Eric, how do you go about balancing work demands and family time. As stated this couple only has this car, a miss on a motor thats going to be replaced isn't a large issue. At what point do you say hey this is family time and the customer can use the vehicle as is until we can replace the said part or get a rental? I ask as I don't know work life balance.
Good question and there is a fine line. I will say this, don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life. In this case, the folks were in need. It happened on a Thurs., I got the new engine Friday morning and had no plans for Friday night. I asked Hannah if she wanted to make some extra cash and bang out an engine job because she can cut my time in half. I pulled it in at 4pm, 7 hours later had it parked out side and ready to go. Got some sleep and had all weekend with the fam.
Taking care of the customer. That's one of the many things that make you great Eric. Shops around my area would have told their customer, "Your car ain't gonna be ready for a couple of weeks so walk, thumb, or get a bus pass." And that is IF they properly diagnosed the problem in the first place.
It sounds good, but the problem with going too far out of your way for a customer is that customers begin to expect it, and when you don't pull an all nighter every time you bring your car in they complain they are getting bad service. Almost *EVERY* customer will say it's an emergency and they want it back ASAP, "IT"S VITAL!" Im sure Mr O has plenty of stories about the ungrateful customer, or the "rush job", where the customer *needs* it ASAP, and then doesn't pick the car up for a week after the job is completed. There is a notion where you train your customer.
At 170K on the clock that customer has done well on that car , and getting a pro to replace it that reasonable is icing on the cake . Nice job Eric . TheReaper!
I cringed at watching you cut that chain! But, honestly, this was very informative and I loved it. I had a feeling that engine was repairable, but getting that customer out the door with a used, low mileage, engine was absolutely the right choice. Awesome job! Also, this gave us a chance to see this.
Thank your for this video showing the full condition of the engine. You did the right thing providing them with an almost new engine for the cost of getting the old one back on the road. The customers should be extemely pleased! Great Job!!!
Outstanding call on replacing the engine! Customer lucked out on this one. Wish I lived closer to SMA so you could be the mechanic working on my three vehicles. Thumbs up production.
Get on patron and support this channel ladies and gentlemen. Good things in life aren't free. Our accumulative support is what is going to keep this great man and his family from making these videos a waste of their time.
Eric, you didn't have to, but I'm glad you did. I''m not surprised you're booked 2 weeks out with the quality of work you do. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.
There are very few mechanics with your dedication, passion and knowledge. I hate having other people work on my stuff but I would take my cars to you for sure.
Nice video. You explained your reasons to replace the motor in a way that customer made the right call, you and Hannah really to care of them. One good thing on pulling an all nighter is you can focus on task at hand. Looking forward to next video.
You went to get a screwdriver and returned with a huge pry bar!! LOL Good for you pulling an all nighter, I hope your new customer appreciates it and is now a loyal customer.
Eric, I've been watching pretty much all your videos and I have to tell you, I've learned A LOT!!! I understand perfectly the future of this engine and your tear down tactics were awesome. Thank a bunch for giving us an up close and personal view of that broken valve. South Main Auto ROCKS!!!!!!
Thanks for showing us the burned valve. Glad you replaced that old high mileage oil burner instead of opening Pandora’s box and spending more time and money fixing junk. You made the right call. Well done.
No gripe from me, I am a flat rate tech and I get how you as a shop owner/mechanic who's booked solid 2 weeks out has 0 time to record a engine R&R. Once you see one, you have pretty much seen them all. Love your stuff, keep it up!
Huge fan Eric - Thank you for taking all the time and effort to produce these DIY projects . Mrs. O. is so understanding. Of all the channels I have watched over the years - you have the best ! Well done - again!
Plan C is only good when plan A is replacing the engine. I have done a "plan C " tear down in car, but only because i knew it wasn't salvageable before tear down. I will say getting the head off with all of its accessories made getting the replacement in a bit easier.
Definitely a class act Eric!! If I didn’t live in the Midwest, you’d have another customer for sure!!! I’ve used your videos to fix my parent’s’ ‘04 Lesabre Custom with the bulletproof 3800 V6. Replaced plugs, wires, upper intake manifold, PCV valve, all engine mounts and the fuel pump. (All torqued to spec, of course....😏) 180,000 miles, 25mpg, doesn’t burn a drop of oil and I used to detail cars so the paint looks like new. Thank you for the quality content and your honesty, it’s a rare quality nowadays. 👍
I enjoy hearing you talk and knowing how you analyze the situation. We're all human and therefore make mistakes, hopeful to learn something that might save me from making a mistake. Thank you for making the videos. Hope they rebound to your success in life.
I just copied this from one of your comments... "don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life"... That's a great rule for anyones attitude towards life. Well said.
This is the best car mechanic channel by far. I work on motorbikes just for a hobby (badly), and there aren't many professional motorbike mechanics to follow that allow you to see so much engine work going on, mostly just hobbyists having a go. Love watching all this, learn a lot.
many thanks for taking the time to show us the final analysis. I know you didn't get paid for this. I am also really happy to see your channel is doing well I've been watching your videos for years now ,and without a doubt you deserve it.
I don't see why the repliers for this comment are complaining. I just like hearing his sayings. Reminds me of that thing he says.. something like, 'it always works sometimes, 100% of the time, always.' Something like that, when something is about to fail..
