Complaint Review: Bayonet Point Engine - Hudson Florida

Here is yet further information regarding my dispute with Bayonet point engine.  What follows is Bayonet's letter responding to my complaint and National Auto Service Center's response to Bayonet's remarks.  Included as attachments are two more photos supplied by National to further support my case.

Sincerely,

Terry L Brinker

Bayonet's letter:

"Removed the engine from the RV and because the engine was locked up and could not be turned the torque converter for the transmission was removed with the engine. This required additional labor.

Mr. Brinker stopped by the shop at the time to check on the progress. We immediately showed him his engine on the breakdown bench and we trying to explain what had happened to it. Mr. Brinker simply responded that he would not know what we were talking about since he did not understand engine and their mechanics. We did show him the rusted out battery box, rust on the ground under the RV, and the fact that a jump wire was left in the air conditioning system to allow it to work. We offered to fix both the battery box and air conditioning issue free of charge. Mr. Brinker agreed.

The engine was completely disassembled. Upon removing the cylinder heads, we found that the cylinders had fresh water in them on top of all pistons. This caused the engine to lock up.

Old Cam bearings and old steel freeze and oil galley plugs were removed and the block was cleaned in our hot tank, and then washed using wire brushes, oil galley brushes, and high pressure rinse. The block was bored and honed to .030 over in order to repair the damage done by the water. This brought the cylinders back to OEM specifications.

The crankshaft was polished. The crankshaft was at OEM specifications. The crankshaft was at standard for rod journal and main journals

The old pistons were removed from the connecting rods. The connecting rods were cleaned checked and reconditioned, they were found to be at OEM specifications. The new pistons were installed onto the connecting rods.

The cylinders heads were totaled reconditioned including the following; break down all parts, clean bare cylinder heads, magniflux for cracks; clean all valves, springs, retainers, keepers. The valve seats were cut and valves were refaced. Cylinder heads were resurfaced. The cylinder heads were assembled with new valve stem seals and checked for vacuum on all valves. All valves were within our specifications.

The following were replaced with new parts: pistons, rings, gaskets, rod bearings, main bearings, cam bearings, RV flat tappet camshaft, flat tappet lifters, oil pump and pick up screen, timing chain and gear set. These are listed on our receipt from MR Engines Parts where we purchased the new parts on 9-26-2014. Copy of receipt attached

The block, crankshaft, piston on rods, camshaft, were all final cleaned in preparation for engine assembly.

New cam bearings were installed in the block. We checked the bearings installation with the new camshaft and found to be moving freely and within OEM specifications. The camshaft was coated with high zinc assembly lube and installed in the block.

The crankshaft was assembled in the block; plastigaged main bearings and all five were within specifications for oil clearance of .0015 to .0025. Main caps were properly torqued.

A new rear main seal was installed properly onto the engine.

The pistons and rings on connecting rods were installed next, also plastigaged to an oil clearance of .0013-.0035. The rod caps were properly torqued

New brass freeze and galley plugs were installed into the block using #1 fast hardening BROWN Permatex gasket maker....this is not rust!! We also "stake" the area around the plug.

The new oil pump was installed as well as the new pick up screen.

The new timing chain was properly installed per timing chain manual and our years of experience building engines.

The cylinder heads were then installed on the short block; previously cleaned head bolts were used and torqued to the proper foot pounds. Head bolts are not replaced because they are not torque-to-yield, or stretchable bolts. They are sealed with GM gasket maker where bolts are into the water jackets.

Cleaned Push rods, rockers, and nuts were installed and were adjusted properly(see our comment below).

The rusty valve covers were properly cleaned and rust removed, then painted to prevent further rusting. These were installed on to the engine

The oil pan and timing covers that were also cleaned and painted were installed also onto the block. A new front crank seal was installed into the timing cover.

The engine was on the engine stand ready to put into the RV the next day.

We put a new tranny front pump seal in the tranny since the torque converter had been removed and the seal was easily accessible, this was done at no extra charge

Mr. Brinker choose to stop by on a Saturday instead of normal business hours to see his engine. Mr. Brinker was invited by email to see the completed engine when we opened for business on that Monday but refused to come to see the engine.

We installed the thoroughly cleaned intake onto the cylinders heads in the proper sequence and to the proper torque.

