I have had my 84 corvette for about 5 months, its had one other owner he was an older guy who babied it, it has 130K. Its never had any mechanical problems other than the window motors went out in 94. Ok it all started about 2 months ago, one day the top right end of my engine started knocking. I took it to a mechanic and he told me that I would be new lifters. He fixed it and it cost me 500.00, and when i picked it up he told me that he dropped parts of the inside of the lifter in my engine or oil i am not sure but any ways he told me he got it all out besides a little spring, but not to worry it wont hurt any thing. The same day i got it back i was driving and my oil pressure dropped badly and my oil temp went SKY high. By the time i got it home it stopped running and the next day there was about an 8 foot spot of oil. My car is bassicaly junk now and I was told it was his fought because NOTHING can be in your engine like that and that it probly got stuck in the oil pump. Now i got to buy a new engine and i am out of 500.00 Some one please let me know if you think he is the cause so i can try and got my money back and get my car fixed thanks. Oh ya i am only 21 and this is my first vette but dont worry VETTES still rule in my book i have not given up on them.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

After I paid $3300 for an engine rebuild, I drove it the 5.5 miles to my house. Between there and home steam started coming out from under then hood. When I got it home I saw the mechanic forgot to tighten the upper radiator hose at the thermo housing. I wish they would have checked the engine over instead of washing the car for a half an hour while I waited. It could have been catastrophic had my girlfriend picked up the car for me and I lived further from garage.

3000mi later I blew both head gaskets from overheating due to a blocked radiator. When we disassembled it, there was a hose clamp under the valve covers rolling around on top of the head. Good thing this guy wasn't a surgeon!

I feel for ya bud. Good Luck.

BIG JIM

 

OH damn that sucks, did u sue him for that. I am not the kinda person to seu anyone but a lot of people have told me they would. And do you think he is the cause of my engine blow? thanks

 

Well, It sure sounds like it was his fault. it's just gonna be difficult to prove. Good luck!..

Any luck with a replacement???
You could always just yank that rngine and have it bored to 355, or stroked to 383. Slap on heads and call it a day....

:cheers:

 

Ya i think he is responsible but I hope i can prove it so i can get some of the money i am going to lose do to his mess up. But I think I will be able to prove it because my friend was there when he said that he drop parts in it and that may help me some. But i am still lost about what i am going to do with engine i may just pull it put another engine in it and just slap the crappy cross fire back on it. I dunno yet I am still open for suggestions for that to. THANKS

 

Chances are slim that a spring made it into your oil pump. The pump pick-up has a screen that has holes approx 1/16 of an inch or so. Not to say it cant happen- but Id say slim chance. The fact is, that any other matter like small particles that can and do make it into the pump will make it to the bearings. When this happens the bearing will get ruined- opening the clearance and letting oil pressure drop. Then its only a matter of time before other parts wear and the motor is toast. Was it from your lifter? who can tell... If you took it apart and didnt find that spring in the pan it may have been the culprit. Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

 

Most factory oil pump screens don't seal 100% on the top. I've rebuilt a few that sucked a small peice of metal and seized the pump causing failier. The main way you would be able to determine if this is to remove the oil pan, drop the oil pump and remove the cover off it and look at the gears to see if a peice of metal is in there. Also look around for the spring. But at 130,000 miles I would not have put new lifters in it. I would have just rebuilt the entire motor.

 

He said the spring was from the lifter, and that its very small. He also told me since it was so small it should just pass with no problem. I dont know but after about 30 miles thats when hell broke loose, the oil temp went up and the pressure went way down. While the car was sitting it was at 0 and while on the gas it went up a little but it was still way down. I dont know if he is the problem but if so i BETTER get 100% of my money back and a rebuilt engine or atleast my car fixed. This has caused a lot of personal problems with me. The car is my baby, I would rather drive my vette than have sex, (sorry if this offends any one) so in a way i hope its his fault. Thanks I hope to find out soon for sure. Let me know what ya think

 

...Nice to be young enough to have the choice... :D

There are a bunch of things that could have gone wrong...He may have used the old oil pump/distributor drive coupling (they crack after many years use and display the symptoms you describe); it may have spun a bearing; it could have had a loose oil pickup tube and cavitated; etc...May even not had enough oil (did you check?)...

