Mustang_Rick

I have a situation where the dealership has blown my engine while repiaring. They will not take responisbility and I need to know what my options are for replacing the engine.

They overheated the engine and blew a hose and caused the 4 cyclinders on the passenger side to become washed (whatever that means) The car has very little power now and it drove like a new car when I took it in aside from needing a new radiator.
This is on a 96 Mustang GT convertible that looks almost like the day it was baught still. Very well taken care of and never raced.

What's the best route for replacing the engine? Have a machine shop engine place replace the cylinders on the old one, buy a take out used one, or a new engine?

also if I put a new engine in it and try to sell it would it raise the value of the car beyond what I would get had this not happened?
In other words could I get about $1,000 or so more for it with a new engine as opposed to the orginal with 108,000 miles on it?

I have purchased a new car. A 2005 Chrysler Crossfire but I need to take care of this situation and come out the best I can.

Thanks. Really need some help here :-(

rudemood12

i think your best bet is to take them to court.

Leadfoot

How can they deny responsibility? The car was in their possession for repairs and they are supposed to know what they are doing.

code3GT

ShadowDrake

I would definitely see them in court about it.

On a private sale, a new motor in there will raise the value, mainly because anyone buying it knows the engine will be fine for a long time.

Ask a machine shop on the price to replace the pistons and check everything out on that side of the engine, and see how much it is going to cost you.

http://www.fordracingparts.com/crate...eplacement.asp

That's for a new engine, something to consider when looking at prices. Crate motor so EVERYTHING is there. If you get lucky, you can find a SOHC engine in a junkyard somewhere that runs fine and get it cheap there. Still gonna run you a bit to install it, unless you do it yourself, which is possible. I don't think FRPP has any 4.6 SOHC engines available for sale, not on their site anyway. Just do a little searching, all your prices are out there and easy to find.

Leadfoot

If what you say is all true about the condition of your car, before going the court route, I would fight them to fix whatever went wrong. Talk to the manager, the owner and work your way up the ladder if you have to.
Then talk to the regional representatives because they all represent Ford. All those technicians are supposed to know what the heck they are doing with your car because they are factory trained. If all else fails, go to court.

MustangMafia

+1. What reason did they give you not being responsible for the damage they did? Also, you didnt happen to sign any accepting responsibility for any damage they might inflict upon your vechicle did you? If so, you might be somewhat screwed...

And are you wanting to sell this vehicle any time soon? Or do you want to keep it as a project?

97 5.0L

I would also try to get them to pay for the damages to your car. But if you do have to pay for it I have done a motor swap in my mustang and here's what I can tell you. I got a brand new motor from ford. It cost a little more ($3300.00) but because i got it from ford it came with a 36000 mile warranty on it.( just the motor not the installation because i did that myself). for $3300.00 I got a brand new 4.6L long block(complete motor just needs to be dropped in and wired up) with a warranty. there are cheaper ways to go and as long as you stick to the same 4.6L motor, installation is pretty easy, it's just time consuming. I dont know the cost of labor for some one else to do it but if you or one of your friends have some basic mechanic skills I have full confidence that with the proper haynes manual you could accomplish this yourself. I did my motor swap having never done one before and when I was done it started right up and I have not had a problem since.

Mustang_Rick

Their reasoning was that it has over 100,000 miles on it and that "age" blew the engine. That's just stupid.

That's like me taking a gun and shooting a 70 year old guy and killing him then saying I didn't kill him. He was 70 he was going to die soon anyway so age killed him. That's the same argument basically.

I didn't have to sign anything before they worked on it so they are 100% responsible in my opinion. Also they know any legal action would cost more than I could recover, but I could probbaly take them to small claims which doesn't cost but $69 or something like that.

MustangMafia

The difficuly comes in proving that THEY caused the damage. Get it inspected by a bunch of mechanics and have them sign a statement saying that they believe the work done by the other place caused the damage and not the miles on the vehicle. It might also be worthwhile if you are going to court to pay a mechanic to come and give his opinion in person. HOWEVER DON'T base the amount of money you pay him based on the amount of money you recieve if you win your case (example, giving him 10% of whatever you win). If the judge finds out that you are doing that, he/she will pretty much completely ignore anything that mechanic says thinking he is just lying to make himself more money. Basically when you are the plaintiff, you are stuck with the burden of proof. It basically comes down to whoever is more believe. And who what would the judge be more inclined to believe? One mechanic with an opinion biased because he doesn't want to lose any money. Or the statements of several mechanics who really don't care who wins either way because you already paid them for the inspection???