new engine horrors!

[derekja]

Oh no! I just pulled the plastic off my new engine and found a disaster! And I let the shipping company drive away before I discovered it!

Oh man, I hope Kennedy and his engine supplier stand behind me on this one...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/derekja/truck/DSC00374.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/derekja/truck/DSC00371.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/derekja/truck/DSC00369.jpg

My heart is in my throat... this is the biggest purchase I've made in a long time and to see it arrive damaged is horrifying...

----------------------

On other fronts, it arrived with a balancer that is quite different from the one I pulled off my old engine. And the little bracket with marks on it next to the balancer is also new, are those timing marks?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/derekja/truck/DSC00373.jpg

[gmctd]

Bad news, but not too bad if the rest is ok - I certainly would not ship it back for that - next one could be worse.

How's the oil pan area?

Bell housing flanges incl starter motor area?

Check the edges of the valve-cover areas

That HB is just sprayed aluminum paint, looks like mine, otherwise.

[HammerWerf]

Derekja,

The little bracket by the damper is from a 6.2l . The holder on the bottom would hold a magnetic pickup, and the mechanic could "time " the engine with a light...ala gasoline timing light.

HammerWerf

[redbird2]

Give John a call Monday, he always takes care of his customers he might be able to help you with the information you need to file a claim.

I would call the frieght carriers number on the bill of lading and tell them you need to file a damage claim. I've had to do that in the past with damaged parts its a pain in the a** but they did make it right.

good luck

[Robyn]

OOOOOOOOH this does not look good.

Well first off as was mentioned, call John, he is an honest man and will probably make things right or at least help get things heading in the right direction.

Worse case scenario you are going to pull the broken front cover off and stuff on another one.
An hour or so of your time will have the issue fixed.

Lesson #1, always inspect crated merchandise prior to letting the dilivery grunt leave.

Lesson #2 the shipper was remiss in shipping that thing with the cover unprotected.

This sort of thing happens.
As the old luggage commercial with the gorilla showed, things do get beat up in transit.

Take a deep breath and relax, you are not in deep trouble here, at worst its going to cost you a little time, a timing cover gasket and seal set and your old timing cover, or if yours is already gone another one. Cheap Cheap.

See what John has to say first and then proceed.

Robyn sends a box of hankies to dry the tears and a big hug.

All will be OK.

Oh as a side note I can tell you how that happened,some clown hit the cover with the fork on a fork lift.

Possibly this was done before the engine was even in the hands of the shipping company.
Some fork lift operators are just animals and not quite house broke.
Bet me.!!!

Robyn

[Kennedy]

We'll cover this on Monday. Looks like the shipping company probably caught it with a fork on a lift truck.

[derekja]

Yup, looks like it's my problem for not catching it before the delivery guy left. That or a lot of hassle to get a concealed damage shipping claim through. They're not going to charge me on the core charge for a damaged front cover when I swap it out for the one from my old engine, though. Sigh...

Looks like the cover is the only thing damaged, though, so I guess it's not that bad.

[Kennedy]

Since others are waiting to see the resolution here and may face a similar situation, I'll post again:

I don't want to sound like I am trying to make light of the situation here, but there's an immediate and simple solution:

Swap your cover onto this engine.

Otherwise we will need to look at what the freight Company will do regarding this "concealed damage" and file a freight claim which will likely require an inspection etc. The warning/disclaimer sticker concerns me as it clearly states that you need to inspect.

We will make things right whatever it takes, but the timing cover swap is the best solution. If parts need to be supplied we'll have to do a frt claim. There has also been a note added on the core invoice not to charge for the broken timing cover.


Note for future reference. I typically do not sign until I do a once around. If there'a any potential for concealed damage I open OR note on the frt bill "subject to inspection for concealed damage." Some don't like this and I'm not sure how much it helps, but it makes sense to me.

[Kennedy]

Is that a new cover, or just bead blasted? It looks to be almost new from the picture, but the balancer looks to be bead blasted.

[sailun]

Just to play the devil's advocate here......

It looks to me like the shipper intentionally dis-figured the "Inspection" label, so the end-consumer could not read it, and therefore was prevented from fully understanding the terms and conditions. I certainly can't read the top portion of the label.

Additionally, this label was, most probably, a replacement label, as the original was damaged at the same time the timing cover was destroyed by the shipper's negligence.

It smells of negligence, fraud, and cover-up.

Not trying to make fun of anyone's problems or circumstances here, just poking a few holes in the shipper's expected or implied denial of responsibility.

[derekja]

Cover was brand new. Marked '07.

It bothers me that the label was defaced also. I'm a bit upset that the first thing I need to do on a new, expensive rebuilt engine is tear into it. I mean, I really went this route instead of looking for a bare block primarily because I wanted something I could just bolt in and trust rather than depending on my under-a-tent-in-the-rain work area staying clean and dry enough to be messing with engine innards on my first rebuild job.

Nonetheless, with the engine already out the front cover is a pretty easy swap out and I suppose it's the best solution at this point. Necessary, anyway, because I don't trust that broken pieces haven't fallen in behind that cover.

Thanks for the thoughts, everybody. My initial post was probably more excited and distressed than it need have been...

[sailun]

In your first picture:

Is plastic and tape in original, as-shipped position and condition ?

Is white tape holding the plastic together, where the damage occurred ?

Is there damage to the plastic under the white tape ?

Under the sticker ?

[billschall]

It smells of negligence, fraud, and cover-up.

You oughtta have your own detective show, you ole sleuth!

Seriously, you expressed my initial sentiments exactly. We ship all the time via Fed-Ex Freight & Yellow (the big stuff that is - UPS gets the privilege of smashing up our smaller packages), and have only had few instances where shipments have been damaged in transit - all covered by their insurance (freight Co's). In 20 years of shipping I've NEVER seen anything like the pictures (altered labels) that Derek posted.

If it were me, I'd be jumping up & down screaming at the freight company until they paid for the repairs, including my time.

Anybody care to share with us who these Graceful Handlers are?

[derekja]

Sure, R&L Carriers.

I'll give them a call tomorrow, their claims office was closed by the time I got back from school today. I probably won't push too horribly hard since the fix isn't too bad and I'm not going to get charged for the broken cover on the core, but they should at least be aware of the problem and have the opportunity to make it right. I'd like to hear the story on the covered up tag anyway...

BTW. Sailun, in answer to your questions.. the sticker looks like it was there originally in that the wording matches that on the engine suppliers website. There was no damage under the sticker. The white tape was mine, put there after I discovered the damage under the rip in the plastic (I wanted to keep the plastic intact in case any rain blew in while I was shifting the tent back in place after the delivery...)

[Kennedy]

My experience with RL Carriers is that they are VERY fast and do a good job. Like any Company, they can have good employees and bad. They bring my Suncoast stuff in. I've called Suncoast at 11 am for a core return expecting them the next day and had them there same day at 1pm...