Another Dave's Auto Center

Seems a lot for a failed lifter. What about just replacing the failed lifter and saying that's as good as it needs to get for an engine with over 200K on the clock
Drive it till it breaks, then get a LKQ engine.

These engines and parts are not made like they used to be. If an engine is ran hot and blows a head gasket, throw it away. You will never get the head to seat properly.
What about machining the head and block? Wouldn't that make them truly flat and mate correctly or does this cost too much?
 
This is incorrect information. As someone who works and has worked at several dealerships. These engines and parts are not made like they used to be. If an engine is ran hot and blows a head gasket, throw it away. You will never get the head to seat properly. An old cast iron block could be ran at 260 and never phased it. When your playing with a customers money you never gamble to TRY and replace the head gasket, you simply replace engine.
Like I've been saying. All the now engines are crap, and made to be disposable.
 
Drive it till it breaks, then get a LKQ engine.


What about machining the head and block? Wouldn't that make them truly flat and mate correctly or does this cost too much?
If you have the proper tools, and don't have to pay someone to do all the work. But then time is $. If you think DIY cost you nothing. Then spend a week or more at your normal job for free then.
 
He has another YouTube video where a vehicle with an engine 'tic' comes in. Previous shop replaced the belt, water pump, idler & tensioner. Removing the belt reveals the tic is still there. He feels the tic is a lifter and says the solution is to replace the lifter, cam and oil pump as metal parts of the failed lifter probably went into the oil sump were picked up by the oil pump and probably ended up in the oil filter. Head needs to come off to replace the lifter.

With over 200K on the clock he says maybe time for a replacement engine.

Seems a lot for a failed lifter. What about just replacing the failed lifter and saying that's as good as it needs to get for an engine with over 200K on the clock.

I did not hear him say he would cut apart the oil filter looking for remnants of the failed lifter. Might be there if oil had not been changed since the lifter failed.

I saw the video.

Dave does it his way…… or he won’t work on engine.

Yes, repair bill was very expensive for the owner of Dodge diesel truck.
Dave talks about cylinder # 6 needing a sleeve due to that Cummins engine design and # 6 running hotter than the other cylinders.
 
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Drive it till it breaks, then get a LKQ engine.


What about machining the head and block? Wouldn't that make them truly flat and mate correctly or does this cost too much?
When you do that you’re then raising the compression ratio. Also you don’t know how warped the head is. You might have to shave it down too many thousands and run the risk of piston and valves kissing. Again like we said you’re gambling with customers money. Nothing is guaranteed while TRYING to save the engine. Buy a new engine and send it down the road.
 
When you do that you’re then raising the compression ratio. Also you don’t know how warped the head is. You might have to shave it down too many thousands and run the risk of piston and valves kissing. Again like we said you’re gambling with customers money. Nothing is guaranteed while TRYING to save the engine. Buy a new engine and send it down the road.

So put a straight edge on it first and measure it with a feeler gauge. It’s not difficult.
 
So put a straight edge on it first and measure it with a feeler gauge. It’s not difficult.
You’re not getting it! Shops and dealerships are not toying with all this nonsense and going down that rabbit hole. It’s not feasible or cost effective to do all that on these aluminum, disposable engines, especially if it has 70,000 plus miles. You can’t charge a customer to FIX it and then start having cooling problems, etc, then turn around and say well we don’t know if it was going to fix it and now you need an engine. That’s not good business practice.
 
I think good machine shops are rare these days. It takes expensive machines and skill.
And the whole engine has to be completely taken apart to surface the deck. Otherwise plenty of machining debris will go everywhere.
So its not just a simple thing to do. May not be cost effective for a normal shop or owner of said car. And like mentioned above, if your a shop and just does a quicky fix, and it comes back because it didn't work as planned the shop eats the redo on that job, and may have to pay for the replacement engine as well. Its likely better for them to just charge for that in the first place.
If its a place like this thread is talking about, you can guess the cost could be as much or more than a new oem unit.
 
