Man was this guy taken

[lgibson]

Anyone ever listen to trouble shooter on talk radio? I was listening the other night and a guy called in needing help. He owns a 1987 Chevy pickup. He is a construction contractor and used his truck for work, has a utility bed and rack. The engine was weak and transmission going out, so he took it into a shop in California. He wanted a 502 crate motor and a 4L80E transmission. The shop quoted him a price of $17,000 and wanted $9,000 as a down payment. Wait it gets worse.



The guys aproves the work and they get it done. The computer system seems to have rejected the set-up and it would not run. Shop tells the guy that it needs to be wired to work and it is a long tough job and they would not touch it for less than $2,000 per week. The owner says sure just get the truck running. The truck owner is having to pay $1,000 a month on a rental.



Six months later he has paid over $38,000 and owes $5,000 more on the truck, and it runs bad still. He was thinking the price was fair because he got a "new motor and transmission from Chevy".



Tom Martinio, the host, called a GM tech and was told the motor was from 4k to 5k and the transmission was $3500. $10,000 should have been the most that the owner should have paid.



I had tears in my eyes listening to this. Tom Martinio thought it was a joke, til he called the shop and they would not talk to him. $43,000 on a motor and transmission for a 1987 Chevy pu. :{ :{

 

[Will24]

hmmm, me thinks someone is FULL of BS... . Why would you EVER sink even $10k into an 87? You could get a newer 454 powered truck for less than that... . And, depending which 502 (bottom of the line to ramjet) he could have paid anywhere from $4k to $10k for the motor

 

[lgibson]

I know what you mean, and at first I thought it was some clown calling in to the show. Trouble shooter is nation wide even world wide and it sounds like a true show. I have been listening for over a year and even called in once. They have a good website also. The shows host called the shop and they were rude and would not talk to Trouble shooter. The host Tom Martinio even said he thought it was a joke untill he called the shop. I too don't believe someone is dumb enough to dump $40,000 into a new truck that gets used for work.

 

[Will24]

Was it a GM dealer shop did they say?

 

[lgibson]

No it was an independent shop. They said the name but I don't know if I can say it here.

 

[daveshoe]

A phone company I do Subcontract building repair for had a local Ford dealer tech offer to 'go through'' a PSD E350 van because of rough idle when cold. clock was 34000 miles and I guess this application was 36000 warranty. This tech found compression difference of 40 and 60 lbs. on cyl 7 & 8. ''I'll get this under warranty'' was the assurance to the phone company's tech.

Pretty soon the PSD was sitting torn down with the heads off and the Ford factory rep shows up denying coverage due to visual inspection of dirty air filter. Phone co. tech shows him that all is clean on engine side of air filter, but things go downhill from there. Many other things discussed , each more ridiculous than last. Long story short , the phone company had to pay $2000. 00 to get the unrepaired truck back in pieces. payment must be received before truck was released, even though phone co had credit account with Ford dealer.

I wonder why the dealer's telephone still works?

 

[emarsh]

Since I am in the electronic fuel injection engine swap business for a living I have a few comments that I feel need to be made here.

Looks like a simple case of a wild eyed customer and a unscrupulious shop anxious to make big money doing something they know absolutely nothing about. I am relatively certain that the chevy truck system uses a "speed density" type computer system. This system uses a map sensor with stored comparisions based on intake manifold vacuum. When you change camshafts or add aftermarket cylinder heads, or more cubic inches, the computer does not understand this, so it sends a fuel map based on the stock engine. It will never work unless the whole computer has been reprogrammed. Had the operating system been a "mass airflow" type, it would accurately measure the air actually going into the now modified engine. It might then had a chance to work. Since the truck was in California, I am asking how the devil it will ever pass the stringent emission rules we have here. I do feel that the customer should do a little research to make sure the shop is capable and honest. Here in Calif. my guess is the total job should have been less than $13k.

 

[Oxjockey]

Since the truck was in California, I am asking how the devil it will ever pass the stringent emission rules we have here.

It wouldn't. The big block motor is a crate engine that would not get past a referee.



87 was most likely a TBI motor (first EFI year for the trucks), and was probably speed density.



Bryan