Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:45:35 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Akiba <syncrolist@BOSTIG.COM>
Subject:      Re: 1985 Vanagon - Ford Focus Engine alternative
Comments: To: David Marshall <mailinglist@fastforward.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <ac1f198b0801111104g1d757390yc8b0793ab85c8852@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

> > - The farther I go > > from stock, the more I am my own warranty

How's this for unconventional as well. I don't see too many vendors sharing as much info as we like to. This is the write up of our first warranty engine replacement, then ask yourself can peripheral things like this happen to any conversion? If so what would the outcome be?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bostig's first warranty engine replacement.

Unlikely as it sounds, the story of our first experience with a warranty replacement is an important part of the picture, as it answered questions that we ourselves wondered.

In theory, all the aspects surrounding our conversion with regard to service and support sound quite good. The best warranty, inexpensive engines, easily obtainable inexpensive parts, more places and mechanics that are willing to work on it etc. Except for one thing. What actually happens if something goes wrong... say on a road in the middle of Wyoming?

Well, we now have a very good idea of how it does work, as we've been through it. Before you get too depressed, the failure of the engine didn't have anything to do with the engine itself, or with any part of the standard conversion. It did have to do with a broken oil hose on an external oil cooler kit.

I got a call one afternoon from our second supercharged conversion customer Kipp. The question put to me was... "How do I know if the engine is seized?" I described how to turn the crank with a hand tool to check, and sure enough it was. The story began to unfold.

Apparently he had been driving along, and noticed the oil light was on. He pulled over and shut the engine down immediately. On inspection, the back of the van was covered in oil, and when he checked the level, there was no reading on the dipstick. After adding a quart, and still with no reading, he proceeded to add the full volume of the oil system in order to get a reading. When he went to start it back up, there was no crank. He found the source of the oil leak, one of the lines from an external oil cooler kit we had installed on the two first supercharged vans had broken. Although he had caught the oil pressure light and pulled over as soon as he saw it, the leak had been going on for long enough that it had pumped the entire contents of the oil system out of the broken hose, which is why the system had to be filled before a reading appeared on the dipstick. It was also long enough to damage and heat the internals to the point where as soon as it was turned off, it seized.

Well clearly the company that makes the cooler kit, and goodyear that made the hose weren't going to be paying for anything. So I stopped the buck with us, because afterall we installed it. There was only one conversion running this type of external cooler, this one. We normally use a coolant/oil heat exchanger from the zetec Ford Escape setup as a cooler, which avoids bringing oil outside of the block into external lines, but since this was the second install, it still had the external oil cooler and remote mount filter setup(it no longer does).

After we quickly determined the engine was seized, our customer had the van towed to Fremont Ford in Cody. Ok so now this is interesting. A VW Syncro sitting at a Ford dealership in Wyoming... how would they react? Would they do the engine replacement? Not only was it a bit weird, but this is also a supercharged conversion, so the supercharger components all needed to be swapped over to the replacement as well. When I spoke with the dealer service manager Scott in trying to find this out, he told me that their head tech was asked to determine whether or not they could do the job. Another call later, and the answer I got, was an emphatic yes... the head tech took one look over the conversion, and said yes because "it's much easier to do than when the zetec is in the focus!", which is what we know to be true also, and were hoping they'd pick up on.

I made one call to a yard 180 miles from the dealer also in Wyoming. They had an engine with 7k miles on it, and could have it at the dealer the following Monday as it was already the end of the week. Without a hitch, the engine was sent to the dealer, and the dealer techs swapped the supercharger over and installed the replacement. They also installed the replacement oil cooler setup, but misunderstood part of the instruction and left the remote oil filter arrangement(which has since been taken care of as well).

Now under the letter of the warranty, the engine replacement wouldn't be covered, there is a measure of user interface with regard to the oil light, and the failure is of a soft part... however in light of the fact that we both installed the oil cooler kit, and chose it to begin with, we felt responsible as well. I discussed the labor charges with our customer, and we decided to go half and half on the labor charge for install. Normally this might have been a bigger point of contention, but the labor charges only amounted to $1800. Keep in mind this is at a dealership too. So we covered the engine, the shipping of the engine, the updated cooler, and $900 of the $1800 to return the van to running condition, with a fresh 7k mile zetec back in it.

Lesson learned with regards to the oil cooler, and actually the whole recovery ordeal went like clockwork... someone was found to do the work on the first try, for a good price. We found a local, low mileage engine, that doesn't need reworking, re-gasketing, or re-sealing before install, to be swapped right in. Perhaps most importantly, our customer found that we do what we say we will do, and much further beyond to ensure he is well taken care of.

Jim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Kipp, the customer:

I was on a road trip with 3 madmen. They are fishing guides and had just completed the 2007 season. They needed to dump some stress from 6 months of dealing with the public. They're based on the Madison River in Montana so we decided to see some new water and travel to the Wind River in Wyo. and go fishing and just generally raise hell.

The trip went as planned and we were heading back to our home waters on a fine fall morning in the Rocky Mountains, listening to some good music and telling some fishing lies when the oil light went on. I pulled over on a deserted highway and walked around to the engine, unfortunately the posse emerged as well. The smart guy in the crowd says "Dude where's your oil?" after seeing no oil register on the dip. We turned around and on the highway spread over 20 yards was my oil! I crawled under and saw one of the oil hoses to the remotely mounted filter flapping in the Wyoming morning breeze.

The posse was now starting to get unruly with a combination of comedy and ridicule and I realized I needed to get my shit together fast or face a lifetime of Van jokes from these low lifes. I contacted Jim in Boston immediately on my cell and he and Brady quickly assessed the situation and helped me plan out the next move. The nearest town was Cody, Wy., 60 miles back down the road and they had a Ford dealer. I arranged a tow and we were in Cody in less than 2 hours. The posse had quieted down after the plan was articulated to their hung over brains and set in motion. I left the van in Cody at the Ford dealer and Jim took over from there. He dealt with the mechanic and dealer directly and I returned to Montana with the boys.

I was quite amazed by the level of service provided by Jim and Brady. There was never any question of what was their position and responsibility. I contacted them by cell or email many times through this ordeal and I would receive a response the same day and frequently immediately. I'm a retired interventional cardiologist and I didn't always receive this level of service even when a patient's life was on the line.

My baby is back in business and once again kicking butt on the highway with the Zetec super. I'm the original owner of this 1990 Synchro and had put all the miles on it myself.

Kipp


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