The engine was then pre-oiled with high zinc break in oil to make sure there were no oil leaks. ; new oil filter was installed. This is done also to spread oil throughout the engine since all was completely cleaned out for the remanufacture.

The engine was installed into the RV, and included the following new parts on the exterior of the engine: new spark plugs (8); new water pump; new pcv valve; new thermostat; new oil filter; and new coolant.

The following were installed at no charge to Mr. Brinker and was NOT included in the original contract: spark plugs wires; fuel filter(2); cap and rotor for the distributor; new upper and lower radiator hoses; air filter (to replace the rusted one); air conditioner switch; Freon; Seafoam fuel treatment; front pump tranny seal; temperature sensor.

HISTORY of flat tappet camshafts: Flat Tappet camshafts require a high zinc concentrated break in lubricant to keep the camshaft lobes from destruction. Around 2003-2005 Zinc was taken out of all motor oil; this presented a problem to the engine building industry. Many camshafts self-destructed during this time. We, Bayonet Point Engine, came up with a high zinc lubricate and our own method of valve adjustment to keep the camshafts from damage during the break in period. We set the valve lash loose, which is part of our process, run the motor at 2000 rpms when initially started for 30 minutes; this helps to harden the camshaft. Immediately upon start up, we have attached to the intake manifold, a vacuum gauge, and the distributor ignition timing is set by peak vacuum reading minus 2 points. The vacuum reading on this vehicle was 18 inches of vacuum. The special zinc oil lubricate mixture stays in the engine until the 1,000 mile oil change and service at which time we readjust the valves. This was explained to Mr. Brinker. He was also told not to leave the motor home idling for long periods of time and to go drive it and have fun.

It has been many years since we have had a flat tappet camshaft fail since using our proven system. All camshaft manufacturers have extreme warnings about flat tappet camshaft failure.

At this point, the RV was having drivability problems, so we checked the fuel pressure and the fuel filter which was found to be clogged, replaced it with a new one and put Seafoam in the gas tank. This did, at first, show improvement, and then motor showed issues again relating to fuel, so we changed the fuel filter a second time, found the first new filter with debris in it and installed another new filter. This solved some issues.

Finally, we had good idle, no miss but surging and stalling when put in gear. We diagnosed that the IAC (Idle Air Control Valve) needed to be cleaned and that solved the surging and stalling when put in gear.

We test drove the RV and delivered it to Mr. Brinker's home on November 1st, 2014. Before finalizing the delivery, we discussed with Mr. Brinker that the fresh water issue that he had that caused the original problem that locked up the engine had to be address as soon as possible or the fresh water may get into his engine again and cause the engine to lock up. He agreed to do this and asked for a recommendation for the best place to take his RV for repair. We recommend Hi-Tech Collision, a body shop.

A couple of days later, Mr. Brinker called to say he had a dinner dish size puddle of oil on this driveway. We had him immediately drive over so we could diagnose the problem. It turned out to be an oil line that went to the oil cooler located on the exterior of the engine. We ordered the two hoses, had Mr. Brinker bring the RV the next day to install the first oil line at no charge. The second oil line even though it was not leaking was ordered through Napa and was to arrive that Friday. Mr. Brinker did not return to have this line installed.

We did not hear from Mr. Brinker until Saturday, February 7th, when he stated by email and leaving a voice message that "yesterday it started acting up."(Friday February 6th). He further stated that "it starts then dies as soon as you put it in gear." "Since I can't drive it I need you to come to my house and check it out" We are only open for business from Monday to Friday from 8- 5 pm. On Monday, we called and left a message for Mr. Brinker to call so we could make arrangements to find out what was going on with his RV. He never called back. This is very important since it is the same symptoms as when we had to change the fuel filter and clean the IAC, also Mr. Brinker did not want to have his fuel tank cleaned. In January and the early part of February we had a large amount of rain fall and storms, particularly the week before his call it had rained for three days including February 5th. This may have caused fresh water to enter the air cleaner, distributor and other electrically and fuel related systems, causing this drivability issue. So Mr. Brinker lied about being able to drive the RV to our shop. He clearly stated that 'I took it to National Auto", if he drove it that far he could have brought it to us. It was probably just a simple issue that we would have taken care of. National fabricated and mislead this consumer because they created loose bolts and missing bolts to excite Mr. Brinker into thinking that we did not do the work we stated we did. Mr. Brinker took a 'drivability' problem to National Auto. They did not do any diagnostic tests including compression, leak down, oil pressure, and back pressure, all that was listed on their invoice was the mechanic's misstatement that the vacuum should be 28-30. He obviously doesn't know what he is doing because this type of engine with this type of camshaft can only have vacuum around 15-18 inches. After they performed work is when they state that the vacuum was 10 inches, obviously they did something wrong to cause such a low amount. Incorrect ignition timing can cause lower vacuum, also if it is in gear or at idle. They also stated in their 'unsigned' mechanics notes that the oil was changed and test driven. When they removed the high zinc high lubricating mixture we use to break in a flat tappet camshaft, they could have caused damage to the camshaft. It is also very possible that it was just fresh water getting into the engine again, which Mr. Brinker was supposed to have fixed. This is apparent based on National's own statement by Jim in the email on February 25 as follows "The 3rd picture is the water leak between the engine and transmission. We are not sure what or where that leak is coming from at this point" They are clearly stating a 'water leak' not a coolant leak!! We can assure you that our freeze plugs do not leak as this would be coolant NOT water.

