The whole experience was a mess. First time trying this guy who has been in business a long time and I heard some decent word of mouth.

He had my truck for 3 days and made it seem like he'd get to it in between or when he could. I let it go while this was happening, but I was just in shock yesterday when he told me the same two studs that were broken from the beginning were still broken. He made it seem like he put enough time into it and this was the best he could do. He said the better gasket and sealer should hold up. I walked away scratching my head wondering.

kinda like a learning experience.




























you learned his steady customers that swear by his "good work"
are clueless freakin idjiots with more money than brains.

I just spoke to Craig from the board, he no longer works at Meadowlands Ford, but still does side work. He said he'd be more than willing to take a look. He wanted to know if the guy had even tried messing with the broken studs and maybe gave up. I just checked and it doesn't even look like the guy tried to get them. They're the last two towards the rear and are in an awkward spot, but still, a good mechanic shouldn't hesitate. There is still a good amount of the stud exposed beyond the head on both of them as well.

like posted above, I have welded a nut onto the end of many a stubborn stud. I have yet "knock on wood" to meet one that wouldn't come out with a touch of heat and a welded nut.

Should be a fairly easy (as far as easy and broken studs in the heads go) fix. especially with new manis on, all the new nuts should spin right off, pull mani, extract broken studs and install new ones, and reassemble.

I just find it interesting it was the drivers side that leaked. My old truck the drivers side every stud came right out so easily, passenger side was the more difficult one. Although after I drove it for 2 days before my friend could weld it, I had the fender liner and header off in 40 mins lol

Talked to the mechanic who did the job and he said he tried removing the studs, but was unable to. He said he tried heat and vise grips but could not get them out.

What an amateur...

I'm a DIY guy and removed the two rear-most studs both sides of my V10. Took a bit of work, but I got it done. Whatever you do, when the manifold is completely off the truck, TAKE PICTURES of the broken studs. If they weren't even touched with vice-grips, it'll be obvious, and even if they were, take pics.

Then, go back to the OWNER of the business you first went to, explain what happened, explain that you brought it in to HAVE THE STUDS REPLACED and you want your original $400 back because they never actually replaced them.

At least, that's what I would do. Maybe in a letter with pictures printed out and mailed with the letter. If the guy is honest, he'll refund your money.

Amateur is right, just got off the phone with the owner, not much help either.

The owner explained that the mechanic tried getting the studs out, but that he didn't want to risk damaging the head or having to remove the head if he did cause damage. He explained that he'll stand by the repair and that he'll take care of it if it leaks. I was so livid while I was talking to this guy, that I just shook my head in disbelief. I explained to him that I spent $400 for a repair and that the same issue still exists. He said it's sealed for now, to keep an eye on it, and if it does leak, he'll make it right. Both of these guys are clowns and I'm just trying to keep my cool. He obviously wasn't open to anything else but standing by his half ass attempt. I told him that I have a guy who's pretty confident that he will get them out. He asked me how he plans on getting them out. That went no where as he sounded like he was the only one that knows anything about this stuff.

I'm going to talk to Craig from the forum early next week. He was willing to help and do the repair. He's about 45 minutes from me, so it's not that simple to get there, etc., but we'll see. I'm so fed up with this experience that part of me wants to just leave it alone and forget about it. But part of me wants to get it repaired and do like Krewat mentioned, take pics and then go back there with ammunition and tell him to refund my money for a repair that he didn't repair.

Why is it so hard to find a good mechanic? I have no problems paying for good service, that's all I want, LOL.

A lot of the issues are created by how mechanics are paid. You take your truck into the shop and ask that the manifold studs be replaced. The shop looks at the flat rate book and it says that replacing the manifold studs for a 20XX year truck with a V-10 is a "Y" hour job. (For our example, we will say Y=4 hours).

The mechanic is assigned the job. If he finished in 2 hours, he still clocks 4 hours. If he takes 8, he still gets paid for 4 hours.

This creates a situation where the mechanic is not encouraged to make correct repairs, but to instead make "half-fast" (say it quickly) fixes and defend his actions by telling the customer exactly what you were told.

It's a two man shop and I think the mechanic just didn't want to spend time on it. Labor was $220 which tells me about 2.5 to 3 hours was put into the repair. What really got me was that I dropped the truck off before the mechanic got in on Friday (scheduled from earlier in the week) and he calls me at the end of the day saying he didn't get to it and would try to on Saturday. He calls me early in the afternoon on Saturday saying he just got started and would finish on Monday. I think he just didn't want to put the time in to do the repair correctly (because of inexperience and possibly work volume), figuring a patch job would get me in and out? 3 days of having my truck and 2.5 to 3 hours of labor sounds like they don't know how to schedule work?

Update/Good News...
 

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my thread and also would like to give two thumbs up to this forum.

I had called Craig from the forum (he had done work for others and previous posts were positive) and he told me he'd take the job on. He suggested having it done at the shop he works at and I thought that was a great idea. I talked to the shop owner and he was confident and said it would be no big deal.

They had my truck for one day and they replaced all the studs, having to drill/tap the two that were giving the other mechanic issues. The shop was professional and courteous. The owner pointed out how they did the repair and also pointed out that someone had cut away at the "flap" that hangs from the inner wheel well. I can't prove it, but it had to be the hack of a mechanic that attempted the job previously?

I feel better now knowing that the job was done right and that I gained a good shop for possible future work. The shop is a little over a half an hour away from me, so it's not that convenient, but if I need something done right, I'm sure I can coordinate it to work.

I spoke to the owner of the shop that did the patch repair. I explained everything to him everything that had happened and he understood where I was coming from. I asked for him to refund the money for everything but the manifold, as that was the only part able to be reused. He had no issues with refunding my money and I thanked him for that.

Thanks again to everyone here for helping.

I am glad you had a good outcome all the way around.

Yes, good to hear you got it all worked out in the end!

Broken rear studs 5.4 liter for the record these are SS studs and they are a mother to drill
 

The problem with the rear studs are the Aluminum heads corrode and the studs do not come out easy. You have to grind them almost flush and get the adapter plate screw it into the other studs that were removed and slowly dril the studs out moving up to a 17/64 drill and use a 8mil 2 1.25 mil thread chaser to clean the threads and if not heali coil the last two. there is no way anyone can do this for $400.00 and if they tell you that run because either they are not going to do the job correctly or think they can just put a doublle gasket set on it to seal it. N/G zI know this is an old post but I hope this willl help someone that is trying to get info.