Man, what a crappy weekend. That Ram 3500 that I just replaced the u-joints is has now gone incontinent on Route 84. Got the call from my wife Thursday, rushed over there (made the 60 miles or so just a little slower than the local tow driver). Was greeted by 5 quarts of oils on the ground and varying stories/noise descriptions from my wife and kids.

Checked it out Saturday, could find no visible damage to the engine block sidewall, No obvious seperation between the block and the head. The noise tells the story though. Sounds like one, maybe two pistons clanging around, not good.

So, I'm in it for a used engine, gonna set me back about 3K. But what I want to know is how the oil came out? Any one have and similar situations? I'm letting a shop do the work, so I won't be able to poke around much and I'm curious as hell!

 

We'd just be guessing, but the shop will have the facts. Asking them where the oil came from will give you the only accurate answer.

 

Yeah I know. I was hoping for a good guess. I hate to pester pros when they are working, but I get antsy when I'm not doing the work myself. But in this case, the amount of work, and the cost to get it home tips the scales in favor of letting this guy do the work.

 

My best guess is that you're going to find the oil pan is punctured.

 

Yep, sounds like it probably threw a rod or two.

 

I got a good look at the pan, I figured that or the sidewall of the block. It could be concealed by the crossbar though. I think it pretty high up from the way the oil is dispersed.

Guess it's all moot at this point, I just never learned the lesson about curiosity and the cat. I'm much more like the moth and the flame!

 

Well, just got the van back this weekend. The price jumped from 3500 to 4500 over the course of a day. Just the surprise I needed. Some how the starter went, funny, it worked fine when I went to look at the van. He also apparently dropped one of the engines (or both) as he charged me for a pun, pump tube, oil pump and engine mount. He also added unforeseen charges for the upper and lower hose, oil, spark plugs and "shrink" plugs, which I guess is another name for freeze plugs. I guess it's all legit on one level or another, but the initial quote kind of matched what other shops would charge, the final price was very high in my opinion.

Anyway, the job was OK, not great. The engine was apparently from a pick up, not a van. The dip stick for the oil is barely reachable and I'll have to work on getting to the power steering reservoir. It runs pretty well, but I have a major sucking sound coming from the rear part of the carburetor (just behind the butterfly valves). I don't recall the sound before, and it is my old carb, at least that's what he said.

I also got a trouble code (P1494) the day after I picked it up. It for " Leak Detection Pump Solenoid Circuit (Chrysler, Jeep)". I gave it a once over, the suction at the back of the carb and a pretty poor wire/hose routing job was all that stood out to me.

Also, no knowlege of what actually happened to the original. I asked him to let me know, but what he told me didn't jibe with what actually happened. But I thank you all for your advice and support. I guess I'll be trading this in soon, as I'm not confident in the work. Time to start putting the money I'm spending in repairs into what I need to do them at home. I could easily have a nice area at this point between this engine and the tranmsion on the chrysler.

 

Sounds to me like that mechanic needs to man up, admit his mistake and either make it right or refund some money. If he won't, I'd escalate the complaint.

 

I agree about the man-up part. But none of the rest will happen. Too many crap mechanics making a bad name for the good ones I guess. I just got a couple bad ones.