bradenW

I'm having a hard time with this because LME's warranty policy wasn't followed. They weren't really given a chance. I'm willing to bet that things would have been made right had you provided them the engine and let them do the work.

Is their policy on things like this in writing and were you provided that information?

Oli1313

Sorry to hear about your problem. It would have been a lot more difficult for them to ignore you if you would have been able to take the car to them personally. I do understand that this was unrealistic due to the distance involved. Contact the BB.
Good luck

Cruisers

I've known of companies that have done many good jobs but when one goes bad they refuse to do what is right. To me anyone who will screw one person, is capable of screwing anyone. A man's character is determined not by all the good he has done, but rather what he does when things go wrong. That's when his REAL character emerges. If it was my company, I'd have checked out the engine and simply replaced it. I've run a small company for over 30 years and more than once I've simply eaten a job, rather than ruin my integrity and reputation.

bradenW

What does the Better Business Bureau have to do with a consumer not following expressly written warranty policies? OP, I'm really not bashing you. I just believe things should have been handled correctly. I know shipping an engine half-way across the country for a claim sucks but if you can buy one and have it shipped to you, then that should have been a thought that crossed your mind. "What if I have a problem?"

bradenW

That's just my point. They offered to check it out and he declined. My apologies to you gentlemen that do not understand how these things work. I

jschindler

I'm sorry to hear about the poor response. I live in the Houston area and have been familiar with some of the engine shops over the years, but have never heard of them. I'll have to ask some of my buddies what they know about them.

Thanks for the heads up. The internet is a powerful tool.

NXTFAZE

The way I see it, he noticed there was an oil consumption issue, the shop that did the work didn't want to deal with it. There was obviously a mistake made, but they are not willing to help the situation now.

If he were to take the motor back to the shop, they would take it apart and charge him for a rebuild...

It sucks.... sometimes you gotta pay to play. Sometimes twice what you should....

Gofan

O thats right cause I forgot everyone in this world is perfect like you have never screwed anything up in your life. So does that make you a piece of sh*t? For all you know this could have been a rookie machinist that put this motor together and I did state which you forgot to read that they should pay for it. The old saying is true bad news travesls faster then good news.[/QUOTE]

They should stand behind their work. End of story.

Michrider

I think there are several factors here - Exactly what brand and spec are these pistons? You talk about Wiseco here and it seems like a few months back you have a post mentioning 4.135 Mahle Nitrous pistons with the cylinders taken out to .0045 clearance?

So are your cylinders now at a bore of 4.1395" or std bore of 4.125"

If this was a new engine why didn't they use std bore pistons, the LS7 block comes finish deck plate honed to 4.125". It can than be overbored .020" if needed.

Mahle makes several pistons from different material, and grafal and phosphate coated so they can be fit real tight when new. Some other brands (yours do look like Wiseco) may or may not have those coatings.
Piston material will also dictate clearance.

Nitrous pistons? But your not using nitrous? I don't get that logic.

To me it sounds like 2618 non coated pistons were used at a very loose clearance. Soft pistons like that set up loose, could get scuffed real easy if not fully expanded up to temp when romping on the throttle a bit. Most piston sites talk about using a piston like that for circle track, NASCAR, ALMS type applications. It will survive the extreme abuse, but longevity, oil consumption, and bore fit... are not going to be ideal for a street motor. That's why at the 24hrs of Daytona race, you see those teams adding oil so often. They set those motors up with huge piston to bore clearance and 2618 pistons. The pistons survived 24 hours but burned a ton of oil.

I'd go with some of Mahle Power Pack pistons set up on the tight side of their spec. Then with any forged piston let it warm up good and long before romping on it.

I build Harley performance motors, the two pistons I stay away from are KB's (Ka-Booms) and Wisecos (slappers). The KB hypereutectics are nice and tight fit for good sealing and performance but tend to shatter hence the nick name Ka Booms. Wisecos - I can make them work if I'm involved in spec'ing the bore fit and perfecting it to the tight side of their spec - and then convincing the owner to take it real easy when the motor is cold. Those soft 2618 Wisecos in a loose bore fit, will scuff like crazy if romped on cold. I've seen tons of Harleys that burn oil and piston slap when cold, and when I tear them down - Wiseco slappers with huge clearance and skirts that look like yours. I'll rebuild it with JE's or CP's perfecting the clearance - tell them synthetic oil only and warm it up real easy.

Just my opinion, but if I were you I'd look into a different brand piston spec'd to the actual use the car sees. Not a nitrous piston for a non nitrous application. Nitrous pistons need to be able to expand greatly from the heat, and be soft enough not to shatter from the huge pressure. Those features equal an oil burner.

Now, you can use a small amount of nitrous on the tighter fitting 4032 forged pistons and have the best of both worlds. Strong forged pistons, tight fitting for combustion sealing and low oil consumption...

Who is at fault here? dunno. Did you spec out the engine with nitrous pistons and big clearance? If so, they may have given you what you asked for.

MurphMan2

Should have bought the crate motor from Chevy, and you wouldn't have this problem.

MurphMan2

You seem to be a shill or the proprietor of this company undercover, because it really doesn't matter who tears down the engine, the damage is obvious. Sending an engine cross country is a ridiculous option when their/your only advice to the OP was to keep on driving it.