Just wanted to say Hey..! From the boonies in northern Ontario and to let you know i’ve watched a few of your videos now and as a man of 54 who’s been wrenching on my own stuff since i was 16 …! Your knowledge and absolutely excellent diagnostic procedure’s and workmanship has me impressed fella!! Need more professional’s like yourself back in your profession…! Keep up the good work and all the respect to ya..! Take care !!
Amazing - I've worked on alot of engines, and run quite a few much longer than their design life, and have NEVER seen a valve come apart like that. Way to work, FoMoCo! Nice one! Almost as good as the 2.0 SPI engines in the '00+ Focus that spit the valve seats out. I had one like that - smashed the piston, bent con-rod, destroyed head, & filled the pan & intake manifold with kibbles & bits! Gotta love it. Luckily the cylinder was totally untouched by the carnage, so I just cleaned it up, lightly honed the cylinder, and slapped a new head on with new rod/piston/rings & timing set. We ran it 10k miles, then sold it on eBay. A guy in Africa bought it and had it shipped over. :D I've pulled a few all-nighters for family. That's never a fun time. Don't know if I've got it in me anymore. I can barely do 8 straight hours these days! I seem to be aging faster than my birthdays come ...
Wednesday night and shipped on a Friday? Damn! I know you have the tools and skill but that's some seriously fast turnaround time and doing it for a customer that needed the vehicle rather than push it off while you got other things done. You're a man of great character Eric.
I like the intro, it's motivated me to sign up for guitar lessons and play in nightclubs around the country... oh wait .... tearing engines apart looks like more fun, and that's something I can already do. Seriously, thanks for the tear down video and all your videos. I always learn something.
hi Eric this is ibrahim from Egypt , first i wish you all best wishes as you learned me tooooo much , second thing i wana say that when i was reading comments i read asentence when you were answering some one you said dont spend much time to get living and forget to build alife , then i was working in another country far away from my home land and leave awife , aboy , and sweet girl so after reading this i decided to start my own business and take avery difficult decision to leave and start to establish my work shop thanx again man hope to read this , respect
Good decision by helping these people, you seem to be honest and that's rare these days, I am also a retired mechanic and tried to be honest with my customers all my working life, hats off. to you.
I admire you very much for your professionalism, and your honesty you are a great mechanic I congratulate you go ahead with your videos that are very helpful, may God bless you
Cool video, i used this to help me with a decision - had the chance to buy a low mileage Neon with a known bad Cylinder #2 for a few hundred bucks from a family down the road from us, after watching your pair of videos i was able to confirm before i bought the car, it had the same issue, one exhaust valve with a (smaller) chip out of one edge. being able to do the work myself, i bought the car and changed the valve and put the head back on. Runs great and the replacement valve was only $9.00 at an engine rebuilding shop i replaced the head gasket, all the valve guides, reground all the valves while the head was on the bench so that cost more than the valve but for me i got a decent little car for our daughter to drive for cheap. Thanks SMA!
and you'd have paid for the teardown to get to it? That's not normally what someone driving an older vehicle is looking to do, spend more for same result plus trash on desk.
Good show! I learn a lot like you do by tearing down a broken piece of equipment to see how it died. One of my favorite stories from business school was about Komatsu: According to the story, before Komatsu came to the U.S., they set up engineering shops just down the road from Caterpillar repair facilities in the U.S. After the Cat dealer closed for the day, the Komatsu engineers went and retrieved broken parts from the bin. They took them apart to figure out what it was, how it broke, why it broke and determined to engineer their parts so they don't break. They put the parts back into the Cat scrap bin before the repair facility opened the next morning. Then when Komatsu finally came to the U.S. their stuff was competitive with that made by Caterpillar.
Thanks for showing us the carnage Eric. Looks like the engine wasn't long for the world anyway, looks like it was burning oil real bad. I wouldn't worry. I'm sure there are more interesting engine jobs than a 4 cyl ford engine swap to take the time to film. Especially when you have to pull an all nighter!
You can see the sister cylinders move up and down at the same time when rotating the engine now that the cylinder head has been removed. Great video thanks for sharing!
Just for the record I was in the camp that believed the broken piece blew out the exhaust valve/port! I also was one of the few that was in favor of just taking the head off and having new valves put in instead of the complete engine swap. But after seeing both videos I think Eric O. was right to replace the whole engine. Only because it was such a LOW MILEAGE unit. 30,000 mile engine replacement unit is pretty nice. Barely broken in. Thanks 4 going the extra mile to prove your intial assumption. Thats why youre the #1 mechanic on UA-cam and were just a bunch of viewers. Lol
I'm liking the new intro. Taking time to break this down is appreciated. This video will fall under the category of "carnage" but great job getting the car back to the customer!
Thank You for the follow up video. It drives me crazy sometimes wondering what the outcome was. Like reading a good book and stopping before the end....LOL ... Have Mrs. O fix something else I think she's great.
