Engine locked up yesterday :(

[jtbwatson]

So my 4.3 V6 that I was planning on stretching to 250k before getting a new vehicle was murdered yesterday. I say murdered because the problem was NOT due to negligence or ignorance, but rather a mistake made by a shop mechanic...

A few weeks ago I had my guys at my shop (who I trust and highly recommend to everybody I know) fix the fitting on my oil cooler return line. It had been dripping for a while and I was tired of seeing stains on the driveway (and having to clean up stains on the driveway) so I forked over $75 to have it done professionally, since I know how important that function is and because I didn't want to deal with that messy of a job at the time.

So I go to drive my car home after leaving it sitting for a day (this is Sunday) and began my 4 mile drive back to my house. I had been driving a 2013 jeep wrangler for the past day and was used to a bit more horesepower. I went to try to pass somebody and gave it some gas and revved it to 2000 RPM which took a lot of throttle. I have a scangauge and it was reading 47% throttle position before I got up to 2000 rpms. I rolled down the window and cut the music and listened and heard something that was not good. With a mile left and no where convenient to stop, I tried to make it home. I quickly realized that it wouldn't happen so I tried to make it at least to the next parking lot. Got caught at the red light and my engine let out it's final exhaust of its life. It was toast.

There was smoke pouring from the engine bay and when I looked initially saw tons of oil all over the drivers side of the engines. I had figured I had blown a head gasket or something? Last time I heard of a head gasket blowing there was no oil coming out though. Oil pan gasket? **** man, I just had to get the car out of the middle of the road. Pushed it into a starbucks lot and called my uncle and he came by.

After further inspection (removed the air box) I saw TONS of oil thrown all over the engine bay. I couldn't figure out what it was, since the passenger's side was completely clean. I let it cool because it was way too hot. After grabbing the strongest cup of coffee possible I went out and noticed that there was a lot more at the oil right next to the oil cooler return line fitting - the same fitting that was just worked on two weeks ago. I was ****ing furious.

I was mad for two reasons: 1 being that I just paid money to have something fixed and it ended up ruining my engine. 2 because I JUST did my spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap, and rotor that weekend. I changed my oil and oil filter to royal purple a month ago and that stuff is NOT cheap. $41 for the 5 quarts of oil and $14 for the filter. But, I was taking care of the engine because it took care of me.

Spoke to the guys at the shop this morning bright and early after having it towed to their front door (almost literally) Sunday evening and my guy said he'd give me a call. Around 2:00 we spoke and he said the engine is locked up. He told me that he had a funny feeling about our situation because he's never seen that fitting fail on anybody like that before. He asked me some questions about my differential (new shiny cover on it) to see if it was done at another shop, which it wasn't (I'm guessing that was to see if the oil line could've been messed with at another place). I do as much of my own work myself and have the shop there for when it's over my head or I don't feel like being covered in grit and grime that day.

He told me that he found a used engine from a supplier that they trust and have used before that has 102k on it. My vehicle has 184k on it, so the engine is almost half as young as far as mileage goes. My worry, though, is that I don't know if this engine was maintained or not. I don't know if it was owned by a grandma who never pushed it past 1500 rpms or if it was a dumbass kid who redlined it all the time. I don't know anything about it. He reassured me that they'd check it and manually crank it to get a feel for it and everything. I'm going to ask them if they can compression test it and see how it does. I don't think that'd be out of line.

If you've made it this far in this post, thank you for reading this. It really sucks that I spent the past two years and 35,000 miles taking the best care of this engine and vehicle as possible and then the engine is shot due to the carelessness of a grease monkey.....but I suppose that is just part of life.

Any advice/comments/concerns/tips for me from you guys?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by jtbwatson

..but I suppose that is just part of life.

Any advice/comments/concerns/tips for me from you guys?

The best laid plans of mice and men. I have had my Civic since June 2001 and taken good care of it, but I could go out tomorrow and get totaled by someone on their phone behind the wheel. It's just part of life. Your attitude is good, and the shop sounds like it wants to make it right. If the engine checks out... take it. Crazy fail story, though.

[Jasen]

That suck's, the 4.3 is a tough motor and they go for 250k miles easy. 100k on the replacement is just broke in if it checks out.

I just hit 200k on my 4.3 and still runs smooth and strong.

[user removed]

Do a leak down test on the used engine to get a better idea of the condition before installation.

regards
Mech

[slownugly]

as a shop owner i have to say ****e happens. luckily ive never done anything this bad.
did you look at the oil pressure gauge when it started making noise? how long was the engine left running after it made a noise?

[jtbwatson]

Originally Posted by slownugly

did you look at the oil pressure gauge when it started making noise? how long was the engine left running after it made a noise?

I didn't even notice the gauge until I noticed that it wasn't accelerating like it should. I keep my eyes on the scangauge more than the instrument cluster now. It said it was at 0 and the check gauges light came on. I tried clicking through the scan function of scan gauge to see if anything showed up. Nothing.

The total amount of time was probably 7-8 minutes. After I noticed noise it was about 2 minutes. I tried to make it to the parking lot and it failed

The guy called me and assured me that it is in great shape. He doesn't know what it came out of (blazer/s10/Silverado) but said it's sound. He also said he'd transfer over the distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, and wires that I just put in. Hopefully it drives well. We'll see either tonight or tomorrow.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by jtbwatson

He also said he'd transfer over the distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, and wires that I just put in.

He is trying to make it right. Can't undo what's been done, but he can give you another engine and the new parts you'd just installed. Not bad, in a world where people make mistakes and sh*t happens.

[jtbwatson]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

He is trying to make it right. Can't undo what's been done, but he can give you another engine and the new parts you'd just installed. Not bad, in a world where people make mistakes and sh*t happens.

That's the truth. I stopped by to get my scangauge and saw the new(to me) engine. It's clean but has some rust on it, but i was told that it was compression tested before it was sold to them and that it cranks smoothly.

Also, I've had an issue with my fuel pressure regulator and now I'll have a new one so this might turn out well.

[E.Roy]

Those 4.3's are great as long as they have oil. I understand how you feel about caring for an engine and having one thats great, but remember you also didnt buy the old one new either.
I would take the replacement after a little checking out. I highly recommend having the cooling parts changed out on the replacement, new GM tstat and quality water pump

[Fat Charlie]

That happened to my wife's (now mine) Nissan. I had them do a head gasket at work and they back-burnered the hell out of it, having the new kid do it in his spare time. He threw it back together in a rush and I made it 50 miles before the radiator hose came off. They paid the tow bill and the bill for the shop that fixed it. All was well until a few months later when the crank dampener flew off.

It took forever (back burner again), but our 180k Nissan got an engine with only 130k. I've never had a problem with a used engine we've sold.