Vostok
05-16-2011, 05:55 PM
So for those of you that may have been following my earlier post regarding how the dealer dropped a garage door on my roof and the "foreign debris" BS and some of you Chicago SVT users that saw how Zack came to my rescue.
Brought her in on March 3rd to the Ogden Lincoln Mercury dealership in Westmont, IL to have them figure out why I was having issues with rough idling, bucking at highway speeds, and a misfire sound at the exhaust. Dealer called me back several hours later to inform me that a garage door had been dropped on the roof and dragged several feet across to the rear glass.
Heres the pictures again.
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8931/27943216.jpg
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3547/17242545.jpg
When I arrived the dealerships service manager came out extremely embarrassed and apologized to me and ensured me that he would assume full responsibility and make everything right. I was given a 2009 Lincoln MKZ as a loaner car.
Nearly 3 and a half weeks passed before I got the phone call that the roof had been completed (it was replaced entirely). I went to the dealer to inspect the work done and give my approval so they could proceed with the repair I brought it in for originally. The roof itself looked fine but they did a half-ass job with the weather stripping and the seal around the back window. They ended up having a glass company sent out to pull the rear window again and make it right finally...
Another week or so passed before they finally diagnosed my engine problem and determined it was "mechanical" because cylinders 7 and 8 were showing low compression. My approval was needed in order for the tear-down to continue because I was still on an extended after-market warranty. After they tore it down they called and informed me that the exhaust valves were bent on cylinders 7 and 8. I asked the MM community and you guys reminded me that there is a TSB for this, must have been caused by overheating in the 7 and 8 zone right? Duh. Well the warranty company begged to differ, they said that "foreign debris" had entered the engine and caused this damage because of the scarring and dings found inside the cylinder walls and on the pistons. No foreign debris was ever found. :bs: They refused to cover it...the dealer quoted me at $5-6k to have this fixed. I laughed. :D I fought with my warranty company and the dealership for days and tried to make a case to them about why this should be covered. Nothing went my way, I got nothing but No and refusal.
My Mom's BF whom is a mechanic of 33 years informed me that "foreign" debris entering the engine is considered an "act of god", like tornadoes, floods, natural disasters e.t.c and should be covered under my "comprehensive" insurance. An adjuster was sent from Libery Mutual (my insurance) to inspect the car and concluded that this "foreign debris" idea was physically impossible and said it was due to mechanical failure blah blah...NOT COVERED.
So I got my warranty saying no and my insurance saying no. (This is still in debate as I firmly believe someone is legally responsible for this and its not me) :help:
At this time (2 months after I brought it in...) I still had the dealers Lincoln MKZ and all I know is that I WANT MY MARAUDER BACK! :mad2:
I had to find an alternate way to get this fixed and that the legal issues would have to be settled at a later date.
I contacted Zack to see if he had the time and how much an engine swap would be. Luck would have it that Zack did have the time and that BODYMAN/Todd had JUST had his engine removed to receive the aluminator swap. His old engine had about 90K on it, almost the exact same as mine and was on the floor in Zacks garage. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and get it over with.
Saturday afternoon a little over a week ago I dropped the Lincoln off at the dealer (and paid out the ass for the tear down and diagnostics) and had the Marauder towed 50 miles to Zacks house to begin the re-birthing process. Zack put his current projects on hold to do this for me. He was extremely generous and attentive to the situation. 3 hours after I dropped the car off my broken engine had already been removed and it was ready to have Bodymans engine installed. Within 2-3 days of work the install was complete. :bows:
Details of the removal/install can be found here:
http://www.chicagosvt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57667
I picked the car up last week Thursday. I am extremely pleased with the work and the manner in which it was carried out. Zack literally saved me THOUSANDS of dollars, a lot of time and grief. I don't know where I would be right now without him. I would have more than likely lost the car by selling it for what I owe on it and walking away with nothing...
I now have my Marauder back and it runs PERFECT. No ticks, no creaks, no vibrating or anything. It runs better than it did when I bought it with 70k miles on it. It feels new.
