Heartbreak over car :.(. . . .

[Fialchar]

I got my new engine installed, and picked it up from the shop before they closed. That very day, not just a little bit, but CLOUDS of smoke were just pouring out from the engine so I immediately pulled over and popped the hood.Apparently, the "experts" at Bob Cole's Import Automotive didn't put oil on my head gasket, allowing 5 litres of oil to leak out and get sprayed all over my entire engine, and upon closer inspection, the oil has a green tint to it as well.. Somehow they messed it up allowing anti-freeze to leak into the engine This happened at around 1:30 early Friday morning as I was picking a friend up from work, and they're closed for the weekend. Come Monday morning, though, I'm gonna be raising hell..

[millster]

So this does bring to mind one question. What happened that you had to have the engine replaced to begin with? Sorry to hear about your misfortune this time. My Saturn did that to me shortly before I sold it. Of course, it wasn't caused by poor workmanship. Hopefully they do right by you though and repair it. Let us know what happens.

[Fialchar]

The original engine was blown due to me not thinking >While I was busy modifying my Vibe I completely forgot to change my oil every 3000 miles. The engine was blown on my way to work one evening, then taken to the shop for about a week, and it looks like it'll be more time away from my Vibe now. I miss my baby

[millster]

Oh. That'll do it alright. Well I hope this is a quickly resolved problem for you.

[Fialchar]

Thanks man, I hope so too.Now, off to work in my Dad's minivan =P

[Mavrik]

Hopefully their mistake will be something they will pay for.

[MrRich]

Quote, originally posted by Fialchar »The original engine was blown due to me not thinking >While I was busy modifying my Vibe I completely forgot to change my oil every 3000 miles. The engine was blown on my way to work one evening, then taken to the shop for about a week, and it looks like it'll be more time away from my Vibe now. I miss my baby Sorry man,but this sounds very dumm!How did you forgot to change the oil?I mean you realy care about your car,I can see that!So I don't understand.It's like you die,because you forgot to eat.

[joatmon]

how many miles did you go without changing the oil, and what in the engine broke as a result?

[goodvibe]

I'm also curiuos about the oil change thing. You can go 7500 mi between changes and keep your waranty and double that easily without blowing up, even with regular dino oil. You'll have some gunk to flush but people have done much worse and still get away with it. I think one of your mods got you. What mods and what was your initial damage. Giving us the info may help you keep running the second time around.

[Fialchar]

A little over 10,000 miles since I did an oil change. (I know.. >.O)I was told by a mechanic friend it was a pushrod that rammed through the engine wall, and Bob Cole's Imports said the same thing, but someone here on the genvibe forums said Vibes don't have pushrods.I went to the Pontiac dealership and they told me a new engine for my car (automatic base Vibe) retailed at $7,300, and their price was a little over $5,000 dollars. I found one from a 2003 Toyota Corolla (Same engine) with under 5000 miles on it for $875 (3 month warranty included) and had it installed for $990 at Bob Cole's. (The Pontiac dealership told me their normal price was $1330 to do an engine swap, but they would do it for me for $1200).My only engine/exhaust mods are Cold Air Intake, full cat-back system, aftermarket exhaust, which shouldn't have influenced it other than burning through oil faster. That's all the numbers that are coming to mind, if anyone would like any more information, I'd be glad to answer questions. Hopefully now that I've blown an engine, people that read this will keep oil changes in a higher priority and/or reduce their chances of the same thing happening.

[Fialchar]

I guess I got bad luck or something then : The people at the diagnostic center said the engine was damaged beyond repair.I think I'll be changing my oil every TWO thousand miles now.. >_>

[Stang2Vibe]

I have no doubt that the engine was damaged beyond repair, but as someone on here already told you, that engine has no pushrods. These engines are overhead cam engines, which have no pushrods. The camshaft directly actuates the valves on the top of the engine inside the heads so no pushrods are necessary. You probably threw a piston rod through the block, which would certainly be a signed death warrant for most any internal combustion engine.If your oil was leaking out green you are in deep crap again. If there was a problem with the head gasket, then antifreeze leaked into the engine and mixed with the oil (the head gasket is one of the barriers that keeps the oil and antifreeze separated in the engine). The replacement motor might be fried now too. There are others on here who have much more knowledge of engines than I do, so I'll let them continue the responses. But I would be very suspicious if the auto repair shop comes back saying that it is a fairly easy fix. That engine might be permanently damaged now too. They might try to band-aid it back together just enough to get you through the 3 month warranty they gave you.