BTW-if you are the proprietor, the correct spelling is "warranty" but in your case you wouldn't know what that is.

WAwatchnut

I know other's have already chimed in here (and you've vigorously answered), but it just seems you're missing the point of why people were taking issue with your post.

Actually, the OP specifically stated that it wasn't because they messed up one engine... it was that fact that they were providing no assistance in fixing it. So "if they messed up, they should fix it" was exactly what they didn't do. So maybe the OP has a point in thinking that they suck?


That's exactly what the OP stated he doesn't want. He admits that there may be many good engines out there from LME - it's about how they handle the problem engines that's at issue. Plus - spending a lot of time on a high profile project is no guarantee that you take care of "normal" customers well, so it's really not that big of a deal.


The OP did try to resolve it - how many people do you know arrange conference calls between technicians and manufacturers, if they're not trying to resolve the problem???

I don't think the OP's point here was to blackmail LME into fixing his problem. I think the point was to let fellow Corvette owners know so they don't get stung (Thanks for that! ). LME already refused requests to resolve or contribute to the resolution of the issue, so the OP had it taken care of.

You may take offense to my post as well, and let me directly say that there's no offense intended. But your responses (asking another member if that makes him a "piece of sh*t"?!) indicate you kind of need a reality check.

BTW - I completely agree with your point about warranties and how they're handled. If the OP had followed LME's warranty procedure, it may have turned out differently. But since they never had a chance to take a look at the engine themselves (and verify that it was their issue), I'm not surprised that they didn't offer more assistance. That's one of the perils - it's possible that both sides have a very legitimate issue, so it's really a lose-lose. But it does look like they shoudl have stepped up to the plate on this one, and they bailed.

John Cocktosten

Contact Black2001z06 on Ls1tech, he had alot of issues with his LME 427.

bryan@lme

Hello Forum members,

LME’s written policy, which is delivered with all engines, states that any issue or warranty claim in which LME may be held liable must be returned to and evaluated by LME to determine root cause. If it is determined that the issue was caused by LME, LME will rectify the problem. Even when not at fault, LME has provided solutions to get the customer back up and running.


LME takes great pride in our customer service and quality product. Our reputation and customer satisfaction has and will continue to demonstrate this. If LME’s standard policy of sending the product back to LME had been followed, this situation would have had a different outcome.

LME values our customers and will continue to stand behind our work as we have over the years.

Thank you,
Bryan Neelen
LME
713-849-4505

AORoads

With all due respect Bryan, you need a pr person. Reciting your policy in light of what has been written here by the OP is completely insufficient and ineffective.

General Lee

seems to be much to upset over this, does he have a horse in this race or is he the horse?

BTW to the OP good luck getting this resolved it just ceases to amaze me why business's for the good of CS wont flex a little especially when you have documented this so well, imagine the story you could have told if they did you right, one or two customers there way and they covered your repair costs.

Michrider

Mail them 7 of the pistons back with a note - # 8 will be personally delivered through your front window.

HawaiiC6

Bryan Neelan, very nice of you to stop by and post your warranty policy when it doesn't mean JACK.

Please address this as your company gave excuses after excuses to the OP. The following is a copy and paste of his post where he notified your company of an excessive oil consumption.

Well, at 600 miles the DIC advises me to check the oil level. So I top it off with 1.5+ quarts as needed. That didn’t seem abnormal, as I had anticipated some oil consumption during the break-in period. But at the 1,000 mile mark, which is just 400 miles down the road, I had to add another quart. This consumption rate continued to the tune of one quart of oil every 400 to 600 miles. I mentioned this to LME several times, and each time their response was “put on a few more miles.” By this time, the warranty period had already lapsed. During latter discussions, LME’s repeated responses were “I can’t think of anything that would cause this.” And “we’ve built many of these engine combinations without any problems.”

Your company should have taken care of this when it was reported instead of STROKING the OP with an excuse of "put on a few more miles"

Due to this do you think he or anyone in his position would trust your company.

To the OP really sorry to hear this happen to you and thanks for the heads up on a company that really believes in their policy.

Beach21

QUOTE=MurphMan2;1568733270]You seem to be a shill or the proprietor of this company undercover, because it really doesn't matter who tears down the engine, the damage is obvious. Sending an engine cross country is a ridiculous option when their/your only advice to the OP was to keep on driving it.

BTW-if you are the proprietor, the correct spelling is "warranty" but in your case you wouldn't know what that is.[/QUOTE]

I agree "Hunts187" just joined this forumn 8 days ago and he has writtern numerous replies to this thread. Something smells here and "Hunts187" has NO INFORMATION listed in his profile. All of his posts sound like attacks. This guy is pretty offensive.

Beach21

QUOTE=MurphMan2;1568733270]You seem to be a shill or the proprietor of this company undercover, because it really doesn't matter who tears down the engine, the damage is obvious. Sending an engine cross country is a ridiculous option when their/your only advice to the OP was to keep on driving it.

BTW-if you are the proprietor, the correct spelling is "warranty" but in your case you wouldn't know what that is.[/QUOTE]

I agree "Hunts187" just joined this forumn 8 days ago and he has writtern numerous replies to this thread. Something smells here and "Hunts187" has NO INFORMATION listed in his profile. All of his posts sound like attacks. This guy is pretty offensive.