Emergency Car mechanic question!!!

[RH]

Any mechanically inclined people in the house? I have an immediate need for some help. Here is the situation:

My car will not start. As murphy would have it, this acting up happens just as I arrive at my destination 350 miles from home. I drove the entire way and as I get to my last stop light, I notice the engine is sounding a little louder. I don't pay much attention and go into work. When I come back out, the car is running awfully rough and when I drive it doesn't have much power and makes a duh, duh, duh, duh comenserate with how much gas I give it. I then get to the hotel and now it won't start. I thought it might have been a fouled plug or something, but now that it won't start, I hope I haven't setup the engine.

It is currently being towed to a repair shop. As additional info, the car is a 93 Dodge with 120,000 miles. Any thoughts? Also, this weekend it acted fine but my brother asked if it was a little louder than usual. Any tideas of what could have come about? Also, one final piece of info, I way overfilled the gas tank this time and it actually spilled out. could this have damaged anything?

Thanks for any info.
Robert

 

[tiktok 22]

V8? 4 cylinder? diesel? fuel injected? It's possible that you have water in the gas. Maybe a plugged fuel filter. Maybe a fuel pump going bad. Maybe vapor lock. There are a lot of reason why a car could act like this. It might be something very small. I doubt overfilling the tank would cause any harm, but I don't know to much about Dodges fuel infection systems. If it did, you would probably notice it right from the start.

 

[Saaby]

He says it's a car and a Dodge, from 1993, so I'm betting it's a Spirit. 4 Cyl engine. That's all speculation though.

Probably not vapor lock since the car has had lots of time to sit and it's still doing this.

 

[smokinbasser]

I had (past tense) an idea till I saw it was towed I use gumout aerosol carb cleaner to see if its a fuel,air or spark problem on nostarts. That simple act eliminates a lot very quickly after confirming proper fluid levels.

 

[Bushman]

Possibly a bad MAP sensor. These Dodges of this era had MAP sensors that would go out without warning and they would run hideously until you got it replaced. Simple plug in type sensor... have them check it.

 

[RH]

Great call onn the 4 cyl Spirit. I just recieved word that 2 gears on the camshaft were stripped clean and all of the metal filings are now in my engine. It will cost approx $1300 for a used engine and labor. Does anyone know how this would happen? As a side note, just 10 weeks ago I took the car in for engine trouble and they said I needed a new head gasket. This required basically rebuilding the engine so they replaced all of the belts and hoses while they were at it. Wouldn't they have noticed if the camshaft was being worn away? Or could they have made a mistake puting it back in?

If only this had happened at home, I'd be in a lot better situation. it could be worse though, it could have happened on the road instead of at my destination. Looks like no new flashlights for me any time soon...

 

[Saaby]

I was going to say maybe it was a timing chain/belt type problem but didn't want to wish bad luck on you like that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[RebelRAM]

If they replaced the timing belt on that engine, then there is a chance they did not install it properly and it was off even by one notch, thus causing problems with the cam. Usually that will kill values before the cam, but I have seen it happen both ways. Did the first shop warranty their work? If they screwed up and it can be proved, then it sounds like they owe you a new engine or atleast should fix your existing one.

I have owned a couple 4 cyl. Dodges from that timeframe. All of the engines were off the same basic block. It's a pretty tough little engine until somebody does something stupid. I did a complete engine rebuild on an 89 2.5L and it was fairly simple and straightforward.

--Jason

 

[naromtap]

[ QUOTE ]
RebelRAM said:
If they replaced the timing belt on that engine, then there is a chance they did not install it properly and it was off even by one notch, thus causing problems with the cam.

--Jason

[/ QUOTE ]


Exactly my thoughts!

 

[raggie33]

man that stinks rh. are ya geting it reapired?

 

[snakebite]

when the head is pulled look at the gasket.
make sure the oil passages are open.
could be the new gasket wasnt completely punched out and the oil passages to the cam were blocked.
this would cause cam/follower/bearing death in short order.
seen this happen and the tech didnt inspect the gasket beforehand.
result=dead engine in 200 miles.cam siezed and shredded the belt.
if the belt were even 1 tooth off it would run very poorly if at all.
if the previous tech did goof the unpunched/wrong headgasket would be most likely.

 

[RH]

The head gasket and other work was done by a NAPA shop in January so I will check if it has a warranty. Since then, I have been driving 700 miles/week to Boston so I have logged 7,500 miles....

The mechanic just called. Listen to this!!! He told me I had a head gasket job done recently. I hadn't told him this so I was surprised but figured I imagine mechanics can tell these things. He thehn told me they didn't replace the rollers when they did the job and that's what caused my problem!!! He went on to explain why this caused my problem but I was too mad at that point to understand. I don't even know what rollers are.

So I can't go back and here is where I stand:
1) A mechanic at home did a poor job or incomplete job for which I paid around $900.
2) I'm stuck 350 miles away, have towing charges, taxi fees, etc.
3) Need to get the car home somehow. A 350 mile tow won't be cheap.

Do I have any recourse? I would think the first shop could be held responsible.

Please help,
Robert

 

[Wylie]

Sounds cut and dried. Talk to the people who worked on the car when the gasket job was botched about fixing what they screwed up, I mean everything, the second shops work, any missed days at work, towing, phone calls add it all up. Then make the call to the first shop that worked on your car and let them know you have a certified machanic that diagnosed the cause of the engine failure and let them know you want it fixed before the expenses elevate even higher. If they don't agree after explaining the missing bearings the second shop told you of then it gets to be a bit of a pain. Small claims court would be the next step and let them know things are just going to get more expensive the longewr it takes to be repaired.
You may get other answers from some but this is the best I can suggest. Don't forget a rental while your car is being fixed either.
The best of luck to you.

 

[turbodog]

Check your insurance... mine pays for towing. That'll take some of the bite out of getting it back home.