I think you are somewhat out of luck...The fact that the guy was forthcoming about the lifter spring (and why was he taking a lifter apart? Does he mean the spring-steel circlip that holds it together?) kinda lends credence to his honesty...

$500 sounds like a lot, and there's a lot of nice things I could buy with it, too, but it could be way worse...

(You could have bought a ZR1 and had the delivery service drop it off the transporter)...

I'd be honest with him; not threaten, talk it over, see what he can do for you...The only one who wins a lawsuit is the lawyer...

 

No he did not take the lifter apart it busted its own cuts due to being old i guess, and he had to pick the parts out of the oil i guess. and it was full of oil when i took it home. WHat do u mean buy i got have gotten a ZR1 deliveried for that price?

 

No, no, no...he means if you had a ZR1 and some delivery guys had dr.....oh, never mind.

Look at it this way; five years from now you won't give that $500 a second thought. You needed a new motor anyway, now the decision to get it has been made for you. Get the 383 and enjoy it!

(isn't this same thread in another section??)

Larry
code5coupe
:seeya


[Modified by rocco16, 12:40 AM 6/23/2003]

 

No offense here, but doesn't that really depend on who the sex is with? I mean I like my Vette, too, but if Britany Spears offered it up the Vette would stay parked and I would be hitting it (and I don't mean the Vette) :D

 

YA this post is in another area but I put it there when i didnt get many responces sorry. But I would like to get any 383 but what mods would i have to change, and is a 383 fuel injected? What would i need to buy to put it in counting all mods and do u know where i can get one?

 

A 383 is built using your current (or donor) engine. It is your 350 bored .030" and with a crankshaft with a stroke of 3.75" vesus the stock 3.48". It bolts right in since it is the same external size. Yes, it can be fuel injected...

 

Document everything you can in writing with dates/times etc. Then return to the shop for a little pow-wow to discuss the problems you are having. I would at least pull the pump out and check it over. Sounds to me like he dropped more than a little spring in there. And besides that.....how did he get a spring out of the lifter then he took them out? They come out at one nice piece? :confused:

I smell something fishy. Take the pan off and see what you find.

 

Its a litttle late for this advice, but, you should have stopped driving it when you lost oil pressure. A tow truck is a much cheaper alternative to a ruined engine.

Just some speculation on my part, I wonder if the drop in oil pressure could be due to a failure in the pushrod or rocker assembly causing a lifter to come up out of the bore and cause your loss of oil pressure. Taking off the valve covers and checking the valve train would verify any problem there. If there is some problem there, I think you might stand a chance at recovering your money. However, your mechanic is gonna say the same thing I just said about not driving it after the oil pressure failed.

Whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck. The best thing is to start learning how to do this stuff yourself, or find someone you trust to work on your car.

 

:lol:

 

:lol:

Do the 383! :thumbs:

 

The fact that the lifter was in pieces makes it hard to say that the mech. messed up your engine. He did mess himself up, failure to exhibit proper CYA (cover your bum). If I tore down your engine and found a lifter that needed to be removed piece by piece, you would have had three options;

1. Complete rebuild to include block flush.

2. Replace just the lifters and sign a waiver, you would not walk out with a warranty.

3. Tow it out.

I guess I have to ask, were you given options on the estimate?

Either way, the whole thing is a mess and I hope it works out for ya in the end.

 

If there is a 8 foot puddle of oil under it then it seems ther is a hode in the pan or block and it blew bigtime or the oil pressure sending unit broke off. somewhere there is a big hole for the oild to come out of.

I'm not sure how you can win this one. If the mechanic is a real upstanding person he should volunteer to have it towed to his shop and tear it apart for nothing. But themn you are sort of committed to let him fix it.

At least take the valve covers off and the oil pan and pump. If a lifter popped out then its his problem. If its a spring jammed in the oil pump he might have some sympathy based on what you actually agreed for him to do. At least he was honest about not finding the spring.

Option 2 is to take is somewhere else and have the same thing done (valve cover/pan/pump looked at). based on that go after the 1st mechanic.

Option 3 is to pull the valve covers off yourself and see if the valve train is intact. If not then go after the mechanic. But if he is a jerk he is going to argue wit you that you shouldn't have touched it.

I'd vote for just talking to him before you do anything (thats assuming he won't charge for the initial investigation. You really have to decide if you want to give the same guy more money. Only you can answer that.