Central Virginia Motor Sports, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed
the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I could not justify spending $for gas/food/lodging bringing the engine to CVMS for repairs and the same amount to pick the motor up again. If CVMS can't get the pistons in correctly during their rebuild process, I don't believe they would get it right on their second attempt either. CVMS paid $for warranty repairs to the same company that completed the second engine rebuild. If Jim will send me a check for $2,I will consider the issue closed
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com spoke with the business. The business said that at this time because the customer took the vehicle elsewhere before giving the business the chance to work on or repair the vehicle they are unable to cover any cost the customer is requesting.

Review: I paid central virginia machine service for a complete engine rebuild. I have had multiple mistakes made on my engine rebuild. The worst of these was the discovery of a hole being cut through my cylinder head intake port. And lifter interference with valley pan after it had been beaten up with a ball peen hammer. I also found metal parts floating around in the head area which would have ended in engine damage, if not discovered, and removed. With so many mistakes on this engine, one has to ask, Where else in the engine will there be mistakes, that may ultimately end in premature engine failure? This happened after around 200 miles on the engine. All of these discoveries came about from a leaking head gasket resulting in water in a cylinder, and a top end tear down. [redacted] at CVMS has taken zero responsibility for any of the problems. And refused to make good on the damage to my engine and various parts.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for all head work he charged me, and for all my time porting the heads. And for the replacement cost of valley pan and top end gaskets.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] is asking CVMS to warrant work not performed at our shop. The other issues he points to are minor and already taken care of (by him in a matter of seconds). He has e-mailed me immediately after receiving the engine, praising the performance and how well I met his requirements. It was several weeks later the overheating caused the failure he speaks of. Rather than ask for help in the matter, he simply began making accusations of it being our work that failed. Since I denied the claim based on the fact that we didn't perform the work that failed, he sent me an e-mail full of threats of damaging my business and taking me to court. Once a person puts in writing, they're going to sure, there's nothing more to say.

I realize it "looks bad" having two complaints in a short period of time. I implore you to also understand, after being in business for more than 12 years, and actually, a former member of your Revdex.com (was still "in good standing", just couldn't afford it any more) these are the first complaints you have received regarding our business. In the first case, there is no valid complaint, as the warranty is still in force. In the second case, it's simply not reasonable to hold and engine shop responsible for work of other shops or individuals. There were no indicators of a problem when the engine left our shop.

Central Virginia Machine Service

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

There is no offer being made by Central Virginia machine to resolve the issues. They ( [redacted]) still claims no responsibility for all the mistakes made on my engine, but rather has now fabricated an accusation of me overheating the engine. That never happened. The real issues with the build are the failure of any kind of quality control on the build. Multiple mistakes and oversights on basic engine building protocol. It took 7 Months to get my engine, when I was told it would be 6 weeks to build the engine. The heads were inspected and rebuilt by [redacted] and then we found one head to be defective. [redacted] cut a hole in one of the intake bowl areas and then put a JB weld like product in the hole to cover it up. He claims they did not do that. Even if that were true, I paid [redacted] for a turn key complete engine rebuild. He claims to have done an inspection and rebuild of my heads, but did not see that the head had been damaged because they" were not suspect" This claim is absolutely absurd. I had contracted and paid [redacted] to do a tear down and documentation of my engine because the engine was highly suspect for being improperly built, and was in fact coming apart. I have all of that documentation from [redacted] about how poorly and improperly the engine had been built. Now he claims no responsibility for the work he did, claiming it was the other shops fault for cutting a whole in my head. Here is a list of all of the mistakes made by ([redacted]), Central Virginia Machine on my engine, and I have pictures and complete documentation of them all. [redacted] has denied some of these, ignored others and called some of them "legitimate mistakes"

When I picked engine up, I found a bolt that [redacted] dropped into the timing chain and gear. Would have caused certain engine damage.

