Opinions on small block chevy breaking!

[powerplay230]

Hey guys, have a question for you engine guru's on here. Have a '97 Chevy that was my tow vehicle and rarely used for that- about 3 months out of factory warranty it spun a main bearing and then also bent two rods. Vehicle only had 26,000 miles on it and had all maintenance records so after a big fight with Chevrolet they stepped up and gave me a a new Goodwrench longblock and let me pay to put it in, I was fairly happy with that at time. Well exactly 3 years and 2 months later (16k miles) motor seizes again while wife is driving it. Chevrolet took a big step back and said sorry nothing we can do. After taking it to local engine shop they find a broken crank and bad harmonic balancer. Have bought new crank and went through motor and is now going back together. My question after this lengthy story is hmmmmm could that balancer caused this and could it have been bad entire time and "gotten" both motors? Just one of those what if questions??
Thanks,
Rick pig_flyi

[rrrr]

It's possible. Harmonics are funny, they exist in a certain engine at a certain RPM, and the next one off the line will be totally different. If the harmonic just happens to affect a certain engine part with a resonant frequency, then it can weaken it over time.
That's how fat lady opera singers can break champagne flutes.
I wouldn't disagree with their position on the replacement motor, but they should have stepped up on the original repair. One of the best tools you have to fight shit like that is the internet.
My 2000 Excursion (may it rest in pieces ) had a V-10, it was 6,000 miles out of warranty when it spit a spark plug right out of the aluminum head. Ford was playing stupid, and I found out through truck owner message boards that it was happening to other people.
When confronted with that fact they agreed to replace both heads free of charge. Prolly would have been around $4K to fix it.
BTW, if you ever plan on running into an immoveable object, an Excursion is the ticket.

[img]http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/109Ouch_-med.jpg[/img]

[058]

To expand on what rrrr is saying the factorys have whats known as "silent warrantys" These are kind of an unspoken agreement between dealers and the factory to repair problems without the buying public knowing about. The come to the dealer in the form of service bulletins and the factory agrees to pay all or part of a posted problem. A good friend has a 96 Mercury with the 4.6 2V engine, it has the composite manifold that popped out the water temp sender, cooked the engine and the cost was $5700.00 to replace it. I found out via the internet that Ford knew there was a problem with this manifold and if pressured with the right info and talking to the right people they would replace the engine for little or no money. You should look deeper, you may find there was a problem with a particular batch of engines and the factory is aware of the problem. Who knows...you may get some sort of refund from GM.

[spectras only]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 058:
A good friend has a 96 Mercury with the 4.6 2V engine, it has the composite manifold that popped out the water temp sender, cooked the engine and the cost was $5700.00 to replace it. , My 96 Mustang has one more year [it's 7 years for the manifold]left of that silent warranty . When it goes next time [it went once over 2 years ago eek! ] I'll replace it with either roots s/c or their svo intake wink .

[Blown 472]

spectras only:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 058:
A good friend has a 96 Mercury with the 4.6 2V engine, it has the composite manifold that popped out the water temp sender, cooked the engine and the cost was $5700.00 to replace it. , My 96 Mustang has one more year [it's 7 years for the manifold]left of that silent warranty . When it goes next time [it went once over 2 years ago eek! ] I'll replace it with either roots s/c or their svo intake wink . What about a cobra intake, hot ticket on the marks.

[spectras only]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Blown 472:
What about a cobra intake, hot ticket on the marks. Blown , the cyl head changed for the 4.6 GT from 1998 on.So even the bullit intake won't fit on the earlier GT's.The only alternative is the SVO blower or SVO alu intake for the GT 4.6L up to 98. Of course I could replace the engine with the cobra DOHC signature engine for $6K eek! .Too much hassle , I rather spend my time boating

[powerplay230]

I was never really happy with their solution the first time. I went from 1st offer of no help, to 2nd offer of buying a new engine myself and they would install it for free (of course full retail for longblock) to final offer after having a business client (that worked for GM) making some phone calls and they made final offer of free longblock I pay labor. Car is a SS Camaro so at the time I was happier with the offer of me paying $1200 instead of their original request for $7000. So at this point I wasn't thrilled but was much better off after this gentleman's phone calls. All this was after regional GM "engineer" inspecting car and deciding that it had been maintained properly. I guess I started getting unhappy when they wanted me to pay for a new clutch and to resurface flywheel, now come on' the car only has 26k miles and it's an AUTOMATIC...lol. just maybe I should have started getting worried then, or maybe innocent mistake from a service writer who never looked. When I finally got the car back it started easy and idled smooth but never ran near as strong as it used to so at that point my wife started driving it since that part didn't concern her.
Just has always made me wonder why it went from being a bull to a calf, and now it breaks again..
Also makes me wonder what the people at dealership will have to say when I plop that broken LT-1 crank and harmonic balancer down on the desk in front of them. Just hoping the problem has been found by pyramid after all the time and money spent boring and squaring everything back up to snuff (for some reason these cranks are hard to find too?).
Thanks for the input everyone I'm hoping these guys can build a better Chevy than Chevy can... cry

[powerplay230]

Wow sorry just saw how long that rant was....