[Fialchar]

Well, since it happened on the exact same day that I got my car back from getting the new engine installed, there shouldn't really be any doubtt hat it should be repaired/replaced free of charge (unless I'm missing something somewhere? >_>)*Edit* Also, thanks a lot for your input, I aprreciate it. I love cars, I love my Vibe, but I'll be the first to admit I still have a lot to learn about them.

[Stang2Vibe]

No prob, but believe me, there are people on here that know WAY more about the Vibe and cars in general than I do. I can do enough to get by on my own maintenance and do some mods, but major engine work takes training, skill, and proper tools to do a good job.Like I said, if I were you, my main concern would be on how they were going to fix this. It probably wouldn't be tough to fix it up enough to get you through 6 months-1 year, but what good is that if it blows up again after the 3 month warranty. I'd get real uncomfortable if they came back and said something like "oh no problem, we'll just clean up the inside of the engine, replace that head gasket, fill 'er back up with new oil and she'll be good as new". Once the antifreeze mixes in with the oil, it breaks it all down, giving the internal parts of the engine zero lubrication. All kinds of parts could have been damaged, including things that you might not think of right away. The white smoke was because the a/f watered down the oil and it was blowing past the piston rings into the upper part of the cylinders where it was burning with the fuel. It could have even fouled the spark plugs. I don't know about the base Vibe's plugs, but I know the ones in the GT are some special iridium-tipped plugs that cost over $100 for a set of 4. All the "little things" can really add up fast. I'd hate to see you get ripped off so make sure that these guys do it right this time or you might be forking out another grand to replace the engine again before the end of the year.

[goodvibe]

Is it possible you missed a shift? The 10k oil change didn't blow it up unless you were a few quarts low and most of these motors would only use about 1 qt in 10k. Never mind, you have an auto. Maybe you just had a lemon or an oil leak/loose filter. Was the motor you bought complete except for accessories or just the lower half. If it was a complete motor than the installer never touched the head gasket and may not assume full responsability. Did the even run the motor before you took it.

[Mavrik]

Yeah a 10k intervel for a oil change should not blow an engine. GM has the life monitor system on several products and some of those based on owner driving habits come on well into 12,000k. Honestly I don't have much faith in that system and stick to 5000km or 3 months, what ever comes first.We all have a lot to learn when it comes to cars, I know I do. I ask a lot of questions here heh.I hope it all works out for you.

[Fialchar]

The engine I bought was a complete engine, and the auto center test drove the car upon completion of the installation, and once the next morning, so the responsibility still should have been theirs to get the car in running order before running it, then giving it back to me. I'm on my way there this morning, wish me luck all.

[Mavrik]

GOOD LUCK!!!! They should be looking after this one, you didn't get far after they installed it. Maybe a parts or install defect? Let us know how it goes.

[Merzbow]

Man, that blows, I understand how you feel about leavin your baby with someone else That really sucks. i was gonna wait 5000 to change my oil, but after hearin your story I'm gonna go and change the oil today after school! lol. Good luck!

[Fialchar]

Thanks all. It's back at the auto center, so I'll probably find out sometime tomorrow what exactly happened. I'll post here to keep anyone who's interested updated about it.Let's hope this doesn't happen to anybody else ><

[johnsoax]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »Man, that blows, I understand how you feel about leavin your baby with someone else That really sucks. i was gonna wait 5000 to change my oil, but after hearin your story I'm gonna go and change the oil today after school! lol. Good luck!You will be fine changing it at 5k. I changed mine at 2k, then 5k and have changed it every 5k since (I'm at 22,222 today). I'll be doing my 6th oil change in under 3k more miles. My car still purrs. And I even use terrible Quaker State

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »Man, that blows, I understand how you feel about leavin your baby with someone else That really sucks. i was gonna wait 5000 to change my oil, but after hearin your story I'm gonna go and change the oil today after school! lol. Good luck!I don't see how leaving the same oil in the engine for 110K miles is really gonna break it. If it leaked out, then yeah, engine disaster, but if there is plenty of 10K old oil in there, no biggie. There wass a guy over on MatrixVibe who ran his car to death by putting the oil filter on wrong or used the wrong filter, and never checked the level or noticed a gallon of oil leaking out. It is important to change your oil periodically, but that's trivial compared to how important it is to make sure that you actually have oil in the engine.So, if anyone wants to be paranoid about their engine oil, go check the level right now.I would have fought the dealer to cover the initial engine failure under warranty, unless there's more to the initial engine failure circumstances. If the head gaskets in the replacement engine didn't seal, then whoever put that engine in the car and sent him on his way should not be allowed to work on cars.