Once engine was home, found stripped bolts on oil pan causing oil leak.

Found carburetor loose, bolts hand tight. Causing engine to run lean. It was started and run for me on delivery and backfired during the engine run proving it had been run and broken in a lean condition. This may have caused the engine to get hot. [redacted] of course denies that that ever happened. He only apologized and claimed his employee forgot to tighten the carb properly.

I found that the zero degree mark on dampener was improperly marked 6 degrees advanced after I did a piston stop check to determine TDC. This proves that [redacted] never checked and determined true TDC so that the engine could be timed properly. If this was not found, the engine would have been unknowingly timed to far advanced, causing it to detonate and damage the engine. When I told [redacted] about this, again no apology or accountability for the oversight.

After about 200 miles on engine found water in one cylinder. Started head removal and investigation. We found left head warped. It had excessive oil getting past valve seals requiring complete rebuild. We found metal pieces in heads were the roller rockers contacted head covers. No apology by [redacted], he called that a legitimate mistake. The metal was sure to eventually cause engine damage.

We found the valley pan to have been beat up with a ball peen hammer, admitted by [redacted] to clearance it with the roller lifters. But only to find it still made contact with the lifters in 14 places. Comp cams, the manufacturer of the lifter/ cam kit said they would in no way warranty there product after it made contact with the valley pan. This rubbing contact very likely introduced metal into the oil system and may have caused damage. [redacted] made no apology for this and minimized and potential harm to the engine.

After a recommendation by an engine builder I contracted. He said better pull the other head to inspect. I called [redacted] to see what he said, and he said oh no, no need to pull that head. So I did it anyway. And sure enough we found more metal pieces in the head were the rockers made contact with valve covers. One piece had already made its way down the push rod tube and was sure to fall down into the cam/lifter area soon enough, causing serious engine damage. Again no apology by [redacted], only "It was a legitimate mistake, no damage no problem. Once the engine builder took my head apart he called and told me about the whole he found in the intake bowl, and the JB weld patched that was applied to cover it up. He said I would never let this head go out of my shop like this, you need some new heads. This damage was very obvious and easy to spot. And if [redacted] did any of the head work he claimed, and charged me for. It would have been easy to see that the head had been damaged. At this point this is when [redacted] denied any wrongdoing. I asked him to do the right thing and take responsibility for all these mistakes and he refused, and now is blaming me and the other engine builder. For any damage and related problems.

The good thing is I have fully documented the entire tear down. It shows all the damage, the "legitimate mistakes" made by [redacted] and all the poor building techniques used by [redacted] at Central Virginia Machine. I feel very confident in my success for justice when I present all of the pictures and evidence to the small claims court in Richmond VA. If I get no resolution, that is my next step to seek justice.

Review: I contacted [redacted], the owner of shop. He had done work for me in the past so I trusted him to do another job for me. I took him a [redacted] engine to be rebuilt. He stated he would check it out and let me know. He called me a few weeks later and told me the block had several cracks and could not be fixed. He stated he had a block he would sell me for $300. He stated he could get it done for me by Christmas and I agreed. He asked for a deposit for half of the estimated cost of $3000 to rebuild the engine. I took him $1500 cash to his residence in Chesterfield County. During the next several months I would call him to check on the progress. December came and he stated he had not even started on it. I took him the engine the first week in August of 2012 and gave him the deposit he requested a few weeks after that. I told him I really need the first of January and said he would try. I finally got the engine at a cost of $4204.47 on 2/22/12 I installed it on Saturday the 23rd and started it up on Sunday the 24th. The engine was very noisy and was leaking oil. I called [redacted] on Monday the 25th and told him the engine did not sound right. He stated it was going to be a little noisy because he a cam shaft custom ground for it and it had a roller timming chain and lifters. He said it will be okay, just put a few hundered miles on it to brake it in. The noise got worse and was now smoking on the right side out of the exhaust. I finally got him to come to my house on Sunday April 21st. He fixed the oil leak and found three rocker arms loose. He tightened them. The noise was still there. He said he was not sure what it is, but had heard it before in another engine. Stated he would check with the guy that grinds his cran shafts and let me know. Four days later I called him to see if he found out anything. He stated nothing was coming up but told me back the timing up and see if that helped. I had the engine checked out by [redacted]. There were numerous problems. The block was no good.Desired Settlement: Refund the cost of the engine block $250Refund V8 long block assembly $600Refund 6"forged connecting rod set $299.95Refund forged piston set $549.95Refund Moly ring set $69.95Refund oil pump $42.80 Refund oil pump shaft $10.99Refund from [redacted]/diag $373.00Refund cost to R&R engine/labor $1000.0

