I took my 98 to a mechanic. hole in hose, he replaced it and then told me head gaskets were bad. Paid him 2500.00 drove .3 (yes 3 tenths) of a mile car went peg red, started running rough and oil pressure was low. Took it back, they pured a couple of gallons of additional coolant in the radiator and I left. Car was warm, but it was warm outside, wrote it off to a new repair. Car sat for 2 weeks, backed it out to let it idle before I drove it, 2 minutes entire neighborhood was covered with smoke/steam. Shut it down, put more coolant in the rad. Drove car back to mechanic, about 4 miles into the trip, engine overheated and car began to misfire, lost all oil pressure, I drove the car about a mile to get it off of the road. I pulled the dipstick and it was completely full to the top, had to be the entire crancase filled with coolant. Now, I have driven maybe 20 miles on my repaired car. Took it to them, they said it was fine and then they wrecked it before I got there to pick it up (30k damage). Now, my question, is it likely that there was no engine damage whatsoever? I have heard that much damage is not apparent at visible inspection and that the engine should be rebuilt. Everyone has told me it has definitely been "hurt", what do forum members think? This guy had the guts to send me a bill for inspecting the bearings that were damaged by his improper work! 450 bucks. I need help, I have to go to court if this engine is junk. Please anyone, if you have credentials list them. feel free to email me at slpheasant88@aol.com I am begging for help, no local shop wants to "bash" the competition...this is crazy, wrong is just wrong

 

Ok, first off, Im an ASE certified mechanic (retired after 24 yrs) and have worked at Chrysler and Dodge dealers throughout my life. I retired from Roanoke Dodge, which, if you are a viper owner, you are aware is the biggest Viper dealer in the country. I saw the evolution of the V10 powerplant in your viper as it was introduced as a truck engine platform. As with any engine there are certain tricks to assembly. Your mechanic apparently was not aware or did not follow reccomendations. At any rate, yes, your engine is permanently damaged, how bad? You may never know. A quick lesson as to what has occured and what is going to cause the demise of this engine down the road. Visual inspection is one tool for preliminary analysis. However, visual inspection is inneffective in spotting the true problem. These surfaces have been exposed to extreme heat. Bluing will occur in the most obvious of cases. The least obvious are the following. During extreme heat, which occured without question, microfissures occur in the surface of the babbitt(the coating on the main bearing) these are not visible to the naked eye. As we all know, steel or metals expand with heat, the pores in the surface become larger allowing a bed of lubricant for the crank journal to function in with full lubrication. When oil is replaced with Ethylene Glycol, the primary ingredient in anti freeze, its thinner vicousity is ABSORBED into the surface of the bearing, entrapping it. E. Glycol is highly corrosive, that is why radiators have aluminum or brass cores and a 50/50 mix is always recommended for coolant. As this corrosive is absorbed, no amount of flushing or cleaning will permanently remove all of the material. It will over time "burn" its way out of the bearing, this is done in the form of excessive and premature wear. Also, the microfissures caused by the excessive heat are also an engine killer, your bearing will begin to break down very quickly and crack as a "fissure" is a term for very samll crack.
It is also very possible that hydrolock could have occured, particularly at higher rpm's. This would result in bent rods.
At a very minimum the lower end should be completely rebuilt, including rod bearings. Cam bearing would be also questionable depending on how long the car starved for lubrication. On some gen 1 cars the rings were a very tough chrome-molybdenum alloy that can resist some pretty serious heat. Have you contacted an attorney? They wrecked it too? Wow....Good Luck.

 

Sorry to hear about that, I have only seen a few GTS vipers in my life and I owned one. Blue '96. That thing is probably smoked. I ran mine hard, in fact very hard, I ran it in SCCA. I never saw a head gasket blow under normal conditions, I would wonder if it really needed gaskets or you got jacked, judging from the level of care you received I would guess the latter. The gaskets let go under extreme conditions. Did you check the mileage before you took it there? They were probably rodding it. anyway, blown head gaskets were not uncommon when racing these. You always rebult, completely, after blown head gaskets beacuse at high rpm the pan would fill with anti freeze. Rod bearings are where the real damage is seen. Clevite has a web site, I will send you a link. It tells you that the rod bearings in this motor are the weak link. Really, you have a few choices, they probably dont have any money or insurance so forget court. And even if you do get an award, which you would, they wouldnt pay it, big waste of money. Fill the car with heavy oil so it doesnt smoke, and try tosell it. OR you could part it out. The parts are worth a ton.
c. fauneill

 

Man sorry to hear!

I disagree with this statement 100%! This isn't a 85 K-car, how would you feel if someone took your $40k for your dream car and it needed a engine!

 

Obviously the head gaskets were not properly installed. I also find it odd it needed them. Did they show you any signs of leaking? GEN I motors had bad head gaskets from the factory, but not GEN II.

I would be screaming for a new engine. That much coolant in the pan is not a good thing. When you took it back the first time, knowing the work they did, they should have tried to determine where the coolant went rather than add more.

There is however another side to this issue. I would have shut it down, it would not have got anywhere near 20 miles on it. NEVER drive a car that is over heating, low on oil pressure ect. Immediately turn it off and determine the issue, tow if you can not figure it out on the spot.