It would've been kind of funny if you HADN'T told us that this engine was going to the junkyard but instead told us it was going back into the customer's vehicle. ;)
It is great to see you take the trouble, time, and money to replace the timing chain guides. I bought a 95 Saturn back in 99 that had a timing chain slip at 135k miles just one year into ownership. Short story is it was difficult to find a shop to do an engine swap at that time and it cost me dearly. I asked that they replace the timing chain with a kit, but the shop insisted it was good. 3 years later taking my wife and I laws home from a visit with the doc bringing home our new baby...it slips. I drove it home out of embarrassment knowing I threw away 100 bucks per 1000 miles. Thankfully I made my last payment. Long story short...what's fifty bucks?
Eric, this reminds me of a repair on a small Ford 4 cylinder. The lady and her husband were great customers. One day, the husband suddenly died, and the car broke down shortly after that. He had really liked the car, and the wife associated that with his memory, so she wanted me to fix it. I could look down the spark plug hole and see that the top of the piston looked like it was badly beaten, so we agreed I would pull the head. The cause was a hardened insert ring that formed the valve seat had broken and fallen into the cylinder, where the lack of clearance had ruined the piston. Despite the cost, she wanted to get the new head and piston, which we ordered and installed. She thanked us profusely for how well the car ran. It was nice to be able to make a difference in her life by just fixing a car.
My Senior year in high school , I went to school 1/2 day and worked as a gofer at the Dodge dealership 1/2 day . Saw a farmer's truck on butane come in . Mechanic pulled the valve covers ( V-8 engine ) & at least 2 valve springs were up . He said , no wonder it barely run ! . The mechanic pulled both heads & at least 2 exhaust valve heads were gone , presumably exited via the exhaust manifold . Pistons were worse for wear also . Mechanic said the farmer probably had the butane adjusted way too lean . Saw another vehicle come in with maybe 40,000 miles . When the valve covers were removed , it did not look like the oil had ever been changed . Terrible / thick baked on sludge ! Please keep the videos coming , :-) Wyr God bless God bless
Wish that there was a mechanic like you where I live. My last house in Florida before moving to the west coast had a great guy like you, but over here, can’t seem to find a good one. Keep up the good work.
Eric, love the intro keep it going. No doubt you give your customers options in this case you avoided putting good money in to bad. For the same amount your customer received a motor with 140,000 less miles. So refreshing to see your family run business run with such honesty. Hats off to you folks for doing terrific job....
We love you long time! Thanks for going the whole 5 minutes and finishing this off. Now I can have a smoke and a nap and dream how the heck a valve got a notch like that.
Eric I've been watching your channel since day one. Your the best. But I tell you what we got a lot of great guys that you hang out with. Looking forward maybe some day to see you, ivan, keith, danner,and makuloco.
Eric, when you do it, You do it right and great. Anyone who hasn't been in a real garage would say save save save and rebuild, but there comes a time where in every real garage, you replace engines and they get labeled as scrap. Some also get torn apart in an empty bay to see just what's inside. This reminds me of many after hour evenings in my friends garage, tearing apart an engine, trans or rear end just to see the condition inside. Good times and good visuals that confirm our diagnosis. I love this video, it brought back the fun times of working on cars. Thanks Eric and keep em coming. Jpol.
Dude iv said this before but from the bottom of my mechanical heart i thank u . Im a 3rd generation mechanic and i grew up on small blocks n such so this new stuff is crazy but im learning and teaching those who taught me ...i bought a zurich proscanner the 1500 dollar one and i freaking love watching vids of yours cuz ur teaching me how to use my scan tool ...im 29 years old and i think im just technologically advanced enough to be able to learn this stuff ... thank u ...also im on a 12 ford escape im about to pull the head ....got ur same issue going on here lol u saved me so so much time
That new intro music reminds me of this old house for some reason. You can rebuild an engine for me any day. I'll just make sure to tear it down FIRST. LOL
Eric I haven't been on your channel in a while however I like what you have to say your like-minded like me and I would have done it the exact same way especially given the customer the actions it's the guys like oh I see the problem in the cylinder he does'nt what he's talking about. You on the other hand I'm down to earth and kept yourself even Keel and stoked I like your demeanor keep up the great work actually I'm not working right now because I'm in the hospital and I have stage 4 colon cancer which I'm trying to battle I'm 54 years old and this is coming from work I've been out of work at the shop I've been working at 4 for months now I'd like to get back to work but I have to get healed anyway take care I really liked your video keep up the great work given the customer other options that's top notch
Valve probably isn't broken, it burnt. The carbon in the cylinders breaks loose and sticks ever so unfortunately to the seat and keeps the face open. The compression is low but not so low it won't run on that cylinder. Flames continue to bypass that valve right at that area until it burns. Once the valve burns a spot out large enough that the cylinder compression drops down to
Based on what I've seen, and the complaints about this engine, It's designed to fail shortly after the warranty is up. Of course unintended hard driving, (intended by gm), could accelerate this, and create 1 warranty repair to get you into the shop to create "customer reputation". After warranty is over, you would be expected to bring your crappy car back to the same dealership, Where they would talk you into a new car under house credit. Stealership science.
