A while back my 2003 Chevrolet Silverado Duramax blew an injector and was dumping diesel into my oil.
Coles notes:
-Got a local forum member to do work on my vehicle paid cash
-His mistake ends up costing me more than 1500 dollars and countless hours of labour
- forum member avoids responsibility and doesnt refund even a portion of my money.
I decided to do some of the work myself to save on an estimated 7000 dollar injector replacement cost. I tore into the truck to the point where i had 6 of the 8 injectors out. The number 4 and 8 cylinder injectors being stuck in heads and I was unable to remove them myself because I did not own the specific injector removal tool made for this truck.
Coming back on the local forum on I received a private message from a member there saying he was a GM tech and did side job mechanical services for cash. I called him and although it was short notice he agreed to come work on the truck and install the injectors and valve covers as I was worried about leaks and proper installation as I had never gone this far into a repair before. He installed the injectors and valve covers without issue and was paid and went on his way..... Or so I thought. After putting the rest of the truck back together and bringing it away to get an oilchange as I was not in the mood to do it myself, around 100 kms later I was getting all the same signs that something was not right. Low oil pressure warnings, oil level way past the full mark, and white smoke on startup, and white smoke pouring from the breathing tube and oil filler cap when removed while the engine was running.
Naturally I was more then frustrated. The next day I had the truck towed to a shop where they said I had lost compression in cylinder 4*(Take note). This is where I get mad because I had brought the truck to my uncles shop several weeks before to check out the low oil pressure warning i was getting and he diagnosed it as diesel in the crankcase thinning out the oil, but had checked out the compression and everything was fine. Talking to the mechanic at the shop, he said he was willing to bet that I had broke the piston rings or washed out the cylinder walls as it didn't seem to him like the valves were the issue. No compression left in cylinder 4. None.
Fantastic, I get the truck towed back to my house and go buy a cheap vehicle off a friend as I need to get to work that is out of town and will be gone for the next several weeks. After finally getting back from work after a month of being away I start a massive teardown of the truck. Pulled the engine and ripped it apart to where the block, crank, oilpan and pistons are the only thing still assembled. While taking the injectors out of the head I noticed the number 4 injector hold-down was extremely loose, and was obviously either missed or not torqued down anywhere near spec by the forum member paid to do the work. The O-ring around the injector was shredded and in pieces. Not thinking anything of it I brought the block away to a engine rebuilder shop where i talked to the owner. He looked at my block and said that there is usually more obvious indications that the rings had broke as my cylinder walls were PERFECT. Literally. No scouring or discoloring to indicate heat distortion...NOTHING. He told me to bring him the heads to check the valves or to check for cracks, and again found nothing. However, while talking about options he noticed a large amount of carbon buildup on top of one of the injector sleeves, and after hearing the details of the past month he is willing to bet that with the blown O-ring, amount of carbon buildup on the injector sleeve and injector where there should be none, that my compression was blowing past my loose injector and into my valve covers.
At this point I am in state of total disbelief/controlled rage that i packed up heads, grabbed my block and left. I take 2 days to cool down before I give the forum member that did the work on my truck a call. To say the least I was less then impressed, HOWEVER I was respectful in talking to him and asked for at least a portion of my money back as I consider this absolutely less then satisfactory work. He said he would like to come take a look at the engine however was not in town. Through several attempts to get him over to look at the engine and him not showing up with excuses (true or not, i have no idea) I finally give him a call saying I cannot wait any longer as I need my truck back on the road and he is obviously trying to avoid me, I give up on trying to get some money back and say goodbye.
As some of you may or may not know, the headgaskets and headbolts for this truck (and i'm sure other diesels as well) are all one-time-use as the head gasket is layered metal and the head bolts torqued down to almost their breaking point. New head gaskets, head bolts, and all the other one-time-use gaskets ran just under 800 dollars.
In the end the total cost of this little *mistake* have cost me an insane amount of money. And countless hours of my few days off per month.
The car that I bought to commute was 3800 dollars
The headgaskets, headbolts and other gaskets 780 dollars
and several other items that wouldnt need to have been bought if the injector was tightened down properly.
Bringing the grand total to somewhere around 5000 dollars.
1500 dollars of my own hard earned money because of someone's *mistake* that i will not see. I will be selling the car once the truck is running. I can't even imagine what the cost would have been if I had gotten a mechanic shop to do the work.
Point in my story being that if you have to get work done on your vehicle, make sure it is either done by a shop that will back up their work. Or as I have learned, if you are competent enough do the work yourself.
Had I paused after taking the loose injector out and given it some thought I would have been able to save some money. However, having never tackling a project this involved and with my time constraints and information given to me by the other shop pulling the motor was the most reasonable option. But that is not the point.
