Hey Everyone,

I brought in my motor to this shop for machining service, decked, honed etc.. After about $3,400 in work. I received my engine block with a Hairline crack thats leaking a lot of coolant, that I had to discover once I paid to install the motor. The shop refuses to make it right and wants me to pay for everything. I've spoken to some people already and many are telling me that this was due to an over-torqued headbolt or uncleaned bolt hole. The crack is right outside the bolt. I have pictures of the the hairline crack.

My mechanic is giving me a statement saying the crack wasn't there nor was leaking coolant in any way shape or form before handing over to the machinist. He is more than willing to put his credibility on the line for this as he's angry that I have to experience this. (CLM Auto Serving the Boston area 27+ 100+ reviews averaging 9/10 stars)

Has anybody else experienced this after machine work or have pictures of their damage after over-torquing? Any help is greatly appretiated.

Please let me know if anyone is able to help or at least direct me to someone who has experienced this. If anyone has more questions about anything just let me know. This situation is driving me crazy, Im just a young guy who busts his ***** working for my car and now I feel like I've literally been robbed by paying nearly 4 grand and getting back a cracked block.


Thanks in Advance.

 

Seems like the bolt hole wasn't dry when the heads were installed. Water doesn't compress. Not an every day occurrence but it seems to get brought up from time to time.

 

I have experienced this on a friends car. He went to torque down one of the head bolts and it seemed to get snug rather early. He ignored this and kept trying to reach the proper torque. Now he has a cracked head from trying to compress fluid and junk debris.

 

Thanks for the Reply Texas. Do you have any advice on what I should do? As im forced to take him to court at this point. My mech (Very Credible)will be providing me with a statement sayin this crack wasnt there beforehand nor was never leaking coolant prior to sending out. Would you guys be willing to write me a statement saying it thats what happened based off my mech's statement? it could even begin with "if everything provided in terms of the statement from CLM auto is 100% honest and true, Based off my experience this damage is from....." I am more than willing to pay for your time and knowledge. Thanks

 

Yes it's pretty well known that trying to torque a head bolt with any type of fluid/coolant in the hole will cause the block to crack right where the bolt is.

These are blind holes, whoever installed the heads is responsible for this mistake.

 

Is it possible the machinist could have done this bolting the torque plate on to do the honing?
They do use a coolant to keep cutting tools cool. maybe a rookie machinist learned
on that block. Why would a block come back from the machine shop with liquid
in the bolt holes?

 

Sure, it's possible it was done while honing. Did the machine shop also install the heads? I would lean towards it happening when installing the heads though.

 

Yes they installed the heads. Even weirder, my invoice from the shop included the head installation for free............... Which i will obviously be bring to court to use against him. Has my Vin signature and everything.

although my word doesn't matter, he even told me he had a horrible time installing the heads. But I'm sure he won't admit that.

At this point my attorney just told me to gather statements from people who have experienced this. Its very overwhelming to do all this without my car and working like a horse everyday.

 

Everyone will point fingers at someone else. How much did the machine shop do vs engine installer?

 

If they installed the heads then it's a no brainer that they caused it. Either when honing or head install, if the machine shop did both they have no one else to blame it on.

 

I question this because where would the liquid come from after coming home from the machine shop? Nobody's going to take a fresh block and pour liquid
on it before putting the heads on. And your not going to tell me there was some left over from the machine shop. Now we know the machine shop installed
heads, did they install heads before cleaning the block, no they installed them on
a clean block. Just my opinion.

 

The installed removed the engine, and removed the heads. The machine shop dis-assembled the block removed everything. Polished the crank, decked and honed everything. Installed the forged pistons and rods. re-assembled the block back together along with torquing the heads. I have a full invoice of everything which for whatever reason included a "free" head install. He personally told me he had a lot of problems installing the heads.

 

So it's basically the mechanic's word versus the machinist's word?