It's fun taking an engine apart when you don't have to be careful! Good call on the 32,000 mile replacement. It'll last much longer- even if you'd installed new gaskets, timing chains & done a valve job on the old cruddy worn unit. Not to mention the instant turn-around which is PRICELESS
I really appreciate your videos as a mechanic I like the way you troubleshoot keep up the good work and I also like the way you treat your family great job
Very interesting how that chunk of valve did no damage to the cylinder or cylinder wall. All of that oil buildup on the cylinders makes me wonder if it had a bad PCV valve. Those are actually really good little motors. Probably one of the best 4 poppers to go in a Ford - and it's not even their motor (Mazda)..... and this coming from a big Ford fan.
shane dyches it is in fact a Ford designed & built Duratec motor if 3.0L. The 2.3L Duratec from that era was heavily Mazda designed but i believe Ford built.
I disagree Shane. Seen too many of these with misfires, usually due to valve issues. They often run well but set a misfire code that won't allow an emissions test.
I agree, you made the right decision to replace that 170k engine with a 32k engine. Best overall lowest cost is the way to go and that's the way you went. Very good informative video. Thank you, great channel.
GOOD ONE ERIC. I'D SAY GIVE ME A 32K ENGINE OVER A 186K ENGINE ANY DAY. HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD LABOR DAY. MINE WAS A VERY SMOKEY DAY DUE TO ALL THE FIRES OUT HERE COVERING THE WHOLE WESTERN U S WITH SMOKE. MAYBE THE VALVE PIECE GOT STUCK IN THE CAT?? THANKS. FYI THE AVATAR IS A 44 MAG THAT I RELOADED :-)
Eric, how do you go about balancing work demands and family time. As stated this couple only has this car, a miss on a motor thats going to be replaced isn't a large issue. At what point do you say hey this is family time and the customer can use the vehicle as is until we can replace the said part or get a rental? I ask as I don't know work life balance.
I can't speak for Eric, but Prayer is the starting point!
Good question and there is a fine line. I will say this, don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life. In this case, the folks were in need. It happened on a Thurs., I got the new engine Friday morning and had no plans for Friday night. I asked Hannah if she wanted to make some extra cash and bang out an engine job because she can cut my time in half. I pulled it in at 4pm, 7 hours later had it parked out side and ready to go. Got some sleep and had all weekend with the fam.
Hanna to the rescue. Hard to believe that she wasn't fully booked on a Friday night but then again money talks. Hope she's enjoying nursing school.
SATAMAN Schmidt First couple years of any college program is full of bullshit classes. It'll be a while before she can take anything relevant.
Taking care of the customer. That's one of the many things that make you great Eric. Shops around my area would have told their customer, "Your car ain't gonna be ready for a couple of weeks so walk, thumb, or get a bus pass." And that is IF they properly diagnosed the problem in the first place.
huge props to you on pulling the all nighter for the customer. no other shop would ever do that. i wish you were in my area.
It sounds good, but the problem with going too far out of your way for a customer is that customers begin to expect it, and when you don't pull an all nighter every time you bring your car in they complain they are getting bad service.
Almost *EVERY* customer will say it's an emergency and they want it back ASAP, "IT"S VITAL!"
Im sure Mr O has plenty of stories about the ungrateful customer, or the "rush job", where the customer *needs* it ASAP, and then doesn't pick the car up for a week after the job is completed.
There is a notion where you train your customer.
I love the ones I need if fast and then pick it up two or three days later You do remember for the next time
@Cheepchi. Well said sir, well said :) The customers you want are the ones that have an understanding of a shop and say "let me know" and leave it.
Everybody wishes Eric O was in their area, then the poor bugger wouldn't have any family time. Mrs O would then be looking for a new Fella.
I do that but it’s only for friends or family
U are a good mechanic and a honest guy I certainly wish there were more like you
At 170K on the clock that customer has done well on that car , and getting a pro to replace it that reasonable is icing on the cake . Nice job Eric . TheReaper!
I cringed at watching you cut that chain! But, honestly, this was very informative and I loved it. I had a feeling that engine was repairable, but getting that customer out the door with a used, low mileage, engine was absolutely the right choice. Awesome job! Also, this gave us a chance to see this.
I love it! Says: “I’ll get a screwdriver to give it a little wiggle” and comes back with a three foot crow-bar. Way to go Eric!
Thank your for this video showing the full condition of the engine. You did the right thing providing them with an almost new engine for the cost of getting the old one back on the road. The customers should be extemely pleased! Great Job!!!
I appreciate you taking the time to show the valve defect, the part you nailed was when do you drop a used engine in...good call.
Outstanding call on replacing the engine! Customer lucked out on this one. Wish I lived closer to SMA so you could be the mechanic working on my three vehicles. Thumbs up production.
Get on patron and support this channel ladies and gentlemen. Good things in life aren't free. Our accumulative support is what is going to keep this great man and his family from making these videos a waste of their time.
Eric, you didn't have to, but I'm glad you did. I''m not surprised you're booked 2 weeks out with the quality of work you do. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.
Good on you for getting those folks back going as quick as you did. I hope they showed their appreciation in return.
There are very few mechanics with your dedication, passion and knowledge. I hate having other people work on my stuff but I would take my cars to you for sure.
Eric, you are a beast! Talk about going above and beyond for the customer. Shops around here would tell you to pound sand...
Nice video. You explained your reasons to replace the motor in a way that customer made the right call, you and Hannah really to care of them. One good thing on pulling an all nighter is you can focus on task at hand. Looking forward to next video.
