Some people....

[Gary H NC]

One of the service jobs on a boat i had today had leaking,cracked manifolds.
The boat had a brand spanking new 350 Mercruiser in it.
On warm up before changing the oil i spotted water dripping off of both manifolds so i shut it down.
Got looking it over and both sides had cracks that were covered in JB weld.

I went and got the owner to come take a look.
He said he knew all about it and it would be fine if he runs his bilge pump..

I asked why would you ruin a new engine like that? He said it will be fine go ahead and change the oil..

I tried to explain that at any moment it could start leaking internally and destroy that new motor.He said....no it will be fine,i run the pump whenever i'm on the lake....
I could not convince him to replace them...
No signs of water in the oil but i made him sign the invoice that they were already cracked and in no way i would be held responsible for any engine damage....

 

[slasmith1]

Re: Some people....

people like that are the reason for my signature line.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Some people....

If your the owner of the shop, you might consider if this is a customer worth keeping , You didn't get the engine job, and this guy is a risk with his poor maintenance. if he sinks his boat, do you need the hassle of defending yourself. your a professional who knows better. ya ya,
my local auto shop once pointed out a bad ball joint, so bad that deemed it unsafe to drive off the lot, offered me a free tow home, 3 miles, or storage, but would not do any service without addressing it. he was right.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Some people....

As long as they sign a disclaimer then you should have no issues.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Some people....

As long as they sign a disclaimer then you should have no issues.

Thats exactly why i had him sign it. I offered to take the job of replacing them too...He said he would get back with me on it.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Some people....

Thats exactly why i had him sign it. I offered to take the job of replacing them too...He said he would get back with me on it.

Glad to hear it. You are completely in the clear then.

 

[rusirius]

Re: Some people....

It may have been his own pure stupidity, or it may have just been a sign of the times... I think a lot of people are very "skeptical" of service shops... Especially because of auto shops...

It leads them to automatically assume anything "extra" a service shop wants to do is simply trying to get more money out of them... In this case the guy probably thought it was fine and instead of taking your advice decided you were just trying to "rip him off" by doing un-necesary repairs...

Here's a perfect example... I once got a nail in a tire... 16 penny... Went straight in between to treds right in the center of the tire... No problem I told my wife, we'll just take it to get it plugged once I get off work... (it was a practically brand new $150 tire, so no way was I gonna replace it when a simple plug would work wonders...)

Being the nice wifey she is, she went out, removed the tire and took it down to a local tire shop in the hopes of surprising me when I got home...

The guy at the shop pulls the nail out, looks at her and says, "Nope... Can't plug it... Gonna have to replace the tire..."

She asks why it can't be plugged, and he proceed to tell her because of the "length" of the nail... Says it's just "too long" to plug... If the nail had been about an inch or so shorter it would have been fine, but no way could he plug a hole "that long"!!! He then proceeds to tell her he has the same tire in stock and would be happy to replace it for $200....

She called to give me the "bad news" and I just about fell out of my chair!!! I told her to give the guy the bird and leave...

When I got home we took it to another shop and he plugged it and only charged $5... I gave him a $20 and told him thanks!

Now my wife is the same way... A mechanic could tell her that the engine would fall out of the car if she attempted to move it 2 feet and she'd shake her head and say "No Way!"...

It's sad but true... A few "rotten apples" do tend to spoil the bunch....

 

[mylesm260]

Re: Some people....

Both my manifolds were cracked 2 years ago, I welded them up myself and they've been working great ever since.

I can take pics if you like.

I recognize that there is a chance they could crack internally, but I pressure tested them after the weld job and they seamed to hold pressure no problem.

If I had a brand new motor, I might think otherwise though

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Some people....

i bought a boat from a guy that couldn't figure out why he kept frying engines... on only one side... he was like sure the head was warped even after he had it resurfaced and the deck done, rebuilt the bottom end and then trashed it again... the exhaust manifold had been frozen and brazed all the way down one side... and of course had a small leak on the inside...

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Some people....

Yeah, people who don't know boats, just don't understand that the number 1 through about number 4 source for water in the cylinders of a Marine engine is the exhaust manifolds.
Gary, in your case, the guy just doesn't understand that they will leak into his engine and ruin his motor (since I'll bet he uses it in saltwater). And no amount of you telling him will convince him. Think about, it sounds like hogwash, on the surface to a newbie.
Now the bit about them actually leaking water into the boat and him just running the bilge pump, is Classic! Classically STUPID. Is there any way that you could "arrange" a Coast Guard safety inspection of this guy's boat? If they see him actively leaking water, I wonder what they'll tell him. Or more likely, this will be the next sob story we read, "Boat sinks off Carolina coast, family of 4 missing".
I am not a safety harpie by any means, but this situation is dangerous and just plain Stupid.

Good luck, Gary! Sounds like you need it.

 

[special_kaye]

Re: Some people....

The guy at the shop pulls the nail out, looks at her and says, "Nope... Can't plug it... Gonna have to replace the tire..."

Sad, but true. This happens all the time. But, on the rare occasion that you actually find a reputable mechanic or anything, tell your friends.

I've had a mechanic say, "Nah, you don't need to replace that now. It'll last. I'll take care of it on the next service if it looks any worse." I think it was a distributor cap or something. Anyway, guess who got to do the next service? And, every service after that. Plus, my other cars. And my friend's.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Some people....

This guy knew they were cracked and had his mechanic do the JB weld on them when the new motor was installed.
That says a lot about that mechanic! He wouldn't be touching my boat again!

Actually he paid the guy for those manifolds because he went from a 4.3 to a 5.7 and the mechanic sold him the cracked manifolds and said the JB weld would last forever...

I told him i could do new manifolds,risers,gaskets and labor for around 800..
I'll see if he calls back

 

[mphy98]

Re: Some people....

three words WHAT A MORON

 

[special_kaye]

Re: Some people....

That says a lot about that mechanic! He wouldn't be touching my boat again!

Amen to that! And, he paid for them? Oh my....