Michigan Motor Exchange Will not honor warranty, sabotage engines to deny warranty claims Waterford Michigan

In late 2006 I purchased a engine from Michigan Motor Exchange for my Jeep. It was the famous 4.0L inline six. I paid a pretty penny for the engine.. $2,377.28 and they did not install it. The engine comes with a 50,000 mile/24 month warranty on parts only. When I received the engine documents came along with brief installation notes. Specifically stating that the distributor on this engine rotates counter clock wise, and this is the way that you prime the engine since the distributor is directly connected to the oil pump. This was my first Jeep, so I went by the information they supplied - they've built thousands of these engines so you wouldn't think twice about what they tell you.

Approximately 200 miles after installation I had a slight knock or tick. It was very hard to determine where the noise was coming from and what it was. I promptly called the company to see what they had to say about it. I was told by one of the employees in the Waterford location that lifter noise is very common in these engines during the break in procedure. I asked them what I should do and I was told to continue driving it and if the problem got worse to give them a call. I asked about what would happen if something broke, catastrophic failure. They responded by telling me that I had a 50,000 mile warranty and to "drive it until it quits". At the 7,000 mile mark the engine threw a rod out of the side of the block.

They covered the warranty, but not with out a fee. If I remember correctly I ended up spending another $400.

The new engine ran great, it was a night and day difference. There must have been something wrong with the other engine from the get go, or it could have been my error by priming the engine per their instructions. Who knows.

I followed the suggested oil change intervals per the warranty and break in procedures. At around 4,000 miles, the engine began to knock. Learning from my last experience I promptly quit driving the vehicle and had it towed home. I called the company the next day and they stressed that they were skeptical about the damage.. "we sell a ton of these engines and I don't have them come back very often, especially twice". I told them that I would take it out as soon as I could since it was still winter time.

Recently I was able to deliver the engine to them - 500 miles round trip. Three weeks go by and I haven't been contacted, so I give them a call. I was told that the engine had severely over heated which resulted in a spun bearing. I stated that I had no problems with over heating and that the engine never went about 160 degrees, and being the winter, the ice never melted off the hood. I talked to the guy (Chris) who looked at the engine. After some arguing, I accepted the fact that the engine was damaged. The engine was not going to be covered under warranty, but that they would kindly give me a discount and offered repair for $500 which I declined.

When engines are rebuilt, companies use what is called a heat tab. It's a plug that you install on the engine and if it over heats the center of the plug will disappear. I was told numerous times that this is the first thing they look at when recieving an engine for warranty. I was very upset that they checked the heat tab and determined the engine was out of warranty but they proceeded to tear the engine down, leaving me with completely useless parts.

I arranged for the engine to be picked up and parts be shipped to me to be possibly reused on another engine. One of these parts was the cylinder head. I took the head to a local machine shop to be checked out, it was a good possibility that the head had wrapped due to the "severe overheating". Especially if the coolant reached a high enough temperature to heat the oil up hot enough to ruin a bearing.

The head checked out PERFECT. It's very common to see some warpage on these cylinder heads since they are long and skinny. Not the case with this one. I explained what was going on to the companies owner and he stated that it did have a heat tab on it, a heat tab that never melted. If the engine had gotten hot enough to melt one tab, and hot enough to heat the oil, this tab should have melted as well considering that the majority of the coolant exiting the block goes right past this tab.

I called the company, furious. I talked to Chris, the guy that checked it out. He could not give me a straight answer regarding why one tab out of three melted. The only explanation I was give was that they other two tabs could have been more insulated. Well, this makes sense... but wait.. the coolant got SO hot that it severely over heated, and was able to heat the oil up hot enough to ruin a bearing. There is absolutely no way that only one tab melted if this was the case.

I asked to talk to the owner to come up with a solution that was fair to both parties. I work in the industry, I know that warranties suck, especially if it's the second or third time around. I was told that he WAS the owner and he was not willing to do anything for me. He did however offer to repair the engine for $400 and provide me with a 90 day warranty.

He did admit the fault of the incorrect installation instructions regarding the priming procedure, but he would not admit that I have not gotten my moneys worth. These engines are known to easily last 200,000 miles without a second thought. They commonly last up to 300,000 miles with good care. There are even some older AMC inline 6's that have lasted OVER 500,000 miles. And all I can manage to get out of a brand new rebuilt engine is 11,000 miles. $2377.28 for 11,000 miles. For $500 I could have bought a "beater" that would have lasted double that.

I do not suggest doing business with this company.. It is my opinion that there was a defective part but the company was bitter about already having to replace the engine and now again a second time, so a heat tab was made to look like it melted. There was one comment that leads me to believe this.. When I most recently talked to Chris, I stated that they took the engine apart without my approval. He stated that I agreed to it because I gave it to them for warranty repair. He was correct, but, if the first thing they look at is the heat tab to determine if the engine was over heated, in this case the tab showed this, why would you still disassemble the engine? He said that this was not the first thing he looked at, he looked at it after they had disassembled the engine and found the bad bearing. This contradicts what I was told several times, twice by Chris himself. "The first thing we do when we receive an engine for warranty issues is check the heat tab to see if the engine had been over heated". Now all of a sudden it's not what you do? Checking the heat tab is now a after thought?

Steer clear of this company, they are not customer service oriented.

Nick
Traverse City, Michigan
U.S.A.