The Outcome......STEVE STRONG ENGINES.

[sharky71]

Well as some of you may have read and indeed probably replied to the Engine thread experience i posted i thought you had the right to know The Outcome or more to the point what i,myself and a fellow Vw owner found or exposed when we stripped the heads which prompted me to post in the first place.

Firstly i would like to add we have settled the dispute,but,the outcome is one that i did not want,when your stuck between a rock and a hard place well....
The following photos show what i found initially thinking it was a blowing exhaust.



Now the thread on the stud had been flatened which as a result the nut was only wound on by 2 maybe 3 threads at most and refused to wind on anymore than that



So i pulled the engine and started to strip the unit down to longblock yet again



We managed to get the stud out and removed 2 separate threads off the initial stud,see photo.





Now i don't know if it is common practice to use a stud,case saver and a heli coil or what ever the bigger of the threads is or whether you use a stud and and case saver only?Someone will be along shortly i expect to explain and dumb it down to my level.
Anyway,i then took the longblock over to this fellow VW owner in Malvern for him to have a look and explain what was/is the best thing to do and we started to strip the heads.















The entire thread was totally knackered and therefore the stud would not do it's actual job intended.

Whilst we were at it we checked the other side and found all studs not torqued up but a little harder than finger tight but no more.
As a result there is a slight lip on the heads,i don't know what the technical term for the part/position but at a guess where the piston and exhaust ports/holes are??Not drastic but not good iether.

It was decided that it was salvageable and the cost would be £70 or so if it worked.(did not strip down the whole engine,just the heads and barells)
Now my options were limited,i asked for a full refund due to this being the second unit i have had which was ***** but was told that was not gonna happen,you can have another unit.
Well i certainly was not going down that road a third time i can tell you!!

Wouldn't trust him as far as my 8 year old son can piss!!

So i chose to try and repair this unit.
To be fair it had done around 700 miles albeit with a blowing cylinder head which i thought was a blowing exhaust joint which went quiet after getting up to operating temperature.
The engine unit is being repaired this week/weekend and hopefully it will hold and i can use it as intended.

Finally i would like brush over customer service and that communication is vital be it during the build process or in the event of a warranty claim.
After the first unit being faulty it took me from the June of 2013 to mid September 2013 to pin the engine builder down and eventually he agreed to exchange the whole unit so i had a "BRAND NEW" 1600 TP longblock.Tidy i thought,fitted the second unit and had to repair some of the exhaust studs and sump studs just like the first engine :roll: :? so you can imagine when i found out the route cause of the blowing exhaust was actually a failed cylinder head stud............I was PROPER PISSED!!!! And having the communication problem last time around i thought "Feck it! I'm not putting up with this!!! :evil: :evil: " So i posted on here,rightly or wrongly i can not take it back.

Going back to customer service being told"It's not that bad,it isn't like you broke down or anything!! Or even being stuck at the side of the road waiting for a recovery truck" And "******* Google pulled cylinder head studs there a common problem!" To me that was just down right rude,unapologetic and certainly not professional.

So the morale of this is that when you get a "Reconditioned Longblock" contrary to popular belief you need to check all studs before fitting because they are used items.

A bit like a tin of Delboy's paint and a local takeaway!! Check it first


Where as in my eyes "Reconditioned Longblock" means in as new condition like it left the factory.



That said if my/the mechanic's repair works and all is fine then i will be a Happy Camper again,it's just a shame it took this amount of aggro to get it sorted and i will definately be going elsewhere in the future,like some one who posted on the original thread i forget who."YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR".I paid peanuts compared to some and got monkey's.

Thanks for putting up with my rambling and moaning and sorry for the language if i caused offence.

***************************************************BUYER BEWARE!!*******************************************************

Sharky.

:sick0019:

Forgot the heading so amended :shock: That'll teach me for not proof reading it :lol: :lol: Lots of spelin mistakes ackording to computor :shock: :lol: :lol:

******************************************* But the title is CORRECT!!************************

 

[Trikky2]

Thanks for the update. I hope the repair/rebuild goes well for you and that you will post your progress. (It's hard to tell from photos but it seems like there's not much room left to fix that stripped thread in the case).

I agree with you by the way, for the money you paid, you get a rebuilt engine.

A reconditioned engine is different and will cost more.

 

[Alex VW Heritage]

So the morale of this is that when you get a "Reconditioned Longblock" contrary to popular belief you need to check all studs before fitting because they are used items.

A bit like a tin of Delboy's paint and a local takeaway!! Check it first


Where as in my eyes "Reconditioned Longblock" means in as new condition like it left the factory.

I completely disagree, when buying a reconditoned or remanufactured engine you should as you thought be getting something that is as good as new, I wouldn't be best pleased with anything but. But this is where people need to look at the details and specs and what is new and what is reused by each supplier. Every supplier has there own idea's of what is required to be done. I would say the moral is don't just compare price but compare quality and specs too.

 

[Happystamps]

To be honest that looks like it's overheated amongst other things.

Who set the engine up?

 

[Happystamps]

To be honest that looks like it's overheated amongst other things. Not saying that the engine wasn't duff already, the flattened stud threads aren't great.

Who set the engine up?

 

[Marriedblonde]

I completely disagree, when buying a reconditoned or remanufactured engine you should as you thought be getting something that is as good as new, I wouldn't be best pleased with anything but. But this is where people need to look at the details and specs and what is new and what is reused by each supplier. Every supplier has there own idea's of what is required to be done. I would say the moral is don't just compare price but compare quality and specs too.

