[Diy_efi] Reality check - no efi content - long winded

[Bill - Comcast]

Bill,

I was deaccelerating to take an exit off the highway.  It just stalled 
and would not start again.  The head is off,  the valve is bent.  Just 
slightly,  but bent.  Marks on the piston where it kissed,  too. 

Cad,
Yep,  the labor sounds about right.  There was a pile of plastic and 
metal fragments in a neat little cone under the pickup.  They did in 
fact do the work I paid for.  My only problem with it is the fact that 
they blew the diagnosis and the estimate.  If they told me a valve was 
bent the car would have been junked.  If they had told me it would cost 
$1k to fix the car would have been junked.  This is why I titled the 
thread a reality check,  to see if others here agree or disagree.  
Thanks for your input.

Bill


Cad wrote:

The Mitchell labor manual calls for 5.3 hrs for the timing chain and gears
and 5.0 hrs for the oil pan. That's $885 labor here. The stock plastic
covering on the gears gets into the oil pan, and can clog the pickup tube if
a lot of it has come loose, but you don't know that until you are into the
job. A good service writer/ technician team should have brought this to your
attention (as well as the possibility of bent valves). 
They may be guilty of no more than incomplete diagnosis - meaning they
didn't see all of the damage, but they did everything you paid them to. Yes,
it bites. Had you known the bill would be $1000 and still not be done, you
may have ditched the car. However, it sounds like they may have done what
you paid for, in which case stopping payment is something you should check
with a lawyer about before taking action. 



Bill Washington wrote:
> Bill,
>    Try this - pressurize the cylinder - with the air hose held in 
> firmly, then slowly open the exhaust valve, rotating it while doing so 
> if possible (I don't know how much access you have).  then close the 
> valve to see if there is any improvement.
>    Alternately Rotate  the rengine until that piston is at TDC, remove 
> the valve springs, and rotate the valve with your fingers against the 
> seat to dislodge any carbon, then try re-pressurizing.
>
> Was the engine working or idling when it ate the timing chain? If it 
> was idling there 'may' be a chance it survived(that happened to a 
> friend who had a Jag - the timing chain snapped at idle with no 
> resulting other damage!!! quite amazing - he simply fitted a new 
> timing chain and all was well!), if it was working the likelyhood is 
> small!
>
> Regards
> Bill W
>
>>
>> Subject:
>> Re: [Diy_efi] Reality check - no efi content - long winded
>> From:
>> Bill - Comcast <b.shaw at comcast.net>
>> Date:
>> Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:54:07 -0400
>> To:
>> diy_efi at diy-efi.org
>>
>> To:
>> diy_efi at diy-efi.org
>>
>>
>> Hi Leo,
>>
>> L&A in Glenville, NY did the work.  They're just north of 
>> Schenectady. Air in the spark plug hole showed bad exhaust valve,  
>> air leaking out the tail pipe.  "L" of L&A fame says it's a chunk of 
>> carbon holding the valve open,  swears the valves are OK because they 
>> did a compression test.
>>