You went to get a screwdriver and returned with a huge pry bar!! LOL Good for you pulling an all nighter, I hope your new customer appreciates it and is now a loyal customer.
Niamh Healy The pry bar is always the best way to remove cams, especially if you're going to reuse them. Same with cranks.
When Eric say "going to get a BIG screwdriver" he always return with the biggest pry bar in the shop.....hahaha
Niamh Healy I don't think Eric did it to prove it to the customer. He did it for us viewers and not just to justified replacing the engine either.
I'm not suggesting he used the wrong tool, he said "I need to get a screwdriver" and came back with a huge pry bar. Just thought it was funny :)
He has nothing to prove. His work speaks for itself ;)
Eric, I've been watching pretty much all your videos and I have to tell you, I've learned A LOT!!! I understand perfectly the future of this engine and your tear down tactics were awesome. Thank a bunch for giving us an up close and personal view of that broken valve. South Main Auto ROCKS!!!!!!
Your a good honest man Eric. A credit to your profession.
Thanks for showing us the burned valve. Glad you replaced that old high mileage oil burner instead of opening Pandora’s box and spending more time and money fixing junk. You made the right call. Well done.
No gripe from me, I am a flat rate tech and I get how you as a shop owner/mechanic who's booked solid 2 weeks out has 0 time to record a engine R&R. Once you see one, you have pretty much seen them all. Love your stuff, keep it up!
Huge fan Eric - Thank you for taking all the time and effort to produce these DIY projects . Mrs. O. is so understanding. Of all the channels I have watched over the years - you have the best ! Well done - again!
"Plan C" is my favorite way to tear apart an engine...Very efficient! LOL awesome vid Eric!!
Plan C is only good when plan A is replacing the engine. I have done a "plan C " tear down in car, but only because i knew it wasn't salvageable before tear down. I will say getting the head off with all of its accessories made getting the replacement in a bit easier.
Hello Ivan you make awesome videos
I watch you and this channel and precision transmission it’s a lot of fun
Definitely a class act Eric!! If I didn’t live in the Midwest, you’d have another customer for sure!!! I’ve used your videos to fix my parent’s’ ‘04 Lesabre Custom with the bulletproof 3800 V6. Replaced plugs, wires, upper intake manifold, PCV valve, all engine mounts and the fuel pump. (All torqued to spec, of course....😏) 180,000 miles, 25mpg, doesn’t burn a drop of oil and I used to detail cars so the paint looks like new. Thank you for the quality content and your honesty, it’s a rare quality nowadays. 👍
I enjoy hearing you talk and knowing how you analyze the situation. We're all human and therefore make mistakes, hopeful to learn something that might save me from making a mistake. Thank you for making the videos. Hope they rebound to your success in life.
I just copied this from one of your comments... "don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life"... That's a great rule for anyones attitude towards life. Well said.
Why would anybody critizsize you? You do a awesome job for your customers
This is the best car mechanic channel by far. I work on motorbikes just for a hobby (badly), and there aren't many professional motorbike mechanics to follow that allow you to see so much engine work going on, mostly just hobbyists having a go. Love watching all this, learn a lot.
That was good old fashion fun, have to love taking stuff apart thats going to scrap ,Thanks for sharing !
many thanks for taking the time to show us the final analysis. I know you didn't get paid for this. I am also really happy to see your channel is doing well I've been watching your videos for years now ,and without a doubt you deserve it.
Plan C was my plan A.
Mine too. No point in wasting time on something that will never be used again.
I don't see why the repliers for this comment are complaining. I just like hearing his sayings. Reminds me of that thing he says.. something like, 'it always works sometimes, 100% of the time, always.' Something like that, when something is about to fail..
I thought plan-C would be a smoke wrench 😄
Just wanted to say Hey..! From the boonies in northern Ontario and to let you know i’ve watched a few of your videos now and as a man of 54 who’s been wrenching on my own stuff since i was 16 …!
Your knowledge and absolutely excellent
diagnostic procedure’s
and workmanship has me impressed fella!!
Need more professional’s like yourself back in your profession…!
Keep up the good work
and all the respect to ya..! Take care !!
Amazing - I've worked on alot of engines, and run quite a few much longer than their design life, and have NEVER seen a valve come apart like that. Way to work, FoMoCo! Nice one!
Almost as good as the 2.0 SPI engines in the '00+ Focus that spit the valve seats out. I had one like that - smashed the piston, bent con-rod, destroyed head, & filled the pan & intake manifold with kibbles & bits! Gotta love it. Luckily the cylinder was totally untouched by the carnage, so I just cleaned it up, lightly honed the cylinder, and slapped a new head on with new rod/piston/rings & timing set. We ran it 10k miles, then sold it on eBay. A guy in Africa bought it and had it shipped over. :D
I've pulled a few all-nighters for family. That's never a fun time. Don't know if I've got it in me anymore. I can barely do 8 straight hours these days! I seem to be aging faster than my birthdays come ...
Some early ford DOHC 4.6 liked to snap springs.
After seeing the masterful execution of the plan c's, I finally have the confidence to take up the challenge of ' if I can do it, then you can do it'.