[Merzbow]

How ironic johnsoax...I reached 11,111 today lol....that's kind weird!

[Fialchar]

Can't cover the engine under warranty, as I've driven past the mileage covored by the warranty.Also, for the record, the engine was almost empty on oil. I could've sworn I put some in like a month and a half ago.. but evidently not.Oh well, I'm just anxious to get my car back, and when I do I'm going all the way with it. I'm gonna change the oil every 3000 miles, use only synthetic oil, etc.

[AKLGT]

man, i'm over due for an oil change, so guess i need to get my vibe in right away! don't want my engine blowing, that's for sure!

[goodvibe]

That makes sense. I guess you wont be doing a Duralube commercial. It's great that you're not blaming Pontiac. Pretty stand up. I'ld change my tranny fluid and do a coolant flush also since they probably got really hot.

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »man, i'm over due for an oil change, so guess i need to get my vibe in right away! don't want my engine blowing, that's for sure! Lol and then they see all your mods, they won't warranty a thing.

[Fialchar]

Apparently, it was a split in the heating hose. That would explain the antifreeze, and I'm still a bit confused as to the oil, but they've assured me that's all it was. I noticed another split in the hose, so it'll be an additional day before I get my car back, but I'll be happy to be reunited with my baby again.*NOTE* The guy said that when he called Pontiac that they didn't have any of the hoses in stock, which would indicate that they've been having problems with these hoses. As a precautionary thing, I would check to make sure your hoses aren't cracked or anything (He said getting cracks in a hose that new, and the fact that GM doesn't have the replacement part, would indicate a problem with them).The hose is behind the engine block going into the firewall, there's two hoses and they're about an inch and a half thick, black pliable tubes. I wish I had a picture, but I don't have my Vibe so I can't take one

[goodvibe]

LOL. One of these times, you got to check the oil before you bring it in. Apparently you didn't loose any. If the oil also wasn't gray from water, you wouldn't have suspected the head gasket. I didn't think to tell you this before because from your description, you were completely out of oil again. I bet they didn't drive it long enough for the thermostat to switch and the problem was created during the swap. Maybe you can source those hoses from Toyota and get rolling soon. Glad it wasn't something major.

[joatmon]

In the old days, you could go to the auto parts or hardware store and buy heater hoses by length and diameter, they would measure and cut the length off a big roll of heater hose, it wasn't some special custom molded piece. I haven't looked at the heater hoses in the vibe/matrix to see just how unique they are.What made you think the head gaskets were gone?

[Fialchar]

Maybe the old days aren't dead and gone after all I had the hoses taken over to a Nappa shop, and they cut the right length/diameter of hose for the Vibe. I'm on my way there now to pick it up.

[bus driver]

Vibe & Sunbird are not equiped with oil Life monitors........I've seen my nieghbors montana and it liook to me someone at GM design had too much time

[Stang2Vibe]

You can usually get heater hose cut to the right length at most auto parts stores. The problem is getting it into the right shape to fit the turns it must make to snake around inside the engine compartment. There's nothing specially "molded" to make the hose keep its bends, the manufacturer just coils up a piece of wire and inserts it inside the hose where it needs to keep it bent. If you can get the old coiled wires out of the old hose and somehow get them into the right position in the new hose, then you have a hose that is basically just like the original.Also, this is the first I've heard of this problem with the Vibe or Matrix. It's unlikely that Pontiac stocks many of them, as many of us have found that many service departments still have hardly a clue as to what a Vibe is, let alone stocking parts for them. I think the more likely scenario is that some bonehead at the import shop installed something wrong or the hose accidentally got split during the swap. From the location that you described the hoses, it sounds like the 2 hoses that you found are the supply and return lines for the heater core.