Complaint Review: Pilot Engines Inc. - Pilot Mountain North Carolina

If you need a new engine, stay away from PILOT ENGINES INC because they will take your money and demand an additional $500 in replacement parts after your vehicle is disabled. I was quoted $1,669 for a complete engine rebuild. Then the shop demanded a new radiator and water pump as a condition of their warranty that was dishonored by Pilot Engines.

The college kid that did the work was incompetent and all the gaskets leak. The timing cover was replaced and purchased from Advance Auto Parts and AAP will not replace the defective materials after Pilot Engines directed me to their supplier to seek warranty for any accessories added to the engine. This behavior is just typical because Pilot Engines will not accept responsibility for the engine installed by their shop.

I was quoted $3,700 by a repuitable shop to replace the engine a second time because of the corrosive effects of having antifreeze mixed in the engine oil and the labratory results on the engine oil indicate the soft metals are beginning to erode. Ie: the copper level was 10x a normal level.

Pilot Engines witheld the fact that the engine light was on and demanded I take this vehicle to another shop because of their ignorance. Other shops did not want to fix the mistakes of Pilit Engines and keep referring me back to Pilot Engines for their WARRANTY that the shop has no intention to ever honor based upon the deceptive warranty terms that are a violation of the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act (1975).

My engine only has 2,693 miles on it and I have had to spend money on diagnostic work to determine why the coolant bottle is empty every 50 miles and I was given an estimate of $1,254 to fix the oil leak because the mechanic at pilot engines messed up the timing cover gasket. I also had to replace the stripped out oil drain bolt, Pilot Engines blamed that on a quick lube shop and the only shop that ever removed the oil plug was pilot engines.

I called this ripoff shop four (4) times right after the engine work was finished and PILOT ENGINES REFUSED to evaluate the problems reported to them and kept telling me there is nothing wrong with the engine installed in their shop. Why was the oil drain plug stripped? Why was the engine running lean and leaking gasoline inside the intake manifold after having the engine repaired? This is the answer, they did a piss poor job and did not replace the intake gaskets to inspect the fuel injection, the mechanic just slapped the old parts on the remanufactured engine and sent the vehicle home with known defects.

I would not allow PILOT ENGINES to repair a push mower with a Briggs L-Head engine, their mechanics do not have suitable experience to install engines and customer service is the worst I have ever dealt with in my many years of automotive service work. BTW: I am ASE Certified in seven areas of dicipline and have worked on heavy equipment for many yeats before I became disabled.