Wednesday night and shipped on a Friday? Damn! I know you have the tools and skill but that's some seriously fast turnaround time and doing it for a customer that needed the vehicle rather than push it off while you got other things done. You're a man of great character Eric.
I like the intro, it's motivated me to sign up for guitar lessons and play in nightclubs around the country... oh wait .... tearing engines apart looks like more fun, and that's something I can already do.
Seriously, thanks for the tear down video and all your videos. I always learn something.
Glad you took the time to take it apart and show us. I do appreciate it very good video. Thanks my friend keep up the great work
hi Eric this is ibrahim from Egypt , first i wish you all best wishes as you learned me tooooo much , second thing i wana say that when i was reading comments i read asentence when you were answering some one you said dont spend much time to get living and forget to build alife , then i was working in another country far away from my home land and leave awife , aboy , and sweet girl so after reading this i decided to start my own business and take avery difficult decision to leave and start to establish my work shop thanx again man hope to read this , respect
I want the whole story! no skipping ahead! Loved it Dr. O! Caveman style!!!!!
Gm makes crappy engine. Eric tears it down. Exposes secret class action lawsuit.
@@ricky-sanchez It be a Ford, no?
@@milantrcka121 Whoa let's not go crazy here.
Good decision by helping these people, you seem to be honest and that's rare these days, I am also a retired mechanic and tried to be honest with my customers all my working life, hats off. to you.
Awesome as usual, love the intro! Twisted Cam with Ivan still one of my all time favorite You Tube videos.
I know these vids take time, TYVM!
I admire you very much for your professionalism, and your honesty you are a great mechanic I congratulate you go ahead with your videos that are very helpful, may God bless you
Thanks Eric common sense way that's what I have done in the past GREAT JOB!!!!
Cool video, i used this to help me with a decision - had the chance to buy a low mileage Neon with a known bad Cylinder #2 for a few hundred bucks from a family down the road from us, after watching your pair of videos i was able to confirm before i bought the car, it had the same issue, one exhaust valve with a (smaller) chip out of one edge. being able to do the work myself, i bought the car and changed the valve and put the head back on. Runs great and the replacement valve was only $9.00 at an engine rebuilding shop i replaced the head gasket, all the valve guides, reground all the valves while the head was on the bench so that cost more than the valve but for me i got a decent little car for our daughter to drive for cheap. Thanks SMA!
If I were the customer I would have wanted the broken valve just to keep on my desk. Thanks for taking the extra time to show us.
and you'd have paid for the teardown to get to it? That's not normally what someone driving an older vehicle is looking to do, spend more for same result plus trash on desk.
I had a valve replaced on my engine as nearly a quarter had broken off. Still have that valve sitting here.
I still have a crumpled, smashed oil filter sitting on my garage window sill, a reminder of the filter from hell.
Good show! I learn a lot like you do by tearing down a broken piece of equipment to see how it died. One of my favorite stories from business school was about Komatsu: According to the story, before Komatsu came to the U.S., they set up engineering shops just down the road from Caterpillar repair facilities in the U.S. After the Cat dealer closed for the day, the Komatsu engineers went and retrieved broken parts from the bin. They took them apart to figure out what it was, how it broke, why it broke and determined to engineer their parts so they don't break. They put the parts back into the Cat scrap bin before the repair facility opened the next morning. Then when Komatsu finally came to the U.S. their stuff was competitive with that made by Caterpillar.
Same engine in my '12 Escape. Pretty cool to see what it looks like.
No problem Eric your busy I'm not crying that I didn't see the engine swap. Love your videos your channel is my number one channel.
Thanks for showing us the carnage Eric. Looks like the engine wasn't long for the world anyway, looks like it was burning oil real bad.
I wouldn't worry. I'm sure there are more interesting engine jobs than a 4 cyl ford engine swap to take the time to film. Especially when you have to pull an all nighter!
You can see the sister cylinders move up and down at the same time when rotating the engine now that the cylinder head has been removed. Great video thanks for sharing!
I like that the first picture in your montage was a TSI PCV valve lol.
VW master tech.
Caught that myself, and I only own a VW. Lol. Waiting for my oil separator to blow, so I know the part well.
Just for the record I was in the camp that believed the broken piece blew out the exhaust valve/port! I also was one of the few that was in favor of just taking the head off and having new valves put in instead of the complete engine swap. But after seeing both videos I think Eric O. was right to replace the whole engine. Only because it was such a LOW MILEAGE unit. 30,000 mile engine replacement unit is pretty nice. Barely broken in. Thanks 4 going the extra mile to prove your intial assumption. Thats why youre the #1 mechanic on UA-cam and were just a bunch of viewers. Lol
You nailed it Mr. O. Nice work and thanks for the follow up vid. I personally enjoyed the long winded intro. 🤓
Mark long winded - 26 seconds - I don't think so. Plus ya get ta see Vanessa.
Enjoy watching your detective work,,,respect your drive to get to the root cause,,your honesty is without measure
I'm liking the new intro. Taking time to break this down is appreciated. This video will fall under the category of "carnage" but great job getting the car back to the customer!
Eric dont doubt your diagnosis. Appears you made the right one.
