Mike
Radford,#2Consumer Suggestion
Fri, November 05, 2004
I'm not defending this company either. It appears from numerous reports that they are bad business. With anything used, you want to inspect it first. Also with something heavy, shipping might cost a lot, and you'd be paying it to return the engine. Buy locally, if there is a problem, you can also return it locally and deal with the company in person. If local salvage dealers don't have what you want, they may be able to have it brought in from somewhere else and sell it to you FOB their location. When I bought a used Honda engine from a local place, the paperwork was very clear that only the block, head, and internal parts were guaranteed. Any external parts that might still be attached (manifolds, sensors, water neck, etc.) are not guaranteed. If this "complete swap" deal wasn't in writing as an itemized list of what was to be included, you may not have much legal to stand on about not having all the external parts, or having them broken. Industry practice is to only supply the engine assembly itself, though many parts may remain attached because it isn't worth the time to take them off. But the ECU, distributor/sensor, alternator, and other expensive parts will be pulled off and sold seperately. If someone were replacing a bad engine with another one of the same type, they wouldn't need them, just re-use the old ones. They did say no additional *engine* parts would be required, which is not the same as saying no additional parts would be required. They convinced you that you were buying everything needed to upgrade from a standard to turbo engine, clearly you did not receive that. I note that Larry uses the term "engine swap" to describe replacing only the engine itself with one of the same type, not an upgrade, so there may be some confusion over terminology. Were it a legitimate company, you could send the whole lot back and get your money back. You could try filing a claim with the shipping company if it appears some of the parts were broken in shipping.
Larry
Tucson,#3Consumer Comment
Thu, November 04, 2004
I used to work as a mechanic and have done a few engine swaps. I have no experience with this company and do not intend to defend them. I do, however question if you and your son fully understood what you were buying as it sounds like you expected to drop the new engine in, plug in some wires, and drive away. The key issue is what is a complete engine? Is the alternator attached to the engine a part of the engine or is it an accessory? Is it normal practice in the industry to include accessories? What you are calling a rip-off might be normal industry practice. (My engine swaps usually involved "short blocks" in which most of the old external parts are reused.) Part of your complaint was the shipping time. Most freight companies don't dispatch a trailer until they have a full load. Your engine very well may have sat at the freight company for weeks waiting for them to fill a trailer to go from Texas to Maryland. If you were not willing to wait for freight to be shipped, you could have considered some form of express shipping. Did you consider looking for an engine closer to home? I'm sure they have junkyards in Maryland where you could have found a suitable engine and seen exactly what you were getting.