This is a "guy and a yard" kind of shop. Many of these in "Sun Valley" los angeles. 3rd vehicle in the past year that I've had to TOW and Drive back to be repaired. About 1200 in towing. With that being said, **** happens and my only focus is, how do we fix it from here on. I'm going to explain the situation for my uhaul.

My 94 Uhaul 7.3 received an engine rebuild a few months ago. Lasted 2 months. We were driving and the bottom radiator hose had a tare. Replaced it. Drove another 100miles back home, the temperature kept going up and down during the drive back. It was throwing coolant out of the exhaust about 1min before it over heated/tore the hose
Anyways. I drove it back to the shop the next morning. It was only 9miles away but i had to shut the truck off about 2-3 times due to instant over heating.

It took 2 months, but they rebuilt the engine again. Blamed me for driving it while over heating. I said I thought it was the bottom hose since there was an obvious tare. He said it should't be driven. I was about 100 miles out and i thought the problem was fixed. Yes, the temp went up and down but the truck was running fine so im not sure that that meant. I told him, its a new engine, and its a NEW auto transmission (from a legit tranny shop), all we do is drive. I don't think i should be worrying about this so soon.

I think he felt some guilt for the other vehicles having to come back for the same repair. Maybe he thought he wasn't in a position to argue even though he did say we caused damage.

The truck was released 2 days ago, after 2 months (way too long in my opinion). Didn't charge me a dime but said from here on I don't have a warranty. I'm hoping everything works out this time.

My question is:
I noticed low coolant about 2 weeks after I picked up the truck from the 1st engine rebuild. I refilled thinking maybe they forgot to add it. THen a week later, It was low again. I refilled. IF the truck did blow the motor due to low levels of coolant. Is that my fault for not checking it daily? My opinion is that it should have ALL been checked, hoses replaced if needed, Radiator replaced (sure I would have to pay for it, but at least tell me, change it and say it needed to be done).

He said it took a long time because the damage was a lot more severe than he though. Water pump was toast, the heads were not fixable either. He said he had to buy parts again etc. So he was pissed. But who's in the right/wrong.

To top it off, after the 1st engine rebuild, it leaked oil. a lot. I told him about it, but he had my other moving truck and I couldn't afford to bring it back until at least one was released.

It no longer leaks oil and I took it to another shop to "inspect it" independently. New engine, new tranny (about Miles). Fingers crossed. Lost about 4 months of business due to this. but staying positive i know **** happens.

 

Between leaking oil and using coolant I'd say you had a bad head gasket from the git. Whether it was an installation error or cracked/warped head who knows.

 

Yeah it was a head gasket. They didn't seal it right. Does the Radiator level drop if there is a bad headgasket? I don't remember ever seeing coolant in the oil. I did 2 oil changes and it never had coolant there.

 

Some things I have learned from rebuilding a few of these. The heads and the block surfaces on the idi need to be cleaned up. They get erosion from the expansion and contraction of the fire ring in the head gasket and the fact that there is some seepage of compression in this area. So if this engine had a lot miles on it and this wasn't done it was almost guaranteed to have a head gasket failure. You shouldn't have drove it when it was getting hot.

 

yes you can have a coolant leak due to a bad head gasket and not get it in the oil.it probably was seeping into a cylinder when running and burning it.

i would cross my fingers that they did it rite this time and look for a better shop.