ComplaintsforWestern Engine Supply, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a vehicle with a rebuilt engine from this company. They offer the previous owner a 10,000/1 year warranty.. the jeep had a ticking noise ******* miles when I went to look at it. The previous owner told me there was a warranty and if it needed work he would take It in .. well between the 200 miles and now 1200 the engine blew up, no compression on the back 4 cylinders and this was caused by a broken cam shaft. I took the engine out and took it to the engine builder and they said it was caused by it being over heated and stood by that and pretty much called me a liar when I told them the cam broke from not having oil or the passenger side head.. the whole passenger side head is trashed from not having oil. After talking with the owner ***** he told me its caused by me and not maintaining the engine and over heating it . Being that they had the engine there I asked them to fix it and they told me the warranty was non Transferrable and I would have to pay out of pocket to fix it because it was not covered nor was it a mechanical failure. I then asked them how much to fix it if I pay and ***** tells me he dont want to fix it because we will have problems. ***** said the engine hydrolocked and hydro locking dont cause a cam to break if that were the case and it 100% was not. They said I started the engine with coolant in the cylinder and it broke but I was driving 15mph when it happend so that is not the case either. They told me good luck and have another ******** it. I then took the engine to a local engine builder and he took it apart and said the passenger side head was starved for oil because the cam bearings were installed wrong causing it then to be seized on the cam causing it to break. This company has very bad customer service and no matter what owner a warranty is a warranty especially breaking 1200 miles into a fresh rebuild no liability here. I am having to pay another shop to fix this the right way and feel i should be repaid for it.

  Business response

  03/27/2024

  ************************* called into Western Engine Supply on 3/11/2024 regarding an engine warranty. However, after talking to *******, Western determined that ******* was not a customer of *******************. It appears that ******* had purchased a 2011 Jeep Wrangler from *******************.  Western had rebuilt the long block engine for *** and *** and his son had removed the engine and reinstalled the engine back into the Jeep. ******* did not purchase the vehicle from Western or the engine.When we originally did the work for ***, he had claimed that the engine had overheated and that is why they were having Western rebuild the engine. Western advised ******* that Western Engines Limited Engine Warranty (see attached) was with the original purchaser listed on the Engine Warranty Registration (see attached) and that is *******************. When **** son turned in the engine warranty card to Western, in person, he stated that the engine was running perfectly.
   ******* decided to remove the engine from the Jeep and bring it into Western Engine Supply as Western had rebuilt the long block and was familiar with the engine. ******* was aware that the engine was not a warranty, and he would be responsible for work performed. ******* brought the long block engine to Western on Friday 3/15/2024 and left a $1000 deposit for work and parts required to repair the long block engine. ******* called into Western after dropping the engine off and told us that when we replace the camshaft, he would like a performance camshaft installed. Western started working on the long block engine on Monday 3/18/2024. Upon initial inspection Western noticed that both heat tab centers were melted (see attached), which according to the manufacturer of the heat tab, the center melts out between the temperature of 255 and 265 degrees. The melting of the heat tabs verifies that the engine has been overheated since it was rebuilt. One heat tab was attached to each cylinder head indicating both sides of the engine were overheated. Even if this engine was at Western for a covered warranty, the heat tabs being melted would have voided the limited engine warranty (see attached). Western removed the valve covers and found the passenger side head had an oil/coolant base residual on the top of the valves, springs, rocker arms (see attached) which means that this engine had been driven with coolant in the oil for a significant amount of time (see attached) Western removed the cylinder heads and found the intake and exhaust valve on the passenger center cylinder to have a liquid on them (see attached) and the cylinders had a trail of liquid going into the cylinder as well (see attached). The valves being wet would not be fuel as ******* suggested because fuel would have evaporated and as seen in the picture (see attached) the valves are wet.  The camshaft was broken in the engine. The camshaft could have broken due to a multiple of things such as when the engine overheated the camshaft could have seized to the cam bearing and caused a lack of lubrication or when the engine was overheated, the head gasket could have started to leak coolant into a cylinder and when the engine tried to start the cylinder hydrolocked  and caused the issue or if the vehicle had an injector sticking open that could cause a hydrolocking situation also causing the issue.
  ******* came back to Western on 3/18/2024 to look at the engine after Western had removed the valve covers and cylinder heads.  ******* was shown the heat tabs that were melted (see attached) and argued that the heat tabs were melted because of the engine having aluminum heads which is not true. ******* was shown that the engine still had the original Chrysler thermostat in the engine which he did not comment on. ******* was shown the reddish colored antifreeze under the valve cover (see attached) and ******* argued that his engine had blue antifreeze (see attached) .A rocker arm on the passenger cylinder head had been starved of lubrication and Brennons scenario was that Western cleaned the rocker arm shaft 1/2 the distance thru the shaft causing the rocker arm oil starvation which the rocker shaft is hollow and would make this impossible to do. At the final assembly steps at Western all long block engines are test spun on the ******* engine stand verifying that the engine compression is the same on all cylinders and that the engine is oiling properly and the rocker arms are oiling as well. ******* stated that the engine had a rocker arm noise at 200 miles and it never went away and we asked him why he continued to drive the Jeep making that noise and he did not have an answer. ******* asked what *** had paid to rebuild the engine and was told that he could get that information from *** and he stated that *** and his son had GHOSTED him. ******* asked for a price to repair the engine and was told that Western would have to complete the teardown of the engine and could give a quote at that time, but ******* did not want to proceed. At this point Western suggested that this job was not going well.Western charged ******* for the time taken to inspect and removal of valve covers and cylinder heads. The refund was $814.34   

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