The joy I got from driving her again after all this time, frustration and ******** was amazing. :)
The end. :burnout:
Massive shout out to Zack for being an extremely skilled and awesome human being and gracing me with his time and dedication to my unfortunate situation and also Bodyman for selling me his engine at a fair price. :beer:
Brought her in on March 3rd to the Ogden Lincoln Mercury dealership in Westmont, IL to have them figure out why I was having issues with rough idling, bucking at highway speeds, and a misfire sound at the exhaust. Dealer called me back several hours later to inform me that a garage door had been dropped on the roof and dragged several feet across to the rear glass.
Heres the pictures again.
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8931/27943216.jpg
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3547/17242545.jpg
When I arrived the dealerships service manager came out extremely embarrassed and apologized to me and ensured me that he would assume full responsibility and make everything right. I was given a 2009 Lincoln MKZ as a loaner car.
Nearly 3 and a half weeks passed before I got the phone call that the roof had been completed (it was replaced entirely). I went to the dealer to inspect the work done and give my approval so they could proceed with the repair I brought it in for originally. The roof itself looked fine but they did a half-ass job with the weather stripping and the seal around the back window. They ended up having a glass company sent out to pull the rear window again and make it right finally...
Another week or so passed before they finally diagnosed my engine problem and determined it was "mechanical" because cylinders 7 and 8 were showing low compression. My approval was needed in order for the tear-down to continue because I was still on an extended after-market warranty. After they tore it down they called and informed me that the exhaust valves were bent on cylinders 7 and 8. I asked the MM community and you guys reminded me that there is a TSB for this, must have been caused by overheating in the 7 and 8 zone right? Duh. Well the warranty company begged to differ, they said that "foreign debris" had entered the engine and caused this damage because of the scarring and dings found inside the cylinder walls and on the pistons. No foreign debris was ever found. :bs: They refused to cover it...the dealer quoted me at $5-6k to have this fixed. I laughed. :D I fought with my warranty company and the dealership for days and tried to make a case to them about why this should be covered. Nothing went my way, I got nothing but No and refusal.
My Mom's BF whom is a mechanic of 33 years informed me that "foreign" debris entering the engine is considered an "act of god", like tornadoes, floods, natural disasters e.t.c and should be covered under my "comprehensive" insurance. An adjuster was sent from Libery Mutual (my insurance) to inspect the car and concluded that this "foreign debris" idea was physically impossible and said it was due to mechanical failure blah blah...NOT COVERED.
So I got my warranty saying no and my insurance saying no. (This is still in debate as I firmly believe someone is legally responsible for this and its not me) :help:
At this time (2 months after I brought it in...) I still had the dealers Lincoln MKZ and all I know is that I WANT MY MARAUDER BACK! :mad2:
I had to find an alternate way to get this fixed and that the legal issues would have to be settled at a later date.
I contacted Zack to see if he had the time and how much an engine swap would be. Luck would have it that Zack did have the time and that BODYMAN/Todd had JUST had his engine removed to receive the aluminator swap. His old engine had about 90K on it, almost the exact same as mine and was on the floor in Zacks garage. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and get it over with.
Saturday afternoon a little over a week ago I dropped the Lincoln off at the dealer (and paid out the ass for the tear down and diagnostics) and had the Marauder towed 50 miles to Zacks house to begin the re-birthing process. Zack put his current projects on hold to do this for me. He was extremely generous and attentive to the situation. 3 hours after I dropped the car off my broken engine had already been removed and it was ready to have Bodymans engine installed. Within 2-3 days of work the install was complete. :bows:
Details of the removal/install can be found here:
http://www.chicagosvt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57667
I picked the car up last week Thursday. I am extremely pleased with the work and the manner in which it was carried out. Zack literally saved me THOUSANDS of dollars, a lot of time and grief. I don't know where I would be right now without him. I would have more than likely lost the car by selling it for what I owe on it and walking away with nothing...
I now have my Marauder back and it runs PERFECT. No ticks, no creaks, no vibrating or anything. It runs better than it did when I bought it with 70k miles on it. It feels new.
The joy I got from driving her again after all this time, frustration and ******** was amazing. :)
The end. :burnout:
Massive shout out to Zack for being an extremely skilled and awesome human being and gracing me with his time and dedication to my unfortunate situation and also Bodyman for selling me his engine at a fair price. :beer: