Went in for a timing tensioner change. Leaving with a junked engine

[mcaramb]

The saga continues... heard a knocking sound. Brought to my mechanic. Said the timing tensioner needed to be replaced. Had him install a new one, but he fubar'ed the timing and after cranking it, heard a mechanical BAM, and exhaust started pouring out of the intake.

After much work, he got it timed properly, but now runs really rough. Thinks maybe a valve was damaged. How can that be if the 3.5 liter is a non-interference engine, right?

Last bit of important information: this is the vehicross with the engine from hell. The one remanufactured by 123engine. See my previous posts about these jerks. Anyway, the idiots at 123 installed a 3.2 liter crank in a 3.5 liter block. Of course the reluctor wheel was smaller diameter so we couldn't get a crank signal after they installed it. So i manually cut and extended the crank sensor to reach deeper into the block. it worked beautifully, and the car ran great for months until the knocking.

So, anyway, my mechanic is tell me that the 3.2liter crank is also 180 different in it's markings which is why he didn't get the timing right the first time. So of course, they are blaming me, and won't eat the cost to fix what they damaged.

Any ideas what really went wrong in this scenario? Are the marks different? Could a valve be damaged? Did he maybe not spin the cams enough times? Is it just still a bad timing issue?

They want to charge me another $1000 to tear down the heads and inspect the valves. I don't wanna incur more costs if I'll end up having to pull the whole damn block again if it's something else.


Thanks for any help
-Mike

[vt_maverick]

Did you tell your mechanic up front that you had a 3.2 wheel in your 3.5 and that you'd jerry-rigged the crank sensor? If you didn't I think you have an uphill battle on your hands to blame him.

[mcaramb]

yes i did. but i had no idea about the crank marks being 180 degrees wrong. i told him i was told the only difference was in the reluctor wheel.

how can that be?

[vt_maverick]

I can't speak to the technical parts of the discussion, but at a high level I'd say it sure seems like you might want to go back to a correct/native installation while you're doing all this. Have your guy make sure you have all the right 3.5 parts installed while he's inspecting everything.

You could always buy another engine from a reputable company, but that's a lot of $$$ - seems like trying to fix what you already have is worth the risk.

[atilla_the_fun]

Find a used 3.2L (yes 3.2L) engine (no sudden oil loss issue) from a Rodeo or Passport. Tell your mechanic and you'll forgo the obvious lawsuit and BBB complaint if he installs it on his dime. The used engine should be much less than 1000, and you get an engine that isn't and won't be f*up in the future. You mechanics would also get to cover up how stupid they are.

The VX is non-interference. This was confirmed on this board. Search google like so: "interference engine site:vehicross.info" and read all you can.


EDIT: can't valve damage be verified by snaking a camera into the spark plug hole?