Business

Response:

[redacted] (case no. [redacted])

Regarding this issue, CVMS maintains an "in house" warranty. Mr. [redacted] has been told no less than ten times, simply bring it back and we will repair it in an expeditious manner. Our warranty policy is clearly stated on our website. So, please, tell Mr. [redacted] to simply bring it back and we WILL repair it.

We will not confirm nor deny any information he has provided, as it is irrelevant to the warranty.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

I spoke with [redacted] at Central va machine just after the engine was started for the first time after it was installed about the noise it was making along with the blow by coming out of the oil breather cap. He told me to drive it and get the rings seated, and taht the engine would be a little noisy, like a sewing machine noise. I told him it was much louder than that. He said as long as it did not sound like a knock it would be okay. I put about six hundred miles on the engine. The noise was getting louder and the oil blow by was worse. I called him again and complained. He NEVER stated bring it back we will fix it. He did agree to come to my house on a Sunday to listen to the engine run. He came and heard the engine run. He removed the valve covers and found three rocker arms very loose. he adjusted those replaced the valve cover gaskets which I bought. It was still making the noise. He told me he did not know what it was but he was going to check with the guy who grinds his crankshafts because they have had this before but was not sure what caused it. He said dont drive it to much and he will call me as soon has he finds out something, howevere he said I would need to put about 2000 miles on the engine for the rings to seat. I waited four days to hear from him. I finally called him on Thursday. He said nothing they could really put thier finger on and for me to try setting the timing back a little more. I told him I was not that experienced doing that but I will take somewhere to get that done. I took the truck to [redacted] on a trailer. He imediatley told me to turn the engine off. He took the same rocker cover off that [redacted] did at my house and found the same rocker arms loose. He said they should not do that. He found that the wrong push rods had been installed. He replaced them with a harder steel rod and readjusted the valves. The noise was still there. He told me it sounded like it was internal and the engine would have to come back out and be torn down. He charged me $330.00 for his services and the rods. I took the truck home and pulled the engine back out and took it back to Mr. [redacted] on Monday. He pulled it down and told me he had some very bad news. The pistons were slapping the side walls of the cylinders and had scard them bad, he said you could take your thums and move the pistons back and forth in the cylinders plus two of cylinders had been sleeved. He said the block was basically a piece of junk that it looked like somebody just threw together. He did say that the heads were good along with some othwer componets. He order a new long block from GM and installed my heads,cam, and timing chain into it at a cost of $3181.37. I called [redacted] after I learned what I did. Thats when he tells me to bring him the engine and he will fix it. I asked why he did what he did and he would not talk to me, he said just bring him the engine and hung up the phone on me. I called him back and tried again to ask him how he was going to fix it, and why the block had two sleeves in it? He said he did not know that it had two sleeves. I said how could you not know if you put his engine together. He became very mad and told me again just bring him the dam engine or take him to court and hung up again. I paid him over $4000.00 to build me an engine and I waited paitcently for 8 months. I was supposed to have it by December2012 I finally got Feb.22 2013. Iwant to be reinbursed for the amount I stated in this complaint. I am willing for this to go to arbitration and cosider this asking to do so.