2nd Hand Engine Help

[krayzie32]

i recently purchased a second hand motor/box package from a well known import parts supplier in girraween, nsw. whos name i wont mention

i had my engine and gearbox removed and had the said engine and gearbox installed - $900 later

had the wiring harness adapted to suit my car - hundreds of hours of searching and studying the information available on the internet then utilizing my soldering skills

sorted out everthing i need to get it to the tuner, (fuel pressure, idle, vacuum leaks etc)

towed it to my tuner a well know garage in sefton, nsw.

asked tuner to do a motor, gearbox and diff oil service cos i was lazy, and then tune my hks f-con that came with the said motor/box package i purchased from girraween.

as i walked away from the garage, i run back in and ask them to do a compression test before they did anything.

i got the dreaded phonecall 2hrs later when they called me and said "sorry bud, we wont be tuning this for you because i has low compression in cylinder 1".

result:

1:70ish

2:140ish

3:140ish

4:140ish

5:140ish

6:140ish

i called up our mate at girraween and he wants to see the car, i dont have a problem with that but hes using the following excuses:

"i drove the car the engine came out of"

"what boost was it runnin" - car has not been driven, boost controller switched off, no registration, tuned to jap fuel cos of girraween supplied ecu

"we sure we have result for a comptest on that engine"

ok now i paid a premium on top of a bone stock second hand motor because it came with clutch, injectors, afm, ecu, hks turbo and his guarantee that the motor was healthy and perfect,

now after all this hassle of getting it sorted out, to recieve this news is pretty heart wrenching.

what can i do and what am i allowed to argue for???

thanks in advance.

Edited December 4, 2009 by krayzie32

[CEF11E]

hmmmmm.

I am in melbourne and stil know who you are talking about... I would be hitting him up for a new engine you have seen the compression tests for. you are owed at least that. I would say the cost of installation would have to be recovered by you. no fun but probably the best you can hope for.

[R31Nismoid]

Usually a wrecker motor comes with a 3month warranty of sorts.

Although often that means you need to use someone they are approving of to install the motor

[The Dan]

Jap wrecker engines never come with 3 month warranties up here.

I normally get a installed and first check warranty from my importer if I do the work but if the customer installs engine himself, then it's no warranty.

It doesn't sound like the place that sold you the engine is trying to get out of anything but just trying to make sure it's nothing you have done to it. You can imagine the amount of calls he would get like this when the fault is caused by the customer.

Take it back for him to see and then persue it if he refuses to help.

[Simon-S14]

any decent wrecker should have a start up warrenty of at least 30 days to cover things like this... basically from the day you start it they will cover engine issues or a blown turbo. they usually hold onto the ECU or something from the half cut til you are ready to start the car as some ppl can take weeks or so.

im assuming this is an RB25 into a 32?

[krayzie32]

thanks for the info guys...

yes it is rb25 in r32

basically he said i have to get engine installed by a workshop, which i done. but thats all they done, out with old gear in with new second hand gear.

i saved hundreds maybe thousands doing the wiring loom conversion and sorting out idle issues, fuel issues (bigger injectors), vacuum leaks, first drop of oil in block and box myself.

im not doubting his competency to help with my claim but rather just as a precaution just getting some advice incase he decides to go sour and not be fair with this,

right, so i havent got the gear to do this myself but a search of this forum comes backs with ideas i can use to diagnose a little further and find out wether its rings or valves etc etc but the problem still remains the only core part of this motor gear box package, the reason why i upgraded in the first place was because i didnt want to rebuild my rb20.

i know for a fact with second hand motors that even most basic things are not covered by warranty.

things like:, Turbo (even though turbo i recieved seems to be smoky on the rear side and have loud grinding type noise coming from front housing which im not complaining about), coilpacks, injectors, throttle body, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, timing belt etc, but seeing as my problem has everything to do with the basic runnin of the motor im a little upset because i cant even do that.

im certain though that they have warranty on the block at the very minimum.

im taking the car to him today on my trailer im just hoping he doesnt beat me up while im still down because this is really hurting atm.

what hurts is he kept mentioning

"i drove the car that engine came from in japan, its from a well known tuner and its is personal car, it was running very well it was a really fast car"

then say

"what boost did you run it to"

seriously whos to say that in the time it took for him to get back home and organize getting it here that no-one gave the car a flogging before it came back;

and to look at the list of mods...

z32 airflow meter, 740cc injectors, gt2535 turbo, metal head gasket, apparantly aftermarket cams and cam gears, coilpacks, hks f-con s ecu, apexi boost controller, nismo clutch with light weight flywheel and adjustable fuel pressure reg with guage its quite clear that it wasnt running on stock 7psi.

i knew i was taking a massive gamble but its not like paid the same as a stock 70000kms motor and box for thier $3800 with nothing on it i paid a massive premium on top of thier asking price because the engine was kitted out and because it saved me from hunting those items later i was letting my trust in the companies reputation in the industry cloud my judgement, that said you hear about these thing happening but its only when it happens to you that you really feel the pain.

keep the resposes coming fellas, im glad to see the how this big support group comes together to help a fellow liner out.

