Quality engine work for reasonable cost?

[verndouglas]

This post is to let every one know about the horrible experience I have had with a shop in Washington. I hope this does not happen to you. I will be glad to tell you about my experience and direct you to someone who does good work and also direct you away from someone who does terrible work and charges a very high price for his terrible work.
The worst part about the whole thing is that after everything was said and done, the shop owner said, "Hey, you bought a used motor, that is what you get."
I hope you look closely at the pictures and if interested you can PM or send e-mail and I will talk, when I can, about this very poor workmanship experience. I just hope I can help keep someone else from going through what I have gone through. Thanks for reading this.
O.K. I have just posted the other pictures, for those interested.
I asked the owner to replace the water pump bearings and seal when he was into this engine. He did so and was waiting for another part to finish the job.
When I looked at what he had done so far, to the engine, I noticed the water pump drive pulley, that is pictured, was on the engine. I asked him if he was going to leave it like that and I pointed out that it was broken.
He told me that he would have to "scold" his shop man because that should not have been reinstalled on the engine. I then had to supply him with another pulley, off another engine, and he charged me for replacing the pulley he broke when he was replacing the bearings and seal.
There were several other things that happened that I don't have pictures to prove, but just the same, this kind of workmanship is very poor and then to have the motor blow up after 549 miles and have the owner tell me his workmanship was not responsible for anything that happened is just absurd.
I hope those interested in finding a good quality shop that does good work at a reasonable price will feel like calling me and hearing my recommendation. I have found a good shop, located in Central Washington. Send me your phone number and I will be happy to tell you about the shop I now deal with, thanks.

 

[Yamaha_nisse]

This post is to let every one know about the horrible experience I have had with a shop in Washington. I hope this does not happen to you. I will be glad to tell you about my experience and direct you to someone who does good work and also direct you away from someone who does terrible work and charges a very high price for his terrible work.
The worst part about the whole thing is that after everything was said and done, the shop owner said, "Hey, you bought a used motor, that is what you get."
I hope you look closely at the pictures and if interested you can PM or send e-mail and I will talk, when I can, about this very poor workmanship experience. I just hope I can help keep someone else from going through what I have gone through. Thanks for reading this.

Exaktly what type of job did he do to the eninge..? Big-Bore, Re-Build, Porting etc?
Or did you just bought a used eninge from him?

 

[4Z]

Exaktly what type of job did he do to the eninge..? Big-Bore, Re-Build, Porting etc?
Or did you just bought a used eninge from him?

He said he just brought in a used engine that he purchased from someone else and asked to have it inspected???? Vern??

 

[verndouglas]

Poor workmanship on engine

The engine was purchased from a third party. The shop owner stated he knew the owner of the motor and it was a sound motor. With the recommendation of the shop owner, the motor was then disassembled and inspected and had new bearings and seals installed in the water pump and measured and checked for crankshaft bearing clearances. The engine was then reassembled and installed in my sled. The shop owner stated it was a good reliable engine and would be dependable and run on pump gas. It ran for 549 miles before blowing up.
Two different shops looked at the motor and stated the flywheel nut was not torqued down properly and lock tight was not used on the threads. There are several other things that were done that I will tell to anyone interested in hearing the rest of my sad story. I just don't type very fast and I have to get going for now.
If interested you can try to send another post to me. I just don't know when I will get back to my computer.

 

[ADRENALINE]

HHHHMMMMMMM, not sure what to say........so I won't.

 

[Yamaha_nisse]

We all make mistakes, I won't judge a shop for one mistake. We're all human.
But if you can state some more mistake I'll watch out.

 

[4Z]

I for one have forgotten to tighten down the flywheel nut on a couple of my motors. Both times the motor just quit running. To get the motors running again, I replaced the keyway. I highly doubt the loooose nut theory is valid. It looks like the usual thing that happens to MANY 800 poo. PTO rod pin went south first. Well documented and covered for many years. I cannot think of a way to avoid this even when you have someone check clearances and runout. Fatigue of the innards cannot be inspected.

.02

 

[mattymac]

I for one have forgotten to tighten down the flywheel nut on a couple of my motors. Both times the motor just quit running. To get the motors running again, I replaced the keyway. I highly doubt the loooose nut theory is valid. It looks like the usual thing that happens to MANY 800 poo. PTO rod pin went south first. Well documented and covered for many years. I cannot think of a way to avoid this even when you have someone check clearances and runout. Fatigue of the innards cannot be inspected.

.02

I always remember to tighten down the flywheel nut

But I did see an M7 roll through my cat dealership that toasted a cyl and piston pretty bad and that seemed to be the culprit, timing sliped and stator was just replaced the weekend before by another dealer.


two sides to every story, but if that motor was completely assembled by the dealer, they at least shoulda put in some new VES gaskets!!!!

 

[verndouglas]

We all make mistakes, I won't judge a shop for one mistake. We're all human.
But if you can state some more mistake I'll watch out.

If you look at my post now you will see the other mistake the shop owner made and his way of fixing the mistake. I also can talk about a couple of other things that were done while my sled was in this shop. I will never send anyone to have anything done by this shop again. Talk to you later, Vern.

 

[4Z]

Dude are you on a crusade? We get it. Thank you.

 

[verndouglas]

I was responding to someone else's question

Dude are you on a crusade? We get it. Thank you.

