Okay all, I need some advice. I have had my 87 SDL down for a month now after taking it in for a cracked head and need some advice as to how to go about tactfully ripping my indy a new one.

First of all, since it had cold pressure in the cooling system, I knew it probably had a cracked head from the beginning. They told me it was probably just a gasket and not to worry. Well, of course, it turned out to be a cracked head after all. The part that really bothers me is I have seen several pictures of cracks in these heads, and all seem pretty obvious to the naked eye. But, my indy said he had to send it out to a machine shop to have it checked to know it was cracked. On top of this, he told me they were going to have it welded to fix it, but after 3 more days ran down a list of about 10 places it was cracked, thus making any attempt to fix it futile. With that many cracks, I am assuming he trying to blow smoke, but I thought I would get the consensus opinion here before calling him on it.

My second major gripe is when they got the used head in from the recycler, he told me they pressure tested it to see if it needed a valve job and it turned out it did (actually he said they found a bent valve). With unknown history on a used head, I don't have too much grounds to call him on. But, is it usual to have the ability to pressure test the head off the car to check for a bent valve but not have the ability to pressure test the head to check for a crack?

This guy has drug his feet every step of the way while working on my car and has made and promptly broken promises every step of the way. While I can't do much more than complain about being slow and lazy, I would like to at least have these couple points to call him on when I speak with him. My father and two brothers are all indy mechanics themselves (8.5 hours away unfortunately) so I usually stick up for mechanics when people relate these horror stories, but now I understand the frustration that can come from slow, untruthful mechanics.

As a final word of warning to all those that know there cars need work but are putting it off, DON'T. I had a heated garage and almost all the tools I would have needed to do this repair myself until we moved 2 months ago. Now, my tools are 4 hours away at my house in Kansas, I have no garage where I live, and was forced to take the car to these idiots. I thought I could get by and put a new head on after I moved later this year, but rapidly increasing coolant consumption forced my hand.

Sorry for such a long rant, I just needed the chance to vent and maybe get some advice. Thanks for listening.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

Habanero,

Check the part number on the used head your mechanic wants to put on your engine. If it has a 14 in the 4th and 3rd position from the end of the P/N, its the first version of the head and known for cracking. Don't accept that head. You are just asking to have the job done again if you put a 14 head on your engine. It would better to bite the bullet and put on a new head.

P E H

It is a 17 head I ordered myself, that is part of the reason it has taken so long, but only a small part. I think the only mistake I made there was I had it shipped directly to the mechanic since he is over an hour away from me and I was trying to speed things up. I think I should have had it shipped to me first, then I could look it over and take it on to the mechanic. Another lesson learned...

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

The pictures I have seen of the cylinder heads for the 14 series have shown numerous little radiating fractures as well as one or two "decent" sized ones; so, I'm not sure that ten wouldn't be out of the ballpark when you count the "little" ones.

On that car (a really desirable one; you lucky devil ), if I got hold of a 17 numbered head, I'd do a valve job just for the sense of finality over the looong haul. FWIW.

It sounds like he isn't perfect, but at least he seems to be moving in the right direction (towards completion).

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)