PLEASE HELP ME!!! Motor blew!!! 90,000 miles???

[smokey99]

Hey guys, i need help desperately, my truck has been at a diesel repair shop for 3 months, first they said it was injector seals, then a cracked head, then bad injectors, so after listening to everything but the head theory i authorized them to do the work, turns out its still no good, they tell me now after three months that they finally did a compression test and that one of my cylinders is dead, so ok, bad valves right... nope one piston melted and beat the crap out of the cylinder walls, so i got about 3-5 gs to play with here to fix it... can i sleeve the one cylinder... what can i do, they want 12 gs to fix it. I just bought the truck for 20,000 not more than a year ago, it came with a two year warranty that doesnt cover anything. Im a somewhat experianced gas mechanic, hopefully i can fix it. For your info the truck is a 1999 F250 SD Lariet Ed super cab long bed with a 7.3 of course and an auto. Thanks in advance..

[tonyf250]

You can pick up a used motor for $3500-$5000 that would be better than paying 12k.

[alabamafrog]

That would be why I do all my own work, I just rebuilt mine with new injectors and lots of extras for less than $4000. You can look at some of my internal motor picture in my signature link if you want to. These things are not hard to work on if you use common sense and do things in order, like compression tests before replacing parts.

[smokey99]

Yea i know, i asked this genious shop to do that the day they got it in... weight wise, would a normal cherry picker pull this motor, and if that cylinder is scored bad, can it be sleeved or??

[Big AL]

I believe I would be looking into the used motor option also. WOW - $12,000 for a rebuild - That's high. You can get a remanufactured one for less than that.

[smokey99]

hey, im gonna bring this thread to the repair shop tommorrow morning can you guys tell me if you think its fair to have someones truck for two months without finding the problem... they also put two new injectors in and new injector seals and then finally did a compression test. I should not have to pay for unneccessary repairs right??? let me know post asap, i have to be there by 8am tom morning thanks

[pipelayerjdh]

Some of the very first things a mechanic should do on a sick 7.3 is fuel pressure, injector buzz, and cylinder contribution. If it fails the Cyl. contribution, they should do a comp. test. If they are not used to working on a PSD, it could be difficult for them to determine the culprit. When we had problems with one of our 7.3's, we spent about $80 for above tests to determine the #5 cylinder was dead. This lead to some old fashioned mechanic stethoscope work and a knock was found. All in all, $80 spent to know we needed a rebuild. Was the head cracked, or was it just a guess? If you took it to a reputable shop, I would be pretty mad.

[Ditty]

The thing with that is that YOU did authorize the repairs. SO...they put in some parts, What they SHOULD do is work w/ you on the block...or at least credit you back some $$$ b/c they mis-diagnosed the problem.

You know you can get a nearly new reman for like $9K from Ford right? Diesel Innovations also has rebuilt bottomends for a decnet price.

For $12K, you could have a performance bottom AND topend built, with a NICE turbo, performance injectors, and Dual Hpops!!!! Just FYI.

[Ditty]

I just saved you some $$$$....

Diesel Innovations - Products

While your waiting on the bottomend, take the heads out for some port and polishing, get some headstuds, sell your stock injectors, get some performance stuff, sell your stock turbo, get a H2E or similar, get dual HPOPs...and your good to go with a 13 second (at least) 7.3L!!!

[smokey99]

i never signed any estimate, or signed anything for that matter, which is required by nj law and a 5000$ fine is attached if i report him. I hate to be a p**** but this one had it comin from day one