It's hard to believe the machinist would be at fault. Whatever coolant may have made it in the bolt holes should have been cleaned out when the block was washed. Any residual water or other fluid that may have been in the bolt holes would have drained out while the block was upside down as the main bearings and crank were installed.

Maybe I'm biased, but it seems more likely that if the crack was from torquing the bolt with fluid in the hole, it was done before hand. I personally have never seen an instance where the block cracks from over torque; usually the threads let go but the block doesn't crack unless there is a hydrolock.

 

If that's the case and it was not leaking coolant before then its 100% the machine shop fault! Even if you handed them the engine with it cracked already they should have noticed it way before completing any of the machining work, let alone bolt it all up, charge you, and say its ready to go.

 

Ill try to make my point a little more clear. the engine was removed from car with no leak,
took to the machine shop, and while doing the machine process some machinist tool coolant (don't know what it is called)
was in the holes as they bolted the torque plate down. I am not a machinist so I do not know how the process takes place, but the only time bolts entered bolt holes was during
torque plate bolt on, we know a machinist wouldnt assemble with a wet block, so now my question is when did the crack appear? there was only 2 times the bolts were torqued down,
torque plate and assembly. I can be completely wrong, But I just go through the whole
process from removing from car to final assembly of engine and I only come up with bolts entering holes 2 times, and i cannot see where there would be liquid in the holes at any other time. I hope that is more clear. I don't want to start an issue that is just my thought.

 

There's really no reason for coolant to touch the block until the torque plate is fastened. I've always worked with Sunnen equipment, but the way they work is that the coolant pump isn't turned on until the honing head is lowered into the cylinder and the lever is pushed to turn it on.

While one side is being honed, the uncovered side is usually at such an angle that the coolant wouldn't really get into the bolt holes either. It's going to most likely look something like this:



I'm not trying to argue and I'm not saying the machinist didn't do it. I'm just saying, from a machinist's perspective, it's very unlikely and would be a hard story to sell.

 

Yeah, really only one person knows who done it, the one who done it.
I think some of the important details are left out from removing engine from car to final assembly of engine. Mystery will never be solved with out all of the details.

 

When the machine shop gets a summons to appear in small claims court they may change their stance and help you to get it resolved.

 

My Mechanic removed the heads and disassembled the engine, and we handed it over to the machinist. Who did his service as well as completely re-assemble the engine. The mechanic received the engine completely assembled and installed the motor. Once we began idling it started pissing coolant. Guys please keep in mind a master mechanic of nearly 30 years 100+ ratings 9/10 average is throwing his credibility on the line for this. This guy could have simply told me to go pound sand but he's more than willing to help me prove this.

I will have the statement this week which I hope people will take me more seriously. Its as simple as the engine has been used since 2004 46k miles, never had any coolant leak whatsoever in its history. Given to this machine shop and now its leaking coolant like a waterfall. I understand their is some grey area in this but to someone who's not as knowledge as you all, it seems almost logical to me what happened.

Once again: Nearly 30 years of High credibility being put on the line for this.

Chain of command: Mechanic (Disassembly) > Machinist (Machining service decked honed, FULLY Re-assembled With Invoice to Prove > back to Mechanic to install the motor and thats it.


Please If anybody has any questions at all or can help me I'd greatly appreciate it and have absolutely nothing to hide. Im just a young guy who works his A** off for my wife (My Caddy) and I feel like I've been ripped the hell off. Lost $3400 and got back a cracked motor. This really sucks. Im not sure if this makes any difference but, The motor doesn't sound to well either it has a very slight Tickingish noise.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated and Im willing to even pay for help/advice.

Thank you.

 

Yeah, I have never seen or heard of a block cracking like that upon disassembly. It's really hard to say what happened, I mean most likely liquid was in bolt hole when a bolt was
put in there and screwed tight, when and where that happened is a problem your not going
to solve on a keyboard, unless its on video somewhere. At this point what you need is a
block, you do not have to buy everything again. Try to work something out with the
machinist on a block if that bridge is not burned. Good luck.