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| Fast Auto Wrecking Alex Kutsar Fast Auto Wrecking Engine |
| 1st of Dec, 2011 by User740264 |
| October 10, 2011 On July 25, 2011 I answered an ad from Craigslist for a 2000 jeep grand Cherokee 4.7L engine that had been "completely rebuilt". A good friend and myself went to look at the engine and again we were told that it had been rebuilt but it was from a 1999 jeep instead. Both in the ad and verbally we were told that the engine came with a 90 day warranty. That if we had ANY trouble with the engine that Fast Auto Wrecking would refund my money or fix the problem. That the only reason they wouldn't honor it is if we went and found another engine we wanted to buy instead. I hired a mechanic to install the engine. After removing the engine that I had in the jeep he installed the engine that I had purchased from Fast Auto Wrecking. At that time it was pointed out to me that there was a couple of bolts missing and in fact one that was broken off inside that held the oil pan on. They also pointed out that for a rebuilt engine, it seemed to be pretty dirty. After almost 2 weeks of trying to get the engine to start it was coming up with an electrical error and he told me he doesn't deal with electrical problems. I then had the jeep towed back to my home and had my friend who is a mechanic from Grants Pass Oregon and who went with me to look at the engine originally take a look at it... for a couple of days we worked on getting the electrical error to clear and after buying several new parts got it to come up clear yet the engine was still not starting. At this point my friend who has over 12 years experience as a service manager for a car dealership decided to start from the beginning and checked the compression on the engine. Upon checking the first two pistons it showed "0" compression. He came in to tell me and we made the first call to Fast Auto Wrecking to inform them of the problem. From the very beginning Fast Auto Wrecking tried to insinuate that we knew nothing about checking the compression on an engine and were questioning my friends knowledge and experience. They told us to check the compression on the remaining pistons and call them back. We felt this was a waste of time since we already knew that 2 of them had no compression at all. But to make them happy we did just that. Of all 8 of the pistons there was only one that had a reading that was passable the rest were all below what is acceptable. We called them back and we were told to remove the engine and bring it up to them to have them look at it. We made an appointment with them so that we could be there when the mechanic looked at it. When we arrived they took the engine out of the trunk of my car to the back where the mechanic was. The Owner, Alex, came back and told us that we were not allowed to be there with the engine. We had told him that we had made arrangements with him and his mechanic to be there to find out what was going on with the engine. He tried over and over to get us to leave and the mechanic finally said to him that it was all right for us to stay and watch. The only thing that their mechanic found was that the valve timing was off. This would confirm what MY mechanic had determined after he performed the compression test that Fast Auto Wrecking insisted that we needed to do. My mechanic also informed me that with the timing being set wrong that the valves themselves are going to be bent which is why there is no compression at all in the first two holes. Spotting the incorrect valve timing was as far as their mechanic went with his so called “complete†inspection of the engine. He informed us that all he would have to do would be to reset the timing and that would resolve what was wrong with the engine. He told us he would reset the valve timing and test the compression that night and the manager, Nathan told us he would deliver the engine back to us the next day. In the first place they had already admitted to us that they had nothing at their facility to check the compression with and second, trying to correct the valve timing at this point is far too late. By their mechanic setting the timing incorrectly is very likely the reason for the lack of compression. And finally when asked previously how they did a compression test on the engine without the tools required to run the test we were told that they turned the engine by hand and they heard a “whoosh, whoosh†sound. That night the mechanic mysteriously quit. Nathan told us the next day that they were trying to find a new mechanic. On Monday we were informed that they had hired the mechanics brother to do the necessary repairs and that it would be ready by morning and they would bring it down to me in the morning. When I called at 11:00 AM I was told the engine was ready, that I would have to come pick it up or if I didn’t want to pick it up I would have to give them my engine in exchange. Not only had they sold me an engine that was no good but now they wanted the core back on the engine that was in the jeep to begin with. I refused. We received the engine around 4:00 that afternoon and immediately took several pictures of it. It was very evident that nothing had been done to fix the engine… From the pictures it can be seen that the valve timing is still off and in fact was at the same position it was before. Just to confirm our suspicion my mechanic spent the extra time to complete and proper compression test again and found it to be exactly the same as it was prior to taking it back to Fast Auto Wrecking. I called the Owner of Fast Auto Wrecking and he wouldn’t even talk to me and said he would have Nathan get back to me. When I talked to Nathan he told me the owner has decided not to honor the warranty because both his mechanics told him there was nothing wrong with the engine and it must be something we are doing to it that makes it not work. I offered to just have them give me my money I paid for the engine back and we would call it quits. They refused… I have a lot more money invested in trying to get this engine to run and feel that Fast Auto Wrecking should be responsible for those expenses along with the expense I have incurred arranging alternative transportation as well. |
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