Hey EvoM...

Need some input on a situation I'm currently in with my Evo.

Small back-story, last June my motor was pulled to be rebuilt. I took the motor to a shop that is known for building a 4g63's and had friends recommend the shop, as well as other local guys. Needless to say, they had my motor for almost 3 months before I got it back. I put the motor back in the car, got it baseline tuned and such... 900 miles later it spins a bearing....

Come to find out that the shop measured the bearing clearances wrong, and bored the cylinder walls wrong as well.

My question is, do I have any legal pull to go to the shop and try to get money for the damages? I figured I would talk to a lawyer and see what kind of grounds I have before confronting the original shop who did the work. My thoughts are they will probably tell me to go pound sand because its been so long since the motor was actually at there shop...

New shop is going to get me the measurements that were off and such so I have some supporting details... But these measurements cost me... 2 sets of pistons, valves, a new head, a new crank and all the labor of having a shop pull the motor as I didn't have the time.

tl;dr version : Shop messed up motor, new shop discovered why it grenaded itself so quickly, want to get money from first shop. What leverage do I have?


Big shout out to Brian and the gang at DynoTech for helping me out throughout this whole process and taking care of my Evo as if it were their own.


Thanks all

 

Simply see if they'll cover the ****-up. Any stand-up shop worth spending money at will do so if they legitimately screwed up the measurements and machine work.

My first built motor lost a balance shaft bearing 1000 miles out of break-in, and we determined it to be an issue with one of the oil passages having leftover crap from the previous failure that the hot tank didn't free up, and it came loose and starved the bearing. I owe the shop nothing for the second motor (which has now gone 20k), including the new block, but I personally owe them my business, good words, and some sticker space on my car for the rest of my life. That's how a shop should be run, in a way that a bad situation makes someone a customer until the day they die.

That said, I have little faith that you'll find yourself in the same shoes, most shop owners have trouble standing behind their own dicks. BBB and other claims are always a good thing to use as leverage if they care what others think. If they don't, then you're SOL at that point.

All negotiations failing, if the shop the car's at now is willing to help you out in court, I'd say go for it. I'd even get another opinion/look from someone not monetarily involved in the situation, another shop or machinist who stands to gain nothing from you winning the settlement (unlike the shop where the car's at now, who'll get your business).

 

Subscribed as I may be in the exact same boat as the OP only my motor isnt blown but is making noise. Im going to have another shop look at it and go from there.

 

A friend of mine had difficulty arranging cover for his wrecked engine, I helped him get a satisfactory result and this is advice I have for anyone in a similar situation:

1. Determine exactly what the failure was and possible causes of the failure. Attempt to get the backing of someone reputable, ideally in writing.
2. Be sure where blame lies. If you try to place responsibility on some one before you know who is at fault or you blame the wrong person your credibility can be damaged, lessening your chance of getting a satisfactory result for you.
3. Get as much evidence and information before you act. Be assertive, not aggressive. Most of the time, an agreed settlement that you are both happy with will cost you less than a drawn out argument.
4. Attempt to reach an agreement with the party at fault first, if they don't play ball have a plan B ready (e.g. seeking legal action) and ensure that the party at fault is aware that you intend to follow through.

Hopefully you can resolve without legal support. Good luck to you sir.

 

The only problem I see is some shops are pretty arrogant and if you take it somewhere else (esp. if its a shop in the same city) they almost always do not believe it and will want to see it which they are well within their rights. The question at that point is will they stand behind their work. Based on my personal experience you will almost always be on the short end because its all good until something breaks. Then most shops )at least the ones I have dealt with or personal experience with) will no longer be those cool guys you thought they were (or they try to make it up some other way).

I have a very low opinion on speed shops these days. The one I'm at now is the last attempt at salvaging any faith I have in shops who do performance. So far so good.

 

So true. I am in the same boat as you. Ive been modding cars for quite a while. Been dealing with speed shops since middle 90's. It almost makes me want to open my own shop, except for the fact that I would probably **** off evo customers if they ask me if I can put coilovers and/ or vta bov on their stock evo.


To OP, the last resort should be going through the legal system. Get a second or third opinion as well before you go back to that shop. Go back to them with just the facts and keep emotions out of it. Try to work a deal out, any legit shop will work with you to do the right thing. Every shop knows **** happens, and it may not be anybodys fault. Don't go in there cussing up a storm making threats or guaranteed you wont go anywhere. Like the saying goes, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

 

First off thanks for the respond, always appreciated hearing advice! I have received word yesterday, that the shop in question has a line out the door of people in the same boat as me... apparently the last 30 or so customers that went through this shop for machine/motor work have come out having to rebuild their motors as well or have other catastrophic damages based off improper machining.

At this time, I have the whole car at DynoTech, who is a very reputable shop around these parts especially when it comes to the Evo 8/9 chassis. They have a trustworthy machine shop who is to be providing the measurements that were in fact improper. So that will be in paper and then I will proceed to get in line to see what the old shop can do. I don't recall if I mentioned it, but, I only brought the motor to the first shop to be stripped, machined and reassembled with new internals.

Will hopefully have a good update on what the resolution is for this in the next month or so :/
Thank you! I have 1 and 2 complete and most of statement 3... however I have yet to reach out to the owner as 1 and 2 is not physically in my hand, yet. However As mentioned above, I think the shop is in some serious hurt as there are numerous locals that are running into the same issue... So I'm going to have to jump in line once I get that information varified and see what others have done, and what sort of support the shop is providing to us with the failure! Definitely plan to have all my cards ready before reaching out to him. Great advice!! Thank you again.

Yeah I understand what you mean, I'm friends with a lot of people who go to/work at the competing shops around here, however this shop is just a machine shop that I had originally brought the motor to... the guy specialized in DSM's and the 4g63 powerplant. So With all good words I took just the motor to him. The work appeared to be great, however spinning a bearing, cracking a crank, and shattering my valves after 900 miles without even really boosting it and finding out its from improper machining was a huge heart breaker for me.

So rather then pull it and risk anything, I took the whole car to DTT to have them to everything from A to Z just so I have the assurance that all work was done in house and no corners were cut. I'm not very confident much will come from the first shop as he is a very small local shop, but my fingers are crossed. Thanks for the advice
Yes absolutely agreed thank you! I planned to have that option in my back pocket rather then portray it as a threat, I would present it more of a "I have consulted my lawyers etc. and they have x,y and z for me/us to work off. Had no intentions on threats, the guy seemed really straightforward and oldschool when I originally worked with him, hes a human, we make mistakes, however if the line up of 30 people with issues is true, we might have a bigger problem. Hoping for the best!