Blown Engine continued from 7/28/11 Grand Total!

[Brizea]

Well,
its been a ride. Back in July I was hoping for something to ease my pain when my Smart blew up on I-95 in South FL. Check engine came on.. 7 miles later, blown head gasket. I shopped around and finally found a mechanic that had actually worked on the Smart products. but only once.

Mechanic said "Blown head gasket will START at $3500.00. but we need to find the cause of why this happened. As well as why your overheat light didnt come on." So, I called a mechanic friend of mine in Ohio who told me that I need to check out this website www.car-part.com put in my vin number and see if there is an engine out there. By God, there were several. I found one from a junk yard from a car with front end damage with only 3000 miles on it. $2,000 and $200 to ship it. "cool! that would be less than 3k, lets do it!"

I had the car towed to a German Auto Repair place in Pembroke Pines, FL and sat there each day and watched the total climb. the cause? "it looks like your Heater core dumped all of your coolent which caused your car to overheat." "oh, by the way...the new engine needs a new water pump, and gasket for pump, and... why not... lets throw in the back latch that is broke while we're at it." ok then!

$2,200 Engine
$209 Water Pump
$11.50 water pump gasket
$140 for heater core
$45.33 back latch for tailgate
$2427 labor
$470 two weeks of rental car
_______________________________
= I dont like my car very much anymore!

So, if you get the chance, please do yourself a favor and find out if the overheat light on your car is set too high. Mine never came on. Faulted to ground. I told the mechanic "make sure... . please (grabbing his shoulders) that the light will come on when its supposed to. if it had, I could have saved that engine!"

These little buggers are not cheap to fix. and when something does go wrong with them, they have to dang near cut the car in half to get to it.

I'm just sayin...

Billy

[orngandblack]

"it looks like your Heater core dumped all of your coolent which caused your car to overheat."

and how did that happen??

[jefferios]

Yikes, I hope my sensor is working. Thanks for the follow up posting.

[chieftmc]

Originally Posted by jefferios

Yikes, I hope my sensor is working. Thanks for the follow up posting.

Mine is working just fine, my scan gauge shows a happy 190°

[WhiteNBlack08]

Did you smell anitfreeze just before your car quit? The heater core is in the center of the dash, and completely inside the car. If it had a leak, you would have smelled a definite sweet smell of antifreeze, and probably seen steam coming out of the dash Personally I would have asked to see the old one. They actually come out pretty easy once you unhook the hoses. A cover unbolts on the passenger side of the heater unit, and it just slides out.

New water pump on an engine with 3K? Sounds to me like they saw you coming. No offense, but I think you got took....

Glad you got your car back, and I hope you don't have any future issues.

[smark]

I would have set it on fire, got some marshmallow's, and collected the insurance on it. Didn't the new engine have a water pump, on it? Was it bad on the newer engine? OMG.

[WhiteNBlack08]

Originally Posted by Brizea

$2,200 Engine
$209 Water Pump
$11.50 water pump gasket
$140 for heater core
$45.33 back latch for tailgate
$2427 labor
$470 two weeks of rental car
_______________________________
= $5502.83
Billy

Hey, still cheaper that the guy in this thread: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/for...-towing-40261/ was quoted by the dealer.

[Brutal Force]

I hate to hear that it came out to be so expensive, but that is actually very cheap. The problem is the total cost of the car (and of what its value is now).

According to Alldata:

Replace

Complete Assembly Without Transfer Of Parts
Does Not Include: Transfer Of Any Part Of Engine Or Replacement Of Optional Equipment.
7.6
Complete Assembly With Transfer Of Parts
Includes: Transfer All Fuel & Electrical Units. Does Not Include Transfer Of Optional Equipment.
10.2
Short Block
Includes: R&I Engine, Transfer All Necessary Components.
14.8

Even if they were charging you @ Short Block, you are being charged $170/labor hour which is kind of ridiculous. At Engine replacement with transfer of parts (this would include the Water pump) @10.2 hours = $237 dollars per labor hour.

Also it doesn't take two weeks to change an engine (unless your including the time to actually have the motor shipped to you)

Also if the Heater core failed then why are you replacing the Water Pump? The water pump doesn't die because the heater core fails. Also if the heater core failed, you would have water INSIDE your car or at least have smelled the cooking coolant.

Sounds fishy to me.

[Brizea]

well, it was recommended to change the water pump because the car had been sitting in a junk yard for over a year. it was the ol "better safe than sorry" its difficult to get to and if it needed changed after the new engine went back in, they'd have to rip it out again and it would have costed more.

I didn't smell anything other than ... well, it smelled like a dry frying pan sitting on a hot stove. The part that they changed looked like a small radiator that hooks to the right side of the engine? there was a small pool of antifreeze on the passanger side floorboard. The mechanic said that most of the coolent went on the ground. not sure at all why it failed.

I knew I should have become a mechanic!

[Brutal Force]

... Lag