To add to this I know a lot of people say that SSE engines are cheap and you should expect them to be duff when compared to a TES engine for example. The TES engines are £795 inc VAT, SSE long block is £650 excl VAT as they are cash purchases.

£795 minus the VAT is £665 so there is not a lot in it.

 

[jonboylaw]

You mean that SSE are dodging the VAT ? I'd not be advertising that on an open forum!!!


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[67westy]

Probably turning over less than 81K rather than dodging...... at the £650 talked about in this thread that would mean 124 blocks a year or more than 2 a week to hit that limit (assuming, likely incorrectly, that he only sells blocks at that price). Still 81K is a likely to be around 2 sales a week

 

[jonboylaw]

Fair point.


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[Clem]

Guys

This is the third SSE thread recently, and Ive been in contact with most of those involved throughout, its a contentious matter and needs to be dealt with, but in a careful and considered manner.
Im not inclined to lock or remove threads, and as a team we refrain from doing so whenever possible.

Please consider this when adding to the thread and leave personal details aside and also any conjecture. Stick to facts and first hand experiences, and if expressing an 'opinion' please understand that it is just that.

Many thanks, Mike

 

[privatejobs]

so you got **** all and you have to fix it yourself thats not an outcome thats **** all mind i got the same treatment with my linebore

 

[sharky71]

He paid me £70 for my trouble,only hope it works,if not,if i set out now i might get down to River Dart by next August pushing the van :lol: :lol:
Atleast it will be reliable :msn4:

 

[privatejobs]

He paid me £70 for my trouble,only hope it works,if not,if i set out now i might get down to River Dart by next August pushing the van :lol: :lol:
Atleast it will be reliable :msn4:

true hope it all works perfik for you if you want a job done properly do it yourself

 

[weeboll]

"Where as in my eyes "Reconditioned Longblock" means in as new condition like it left the factory."

but not at the same price as if it had just left the factory right?

I totally agree you got bum deal with the vendor and totally unacceptable customer service but expecting a reconditioned engine to be like new is too far.

expecting it to complete its warranty which is normally 12 months or 10,000 miles for most recondition engines is justifiable but beyond that is just good times

just my pov

 

[sharky71]

Fair one,point taken,but having to repair the exhaust studs and sump studs on two different engines before i even used them is a bit much in my eyes.

Guess i should of paid more in the first place and gone else where.

 

[Haveacamper]

Sorry to re-read these details.

If the guy is only willing to replace the engine, I would be more inclined to accept his offer of replacing the engine with another engine. Before fitting, check everything over. At least you "should" be starting from a better base without that ripped thread. Maybe ask him to document all of the new and re-used parts that go into the build.

If you dont have confidence in the engine, still take receipt of it and sell it on to at least claim some money off it. Now I'm not saying for you to be dishonest by flogging it on. Advertising it as a Steve strong built engine etc etc, with these new/used parts etc etc. at least you will get more money back than he is offering. whatever it sells for it sells for and you will be financially better off

just my 2p worth.

I hope you get it sorted though

NaFe

 

[sharky71]

Picked up the repaired engine last night,all looks good.

It will be at least 10 days before i get chance to fire it up and check all is ok 8)

Regards.



:sick0019:

 

[Marriedblonde]

Fingers crossed matey.

 

[Marriedblonde]

"Where as in my eyes "Reconditioned Longblock" means in as new condition like it left the factory."

but not at the same price as if it had just left the factory right?

I totally agree you got bum deal with the vendor and totally unacceptable customer service but expecting a reconditioned engine to be like new is too far.

expecting it to complete its warranty which is normally 12 months or 10,000 miles for most recondition engines is justifiable but beyond that is just good times

just my pov

But you would expect it to be in a usable state, new bearings, usable case, refurb heads etc?

For example a comparable T.E.S engine (remember without the VAT these are only £15 more than SSE) has the following spec:

Our basic replacement unit fitted with
Crack tested crankcase
Reground crankshaft
New main bearings
New big end bearings
New camshaft bearings
New barrels
New pistons with new piston rings
New gudgeon pins
New flywheel oil seal
Refaced flywheel
New spark plugs
Remanufactured cylinder heads
New valves
Supplied with fitting gaskets
Hot bench tested

That to me is a recon block.

 

[Marriedblonde]

Sorry to re-read these details.

If the guy is only willing to replace the engine, I would be more inclined to accept his offer of replacing the engine with another engine. Before fitting, check everything over. At least you "should" be starting from a better base without that ripped thread. Maybe ask him to document all of the new and re-used parts that go into the build.

If you dont have confidence in the engine, still take receipt of it and sell it on to at least claim some money off it. Now I'm not saying for you to be dishonest by flogging it on. Advertising it as a Steve strong built engine etc etc, with these new/used parts etc etc. at least you will get more money back than he is offering. whatever it sells for it sells for and you will be financially better off

just my 2p worth.

I hope you get it sorted though

NaFe

I'm not sure if you had seen the original post of Sharky's, this is not his first engine from SSE. The first suffered knackered threads if I recall correctly.

I know sharky and I am not sure he would want to dump an unknown engine from SSE on some poor unsuspecting member on here. He has issues now with both engines supplied as reconditioned from Steve, I think the first one the threads in the sump had crumbled (I could be wrong but it was something like that). How would Sharky know the third one wouldn't cause a problem? Also how much is a second hand SSE long block going to be worth in reality? I doubt he would get his money back and would have to take a big hit.

Just my 2p's worth.