Thank You for the follow up video. It drives me crazy sometimes wondering what the outcome was. Like reading a good book and stopping before the end....LOL ... Have Mrs. O fix something else I think she's great.
I think you made the right call and pulling an alnighter is unheard of you sir are the man
It would've been kind of funny if you HADN'T told us that this engine was going to the junkyard but instead told us it was going back into the customer's vehicle. ;)
LOL. There are UA-cam channels that’d have a field day trolling that until they realised.
I agree; that would have made a good April First video. :)
😂
The gm approach at the tune of $4000. Back in the shop 2 years later.
The sad part is I wouldn't have know the difference.
It is great to see you take the trouble, time, and money to replace the timing chain guides. I bought a 95 Saturn back in 99 that had a timing chain slip at 135k miles just one year into ownership. Short story is it was difficult to find a shop to do an engine swap at that time and it cost me dearly. I asked that they replace the timing chain with a kit, but the shop insisted it was good. 3 years later taking my wife and I laws home from a visit with the doc bringing home our new baby...it slips. I drove it home out of embarrassment knowing I threw away 100 bucks per 1000 miles. Thankfully I made my last payment. Long story short...what's fifty bucks?
Did you say 32,000 on the replacement engine?? Dang she got a sweet deal in the end Great work again Eric!
Yeah and it came out of a 2011 Fusion
@@SouthMainAuto can i use any 2.5 ford motor or is out of certain cars
Eric, this reminds me of a repair on a small Ford 4 cylinder. The lady and her husband were great customers. One day, the husband suddenly died, and the car broke down shortly after that. He had really liked the car, and the wife associated that with his memory, so she wanted me to fix it. I could look down the spark plug hole and see that the top of the piston looked like it was badly beaten, so we agreed I would pull the head. The cause was a hardened insert ring that formed the valve seat had broken and fallen into the cylinder, where the lack of clearance had ruined the piston. Despite the cost, she wanted to get the new head and piston, which we ordered and installed. She thanked us profusely for how well the car ran. It was nice to be able to make a difference in her life by just fixing a car.
My Senior year in high school , I went to school 1/2 day and worked as a gofer at the Dodge dealership 1/2 day .
Saw a farmer's truck on butane come in . Mechanic pulled the valve covers ( V-8 engine ) & at least 2 valve springs were up . He said , no wonder it barely run ! .
The mechanic pulled both heads & at least 2 exhaust valve heads were gone , presumably exited via the exhaust manifold . Pistons were worse for wear also .
Mechanic said the farmer probably had the butane adjusted way too lean .
Saw another vehicle come in with maybe 40,000 miles . When the valve covers were removed , it did not look like the oil had ever been changed .
Terrible / thick baked on sludge !
Please keep the videos coming , :-)
Wyr
God bless
God bless
Wish that there was a mechanic like you where I live. My last house in Florida before moving to the west coast had a great guy like you, but over here, can’t seem to find a good one. Keep up the good work.
Thank you sir! Enjoyed this video and learned a lot from it!
Eric, love the intro keep it going. No doubt you give your customers options in this case you avoided putting good money in to bad. For the same amount your customer received a motor with 140,000 less miles. So refreshing to see your family run business run with such honesty. Hats off to you folks for doing terrific job....
I really like the new intro Mr. O! Good job!
Awesome! Thanks for taking the head off and showing us the valve. Appreciate hearing your comments and thoughts on the engine. Thanks Eric!
We love you long time!
Thanks for going the whole 5 minutes and finishing this off. Now I can have a smoke and a nap and dream how the heck a valve got a notch like that.
And you don't even have to call me in the morning....
ROFL! Dammit. Now I gotta wipe spewed coffee off my desk. While I'd happily stick you with the dinner bill I'd never leave you hanging like that.
metallurgical flaw in the valve from manufacture, it just took this long for it to manifest and fail.
FORD!
First On Race Day!
Eric
I've been watching your channel since day one. Your the best. But I tell you what we got a lot of great guys that you hang out with. Looking forward maybe some day to see you, ivan, keith, danner,and makuloco.
Eric you get a 10 of 10 with a manly grunt of going "ape *#@*" on going straight to the issue. Love the video for fun "rip apart".
Eric, when you do it, You do it right and great. Anyone who hasn't been in a real garage would say save save save and rebuild, but there comes a time where in every real garage, you replace engines and they get labeled as scrap. Some also get torn apart in an empty bay to see just what's inside. This reminds me of many after hour evenings in my friends garage, tearing apart an engine, trans or rear end just to see the condition inside. Good times and good visuals that confirm our diagnosis. I love this video, it brought back the fun times of working on cars. Thanks Eric and keep em coming. Jpol.
Sir... you dont owe us anything... BUT GREAT VIDEOS... have learned a lot from you... :)
PROVED BEYOND DOUBT, BROKEN VALVE , BIN THE MOTOR , GREAT JOB MATE.
Cool intro!! love the black and white
Eric never stop your intro schpeels. I love them. I love your videos. Makes me realise I'm not the only one who's a crazy wrench.
Come on guys lets get Eric to 100k subscribers then he can get his reward off youtube. Tell your mates tell everyone he deserves it...
