic didn't screw something up but look at how many people this happens to. Next...did you know that he has a legal right to charge you $15/day storage while your car sits there? Also did you know he has the legal right to keep your car until his services are paid for? Believe me...I am not on his side but I just want you to know what his rights are for holding a business liscence. By the way, what does the front cam bearings have to do with anything?

 

You can smell a spun bearing?