I posted the other pictures and the rest of the story in reply to someone else's question, about other mistakes, made at this shop. If you had been ripped off by this shop, like I was, you would probably feel the same way I do and be doing the same thing I am doing here. I hope you understand I am not on a crusade, just trying to help keep someone else from getting ripped off. Thanks

 

[4Z]

There are always 3 sides to the story. Your side, the shop's side and the truth. Now that I spoke to the shop, and have perspective, I recommend you just move along (....these are not the droids you are looking for...).
Please Vern, to save your reputation.

Regards,
Lynn

 

[verndouglas]

Thanks for your input

There are always 3 sides to the story. Your side, the shop's side and the truth. Now that I spoke to the shop, and have perspective, I recommend you just move along (....these are not the droids you are looking for...).
Please Vern, to save your reputation.

Regards,
Lynn

Lynn,
Thanks for your input. Pictures don't lie, nor do I. My reputation is not in question. Regards, Vern.

 

[verndouglas]

ttt

ttt

 

[Hardass]

HEY VERN How many miles do you have on motors built at this new shop your talking about? Are the motors your selling built there? How come your not telling us this new shops name? Are they asking you not to? I would think that if there that good, they would like some word of mouth buisness expecially in this poor economy. So who is it and what do they charge per hour? Or is there a secert hand shake or something. Any way i think your hurting your cause by dredging on this. Just let it go.

 

[NoSecondChances]

ttt

Why would you take this to the top?? Man - let it go.

549 miles???? Some people don't ride that far in a season. Who knows what you did to that motor in 549 miles (i'm sure you may just tell us that it was trail ridden and never revved over 4000 rpm). If it was 54 miles I would say you had some validity to your case......but over 500 miles on a sled motor? C'mon dude.

So you won't go back to that mechanic, message received. I have boxes of broken parts in my garage too, some with a lot less than 500 miles on them. Its part of the sport man, sled engines (and sleds in general) are built for speed - not to last.

Acceptance of that knowledge is part of the healing process.

NSC

 

[verndouglas]

thanks for you input

Thanks for reading my post.
I do have to disagree with you on a couple of things.

I have been riding Polaris sleds for more than 35 years. I am not promoting any one brand of sled here and just trying to "vent" some frustration from what has happened and letting fellow riders know the facts of what I went through.
I started riding on 340 cc engine powered machines when I first started riding and worked my way up to a 700 RMK in 1997. I ride a lot and spend a lot of time boondocking and hillclimbing(up to 8,100 RPM) and general riding.
My experience with Polaris sleds has been very reliable, dependable, long lasting engines and components.
I sold my 1997 700 RMK, after riding it for 5 years, in 2002 with, (now look closely) 15,002 miles on the speedometer. In that amount of miles, I replaced the water pump, after is started leaking. While I was in the motor, I replaced the pistons, just because I thought it should have new pistons.
The man who bought it from me told me, among his riding group, that my 700 was the fastest sled in his group. I am only repeating what he said, I did not go ask his buddy's.
In reference to the rest of what you have said, I understand that some engines fail. I stated in my post that the shop owner that did the work told me, AFTER he put the motor back together and installed it in my sled, it would be a good running reliable motor that would run on pump gas.
I wonder if all riders should be concerned that their sled engines will come apart after just 500 miles? I wonder if the manufacturers who give out 2 year warranties are spending lots of time with their dealers replacing motors that blow up after 500 miles? I really don't think so.
I don't expect everyone to take my word for what I am saying, this is after all, a forum, where everyone who has an opinion, can write an opinion.
I have posted the pictures to show what happened and that I am telling the facts as I have them and that I had two other shops look at this engine and their opinion concured with my facts. The engine came apart because of what was done, or not done, in this case, by the shop I took my engine to.
I am sure if this had happened to you, the shoe would be on your foot and you would be hopping mad, too. You would probably want to tell the world about it too or, at least, tell a few other people about it so it would not happen to them.
I wish you good luck with your sled, I hope you don't have one of the 500 mile or less engines you refer to in your posted opinion.

 

[NoSecondChances]

... The man who bought it from me told me, among his riding group, that my 700 was the fastest sled in his group.....

I'm interested to know what other sleds were in his riding group if a 700 was the fastest....

.....it would be a good running reliable motor that would run on pump gas......

I'm curious as to why this is a "pump gas" motor? I kind of get the feeling there might be more to it than this since you keep referring to it as "reliable on pump gas". Was the compression increased perhaps?

I wish you good luck with your sled, I hope you don't have one of the 500 mile or less engines you refer to in your posted opinion.

I have always had good luck with my sleds, but I do my own work so that I know it is done right. This is one way I keep the price down as well.

I also have accepted the fact that sleds can and do break down, as they are simply not designed for reliability, they are thorough-bred race horses, built for high-RPM running. Getting 15,000 miles on a sled is great, good for you! It may have been an anomaly or you just got plain lucky and nothing broke. But the hard reality still stands, you gotta pay to play.

NSC

 

[verndouglas]

If you would like to talk on the phone

I don't spend a lot of time on the computer. I don't do this forum thing very well. If you would like to talk on the phone, I can tell you more about all the questions and statements made in my post. Let me know if you are interested in talking. I can send a number, for you to call, or you can send me your number and I will call you. Talk to you soon, Vern.