Dude iv said this before but from the bottom of my mechanical heart i thank u . Im a 3rd generation mechanic and i grew up on small blocks n such so this new stuff is crazy but im learning and teaching those who taught me ...i bought a zurich proscanner the 1500 dollar one and i freaking love watching vids of yours cuz ur teaching me how to use my scan tool ...im 29 years old and i think im just technologically advanced enough to be able to learn this stuff ... thank u ...also im on a 12 ford escape im about to pull the head ....got ur same issue going on here lol u saved me so so much time
definite the right call 32 k over 170k no brainer and I like the intro
Now that’s the way to un hook a timing chain! great video as always! Keep them coming!
The more cheesy the intro the more subs this channel gets! It jumped from 89K to 92K
Great example of "mechanic's finesse"! You should add this to the "reformatting a hard drive" section.
“Let’s rip and tear”
Eric O is the Doom Slayer confirmed
glad someone else picked up the reference lol
thanks for letting us see the end . I know it is a lot more work to show us but that's why we love you .
good call, just a burnt valve, hence why no pieces were left
That's one heck of a job for the ol' lady. Kudos to you, sir.
That new intro music reminds me of this old house for some reason. You can rebuild an engine for me any day. I'll just make sure to tear it down FIRST. LOL
Reminds me of Cheers
Enjoying the new video intro. You have a chuck out of your head, There's your problem Lady.
"There's your problem, Lady" Your timing chain is broken.
wysetech2000 🤣
Eric I haven't been on your channel in a while however I like what you have to say your like-minded like me and I would have done it the exact same way especially given the customer the actions it's the guys like oh I see the problem in the cylinder he does'nt what he's talking about. You on the other hand I'm down to earth and kept yourself even Keel and stoked I like your demeanor keep up the great work actually I'm not working right now because I'm in the hospital and I have stage 4 colon cancer which I'm trying to battle I'm 54 years old and this is coming from work I've been out of work at the shop I've been working at 4 for months now I'd like to get back to work but I have to get healed anyway take care I really liked your video keep up the great work given the customer other options that's top notch
Valve probably isn't broken, it burnt. The carbon in the cylinders breaks loose and sticks ever so unfortunately to the seat and keeps the face open. The compression is low but not so low it won't run on that cylinder. Flames continue to bypass that valve right at that area until it burns. Once the valve burns a spot out large enough that the cylinder compression drops down to
I think you are 100% correct
@@SouthMainAuto Good reason to use some Techron occasionally
if its burnt then its broken
@@diytech4u If a chunk of value is slowly burnt away it won't damage the piston as opposed to a piece of valve falling off.
Based on what I've seen, and the complaints about this engine, It's designed to fail shortly after the warranty is up. Of course unintended hard driving, (intended by gm), could accelerate this, and create 1 warranty repair to get you into the shop to create "customer reputation". After warranty is over, you would be expected to bring your crappy car back to the same dealership, Where they would talk you into a new car under house credit. Stealership science.
Eric your the best. The people needed the car and you spent you personnel time on it. Man wish you were here in naperville illinois
Thanks for the postmortem. I liked seeing the tear down. But Eric your working too hard!!!!!
Yup. I enjoy a good mechanical autopsy myself.
It's fun taking an engine apart when you don't have to be careful!
Good call on the 32,000 mile replacement. It'll last much longer- even if you'd installed new gaskets, timing chains & done a valve job on the old cruddy worn unit.
Not to mention the instant turn-around which is PRICELESS
"I'm going to get a small screwdriver" 😂😂😂
Good call. This was in the best interest of the customer and the core really only had scrap value anyway.
OK, your intro vid needs something... You and Mrs. O out front of the shop, you holding 'Big Nasty' ala "American Gothic".
I really appreciate your videos as a mechanic I like the way you troubleshoot keep up the good work and I also like the way you treat your family great job
Very interesting how that chunk of valve did no damage to the cylinder or cylinder wall. All of that oil buildup on the cylinders makes me wonder if it had a bad PCV valve. Those are actually really good little motors. Probably one of the best 4 poppers to go in a Ford - and it's not even their motor (Mazda)..... and this coming from a big Ford fan.
They got lucky and the chunk went out the exhaust. Probably could chase it down, bet it's sitting on top of the cat.
Agreed. Only plausible scenario.
shane dyches it is in fact a Ford designed & built Duratec motor if 3.0L. The 2.3L Duratec from that era was heavily Mazda designed but i believe Ford built.
I disagree Shane. Seen too many of these with misfires, usually due to valve issues. They often run well but set a misfire code that won't allow an emissions test.
shane dyches probably blew out the exhaust port
I agree, you made the right decision to replace that 170k engine with a 32k engine. Best overall lowest cost is the way to go and that's the way you went. Very good informative video.
Thank you, great channel.
GOOD ONE ERIC. I'D SAY GIVE ME A 32K ENGINE OVER A 186K ENGINE ANY DAY. HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD LABOR DAY. MINE WAS A VERY SMOKEY DAY DUE TO ALL THE FIRES OUT HERE COVERING THE WHOLE WESTERN U S WITH SMOKE. MAYBE THE VALVE PIECE GOT STUCK IN THE CAT?? THANKS. FYI THE AVATAR IS A 44 MAG THAT I RELOADED :-)
I imagine it was burnt because of carbon build up. Hard to say really.