This is incorrect information. As someone who works and has worked at several dealerships. These engines and parts are not made like they used to be. If an engine is ran hot and blows a head gasket, throw it away. You will never get the head to seat properly. An old cast iron block could be ran at 260 and never phased it. When your playing with a customers money you never gamble to TRY and replace the head gasket, you simply replace engine.
And the low tension rings wont seal after overheated either
 
Dave has one on A/C. Replacing a failing A/C condenser. If he finds any metal particles in the refrigerant oil then he replaces the condenser. Says he has flushed condensers before and then cut them apart and always finds metal particles in the condenser that the flush did not get out.

I can understand that rationale but what about the evaporator. It's different and the flush cleans it out properly?
 
I'd be more concerned with the origin of the metal particles. The only place it could be coming from is the compressor. If this is the case, the correct repair procedure would be either new components or a tear down and component flush and replace the un-flushable components.

Condensers alone can be flushed. I don't know if anyone will do this anymore, but they used to (still?) make a pulsed flow flush machine for condenser cleaning. It's probably more cost effective to just replace it.

Even band-aiding the system isn't cheap.
 
Dave has one on A/C. Replacing a failing A/C condenser. If he finds any metal particles in the refrigerant oil then he replaces the condenser. Says he has flushed condensers before and then cut them apart and always finds metal particles in the condenser that the flush did not get out.

I can understand that rationale but what about the evaporator. It's different and the flush cleans it out properly?
I should have said when replacing a failing compressor he always replaces the condenser also if he finds metal particles from a failing compressor in the refrigerant oil. And other A/C components along the way, but does flush the evaporator.
 
On some newer stuff, the drier is in the condenser. The drier is replaceable, but just the drier costs almost what a loaded condenser costs. I remember reading some makes are recommending drier replacement as a regular service item.
 
After an A/C compressor fails, I replace the compressor and the condenser, along with the receiver/drier/accumulator and the TXV/Orifice Tube (depends on the make of the car). The remaining parts are back-flushed, and then flushed, until they run clean (including the evaporator).

Replacing the evaporator on most cars isn't worth the time or expense to most customers. Replacing the evaporator can take upwards to 12 shop hours or more (depends on the car) and none of my customers will pay for the time and expense associated with that.

As long as it works for them, I'm willing to do what they want and will pay for.

Ultimately, it depends on the cost of shop time versus the return on that payment for the customer AND the shop. No way would I do any work that I have any thought that the customer might return with a problem and expect me to fix it for free. "Not going down the rabbit hole" as was said before.
 
You’re not getting it! Shops and dealerships are not toying with all this nonsense and going down that rabbit hole. It’s not feasible or cost effective to do all that on these aluminum, disposable engines, especially if it has 70,000 plus miles. You can’t charge a customer to FIX it and then start having cooling problems, etc, then turn around and say well we don’t know if it was going to fix it and now you need an engine. That’s not good business practice.
I agree! Managing expectations is a huge part of being a business. The concept of not gambling with customer money comes up in just about every industry from auto repair to health care where things are expensive and people pay out-of-pocket. I deal with people asking me to "just try and save the tooth" almost weekly and it seems reasonable until you're 3 hours of your time and $1500 in charges into it just to tell the person sorry, what YOU wanted me to TRY didn't work, and now more needs to be done. If you're really good at communicating most people will understand but some people will still be angry and claim you said it would be one procedure and this price and now you're saying it's another procedure and more money. Even though you couldn't have been more clear and you straight up said you didn't think it was a wise choice and you told them it would likely not work and it would cost more money and you remind them that THEY BEGGED YOU to "try". Now they expect you to do it for free because it didn't work. These are the people who leave bad reviews and it's a no-win situation for the business.

So you quickly learn to do work that has a high likelihood of success and turn away work that does not because these people are mad if you don't try, and they're mad if you do try, but there's a HUGE difference in LIABILITY between turning away work vs working on something that fails. Either way, you get a bad review but at least you're not dealing with a lawsuit too.
 
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......So you quickly learn to do work that has a high likelihood of success and turn away work that does not because these people are mad if you don't try, and they're mad if you do try, but there's a HUGE difference in LIABILITY between turning away work vs working on something that fails. Either way, you get a bad review but at least you're not dealing with a lawsuit too.

Exactly. They are going to be mad no matter what - so why take the extra work for no pay, and the liability if your hard work fails. Not worth it.
 
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