Do you ever think about your engine warranty? What?s to think about, it?s in black and white isn?t it? Well, yes and no.
As in many things in life the devil is in the details. It doesn?t matter what you think the warranty covers. What counts is what the vendor thinks it covers, as I learnt to my cost.
Short version of my story:
I have a low time Superior IO 360 bought new from a well known engine builder in western Canada. It has shown some metal in the filter all along, but the amount increased so we put it on watch. Eventually the engine was pulled and sent back for investigation. At this point I got lots of soothing noises but any queries about warranty coverage were deflected. The engine was disassembled and the centre crankshaft bearing was found to be badly scored, starting at the oil port in the bearing shell.
No other damage of any kind was found.
It was explained to me that the warranty would not cover it, as it was damage ?consistent with using a dirty funnel to add oil.?
It didn?t seem right, but I don?t know a lot about these engines so I started phoning. Several old hands on this site plus numerous industry sources gave me their opinions.
The verdict: This has all the hallmarks of a chip left in the engine from manufacture. Junk introduced by shoddy maintenance practices is highly unlikely to cause this kind of damage. As one guy said, ? in theory, you could pour a whole cup of chips into the oil filler and it would not circulate through the engine.?
In any event, the only opinion that matters is that of your engine builder. Even though I?m sure he doesn?t believe his own BS.
He knows I won?t take him to court for a few thousand dollars. Nor am I prepared to tie my engine up for an unknown length of time in legal proceedings with an unknown outcome.
This company has enjoyed good support from the RV community in large part because of their generous warranty and great support for ignorant home builders like me. However, the company was sold recently and the new owners seem to have a different business model.
As in many things in life the devil is in the details. It doesn?t matter what you think the warranty covers. What counts is what the vendor thinks it covers, as I learnt to my cost.
Short version of my story:
I have a low time Superior IO 360 bought new from a well known engine builder in western Canada. It has shown some metal in the filter all along, but the amount increased so we put it on watch. Eventually the engine was pulled and sent back for investigation. At this point I got lots of soothing noises but any queries about warranty coverage were deflected. The engine was disassembled and the centre crankshaft bearing was found to be badly scored, starting at the oil port in the bearing shell.
No other damage of any kind was found.
It was explained to me that the warranty would not cover it, as it was damage ?consistent with using a dirty funnel to add oil.?
It didn?t seem right, but I don?t know a lot about these engines so I started phoning. Several old hands on this site plus numerous industry sources gave me their opinions.
The verdict: This has all the hallmarks of a chip left in the engine from manufacture. Junk introduced by shoddy maintenance practices is highly unlikely to cause this kind of damage. As one guy said, ? in theory, you could pour a whole cup of chips into the oil filler and it would not circulate through the engine.?
In any event, the only opinion that matters is that of your engine builder. Even though I?m sure he doesn?t believe his own BS.
He knows I won?t take him to court for a few thousand dollars. Nor am I prepared to tie my engine up for an unknown length of time in legal proceedings with an unknown outcome.
This company has enjoyed good support from the RV community in large part because of their generous warranty and great support for ignorant home builders like me. However, the company was sold recently and the new owners seem to have a different business model.