How good is your warranty?
 

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.

That is hard to read Jim. Sorry for your problems with this company. Thanks for posting about your experience. I know there are two sides to every story and hearing yours helps us pay attention to where we get our engines and other parts.

"However, the company was sold recently and the new owners seem to have a different business model."

I had been wondering whether the change in ownership had affected anything ... Most of the glowing recommendations were often aimed at specific people who no longer work there ...

manufacturing chips
 

cleaning manufacturing chips from new aviation engine hardware is a problem. proven rigorous cleaning methods should be used. mfg chips typically have a slight curl and may have texture. I found one mfg chip from my engine in the filter after the first hour of operation when changing the oil.

The screen and filter would be expected to snag any chunks & chips put into the oil filler - this sounds to me more like someone did not clean the oil passages in the case halves before assembling the engine.

Tough to hear about these situations - especially with an engine builder that has had such a good historical reputation.

Dan

The money hurts of course, but most of all I hate to be fed a line. These guys know how the oil system works.

Many years ago I got caught in something similar. Overhauler had a good reputation, but we didn't know things were changing. Father was in the process of handing off the business to his son. Son refused to honor his father's quoted price. A year later we had compression leaks past the exhaust valve. We sent them the cylinders, they fixed them and sent them back - COD. They refused any warantee coverage. Within a few years they were out of business.

I feel your pain! It is amazing to me how some companies are so short sited. While many are very credible some just don't realize that TAKING CARE OF THE CUSTOMER IS THE CHEAPEST ADVERTISING MONEY CAN BUY! I got ripped by an engine company (not this one) and have cost them a few sales and proud of it.
I would be tempted to bet that this would have been an total nonissue when the former (retired) employes were working there. Larry

"TAKING CARE OF THE CUSTOMER IS THE CHEAPEST ADVERTISING MONEY CAN BUY!"

Seriously ... the business one will loose way more money from a bad review that it would've cost them to fix it.

This is especially true in such a small market space, where you can be sure said bad review will be seen by a LARGE portion of your potential clientèle (as opposed to your average mass retail space, where many bad review go undiscovered).

I'll look elsewhere
 

I've purchased 3 engines from them in the past and currently thinking about an IO-390 for my RV-14. I also wondered what effect the recent sale would have.
After reading this thread,I'll be looking elsewhere ..........
PMSHEP