Edited December 4, 2009 by krayzie32

[BezerkR32]

mate, dont jump the gun, run the engine, if it has been sitting it could have a pumped up lifter or some carbon under a valve that could cause a compression issue. put a mild tune in it and drive it, it will come good. The place in which you speak of will replace the engine if it is faulty, i know this as on a few occasions i was sold a dud, one was a ca18 that wasnt fired until 18 months after purchase and they replaced it as well as refunded me the cash for the seals we replaced. The customer supplied this engine, it wasnt even purchased by me. This stuff hapens often, its not a one off.

Get a second comp test done, i recently comp tested a astra and got funny readings that all but condemned the engine, but turned out my guage was playing up. These places will warrant 30 days from start up, but also specify that you replace certain items on the engine, such as water pump, timing belt & thermostat. Replacing rear seal and timing case seals is not necessary but recommended while the engine is out. i can understand your frustration but all i am saying is make sure of your diagnosis before going on a rant that will make matters worse.

Stuart

thanks for the info guys...

yes it is rb25 in r32

basically he said i have to get engine installed by a workshop, which i done. but thats all they done, out with old gear in with new second hand gear.

i saved hundreds maybe thousands doing the wiring loom conversion and sorting out idle issues, fuel issues (bigger injectors), vacuum leaks, first drop of oil in block and box myself.

im not doubting his competency to help with my claim but rather just as a precaution just getting some advice incase he decides to go sour and not be fair with this,

right, so i havent got the gear to do this myself but a search of this forum comes backs with ideas i can use to diagnose a little further and find out wether its rings or valves etc etc but the problem still remains the only core part of this motor gear box package, the reason why i upgraded in the first place was because i didnt want to rebuild my rb20.

i know for a fact with second hand motors that even most basic things are not covered by warranty.

things like:, Turbo (even though turbo i recieved seems to be smoky on the rear side and have loud grinding type noise coming from front housing which im not complaining about), coilpacks, injectors, throttle body, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, timing belt etc, but seeing as my problem has everything to do with the basic runnin of the motor im a little upset because i cant even do that.

im certain though that they have warranty on the block at the very minimum.

im taking the car to him today on my trailer im just hoping he doesnt beat me up while im still down because this is really hurting atm.

what hurts is he kept mentioning

"i drove the car that engine came from in japan, its from a well known tuner and its is personal car, it was running very well it was a really fast car"

then say

"what boost did you run it to"

seriously whos to say that in the time it took for him to get back home and organize getting it here that no-one gave the car a flogging before it came back;

and to look at the list of mods...

z32 airflow meter, 740cc injectors, gt2535 turbo, metal head gasket, apparantly aftermarket cams and cam gears, coilpacks, hks f-con s ecu, apexi boost controller, nismo clutch with light weight flywheel and adjustable fuel pressure reg with guage its quite clear that it wasnt running on stock 7psi.

i knew i was taking a massive gamble but its not like paid the same as a stock 70000kms motor and box for thier $3800 with nothing on it i paid a massive premium on top of thier asking price because the engine was kitted out and because it saved me from hunting those items later i was letting my trust in the companies reputation in the industry cloud my judgement, that said you hear about these thing happening but its only when it happens to you that you really feel the pain.

keep the resposes coming fellas, im glad to see the how this big support group comes together to help a fellow liner out.

[krayzie32]

tuner comp tested it 4 times because even he couldnt believe that it was coming back low comp in cylinder 1

im not going on a rant to make it worse im basically asking for advice as to what i can say in my defense, what im entitled to as customer and just general information.

i havent mentioned any names and if you read above post you wouldve found-

im not doubting his competency to help with my claim but rather just as a precaution just getting some advice incase he decides to go sour and not be fair with this,

right, so i havent got the gear to do this myself but a search of this forum comes backs with ideas i can use to diagnose a little further and find out wether its rings or valves etc etc but the problem still remains the only core part of this motor gear box package, the reason why i upgraded in the first place was because i didnt want to rebuild my rb20.

i know for a fact with second hand motors that even most basic things are not covered by warranty.

things like:, Turbo (even though turbo i recieved seems to be smoky on the rear side and have loud grinding type noise coming from front housing which im not complaining about), coilpacks, injectors, throttle body, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, timing belt etc, but seeing as my problem has everything to do with the basic runnin of the motor im a little upset because i cant even do that.

im certain though that they have warranty on the block at the very minimum.

Edited December 4, 2009 by krayzie32

[BezerkR32]

no problems, the guy tuning it has definately done the correct thing by letting you know. when you bought the engine you should have got a reciept with terms and warranty conditions on it.......in saying that i never bought any engines that had been modified so the warranty might be a little different.

i hope it all works out.

tuner comp tested it 4 times because even he couldnt believe that it was coming back low comp in cylinder 1

im not going on a rant to make it worse im basically asking for advice as to what i can say in my defense, what im entitled to as customer and just general information.

i havent mentioned any names and if you read above post you wouldve found-

[dethatch]

I have a 30 day startup warranty from the day it cranks on mine, thats normal procedure on rb25det's around here anyway.. I never have seen one without warranty unless its a return from a previous buyer or have parts missing. If he is a stand up guy I am sure he will get you another lower assembly at least.

[R31Nismoid]

^ ye similar here in Vic

some places are 3 month, some are 30 days etc.

All at the bare minimum are startup, i cant think of a place that isn't