Coles notes:
-Got a local forum member to do work on my vehicle paid cash
-His mistake ends up costing me more than 1500 dollars and countless hours of labour
- forum member avoids responsibility and doesnt refund even a portion of my money.
I decided to do some of the work myself to save on an estimated 7000 dollar injector replacement cost. I tore into the truck to the point where i had 6 of the 8 injectors out. The number 4 and 8 cylinder injectors being stuck in heads and I was unable to remove them myself because I did not own the specific injector removal tool made for this truck.
Coming back on the local forum on I received a private message from a member there saying he was a GM tech and did side job mechanical services for cash. I called him and although it was short notice he agreed to come work on the truck and install the injectors and valve covers as I was worried about leaks and proper installation as I had never gone this far into a repair before. He installed the injectors and valve covers without issue and was paid and went on his way..... Or so I thought. After putting the rest of the truck back together and bringing it away to get an oilchange as I was not in the mood to do it myself, around 100 kms later I was getting all the same signs that something was not right. Low oil pressure warnings, oil level way past the full mark, and white smoke on startup, and white smoke pouring from the breathing tube and oil filler cap when removed while the engine was running.
Naturally I was more then frustrated. The next day I had the truck towed to a shop where they said I had lost compression in cylinder 4*(Take note). This is where I get mad because I had brought the truck to my uncles shop several weeks before to check out the low oil pressure warning i was getting and he diagnosed it as diesel in the crankcase thinning out the oil, but had checked out the compression and everything was fine. Talking to the mechanic at the shop, he said he was willing to bet that I had broke the piston rings or washed out the cylinder walls as it didn't seem to him like the valves were the issue. No compression left in cylinder 4. None.
Fantastic, I get the truck towed back to my house and go buy a cheap vehicle off a friend as I need to get to work that is out of town and will be gone for the next several weeks. After finally getting back from work after a month of being away I start a massive teardown of the truck. Pulled the engine and ripped it apart to where the block, crank, oilpan and pistons are the only thing still assembled. While taking the injectors out of the head I noticed the number 4 injector hold-down was extremely loose, and was obviously either missed or not torqued down anywhere near spec by the forum member paid to do the work. The O-ring around the injector was shredded and in pieces. Not thinking anything of it I brought the block away to a engine rebuilder shop where i talked to the owner. He looked at my block and said that there is usually more obvious indications that the rings had broke as my cylinder walls were PERFECT. Literally. No scouring or discoloring to indicate heat distortion...NOTHING. He told me to bring him the heads to check the valves or to check for cracks, and again found nothing. However, while talking about options he noticed a large amount of carbon buildup on top of one of the injector sleeves, and after hearing the details of the past month he is willing to bet that with the blown O-ring, amount of carbon buildup on the injector sleeve and injector where there should be none, that my compression was blowing past my loose injector and into my valve covers.
At this point I am in state of total disbelief/controlled rage that i packed up heads, grabbed my block and left. I take 2 days to cool down before I give the forum member that did the work on my truck a call. To say the least I was less then impressed, HOWEVER I was respectful in talking to him and asked for at least a portion of my money back as I consider this absolutely less then satisfactory work. He said he would like to come take a look at the engine however was not in town. Through several attempts to get him over to look at the engine and him not showing up with excuses (true or not, i have no idea) I finally give him a call saying I cannot wait any longer as I need my truck back on the road and he is obviously trying to avoid me, I give up on trying to get some money back and say goodbye.
As some of you may or may not know, the headgaskets and headbolts for this truck (and i'm sure other diesels as well) are all one-time-use as the head gasket is layered metal and the head bolts torqued down to almost their breaking point. New head gaskets, head bolts, and all the other one-time-use gaskets ran just under 800 dollars.
In the end the total cost of this little *mistake* have cost me an insane amount of money. And countless hours of my few days off per month.
The car that I bought to commute was 3800 dollars
The headgaskets, headbolts and other gaskets 780 dollars
and several other items that wouldnt need to have been bought if the injector was tightened down properly.
Bringing the grand total to somewhere around 5000 dollars.
1500 dollars of my own hard earned money because of someone's *mistake* that i will not see. I will be selling the car once the truck is running. I can't even imagine what the cost would have been if I had gotten a mechanic shop to do the work.
Point in my story being that if you have to get work done on your vehicle, make sure it is either done by a shop that will back up their work. Or as I have learned, if you are competent enough do the work yourself.
Had I paused after taking the loose injector out and given it some thought I would have been able to save some money. However, having never tackling a project this involved and with my time constraints and information given to me by the other shop pulling the motor was the most reasonable option. But that is not the point.