National Auto also stated that their opinion was that the timing chain was installed improperly. If this were so the engine would not either run or not run well, and would not have any power. This RV ran well and had plenty of power when we test drove it. It is a very simple installation; it is simply 'dot' to 'dot'. If not installed properly this would definitely show up in the compression check.

National Auto, even though they charged Mr. Brinker $1500, this did not fix the problems so they continued on bilking Mr. Brinker with unnecessary work. This is not how a reputable shop takes care of their customers. In fact, National has a poor reputation in Hudson.

About 70% of our work load is from parts houses, commercial accounts and other automotive repair shops.

Attached please find the letter from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs which states that they have 'Closed Satisfactorily' the file on this matter.

Once again, Mr. Brinker could have contacted us on February 9, so we could have addressed his issue. Our contract with Mr. Brinker is a three year warranty performed at our shop.

We stand by our 40 year reputation of engine building and our own locally handled three year warranty.

Sincerely,

Randy & Pam Chiavaroli"

National Auto Service Center letter:

“Mr. Brinker.   After reading the reply from the engine shop I am just shocked at the reply.   First I would never bash and defame another company regardless of the situation that in itself indicator of the type of demeanor and state of mind of the person writing the reply...  1st off  we have saved many of the old parts.  Attached is a picture of some of the bearings removed from the engine.  When you can see the copper coloring coming thru the bearings are worn beyond specs... All of the issues we found on this engine were documented with pictures and the engine shop was invited to come to our shop and inspect the problems with the engine but never did come to the shop to see for themselves.  I can assure you if anyone was making a claim that we did something incorrectly and invited us to go see it what to see the problem would have gone and looked...   It is very easy to say that the problems didn't exist or were fabricated when you wouldn't even go look at the issues at hand...   There were so many issues with this engine and some of the items that Bayonet Point said they replaced 200 miles prior to us inspecting them were obviously not changed.   The timing chain was so loose you could almost take it off without removing the gears...   Some of the water jacket plugs ( freeze out plugs ) were never changed.   We did refer to the leak between the engine and transmission as water, it was a coolant leak coming from a freeze plug between the motor and trans...   It seems a shame the engine company couldn't bother coming to see what was going on with Mr. Brinker's engine.  They were invited and we gave them more than one opportunity to come to our shop and inspect the issues and plenty of time to do so and  called to inquire?  We also sent the  cylinder heads to accurate machine shop and they found that the heads needed to be redone as they were done improperly,  a third party saying the work done by Bayonet was not done properly. The spring pressure was totally in corrected and they were not shimmed properly...  We additionally have pictures of the leaking freeze plugs the original worn out camshaft and so on...  To many things to list.     I am sure that the engine shop either just had a bad day or an employee that didn't do his job properly.   We also have been in business a long time we are an approved AAA repair shop we have bad days and we do make mistakes but we do take care of them when we do make them.  Defaming our  shop does not deal with the facts at hand.   As for the credit card company we can say that Mr. Brinker deserves his refund.   There was a clear cut opportunity for Bayonet Point to come and inspect the problem or even call to inquire and they didn't.   In additionally we are not far away at all and they could have made a phone call or something!    No attempt was made by Bayonet point and this and  the 3rd party findings should afford Mr. Brinker to win his charge back.   At no point did we have anything to hide and invited anyone to view it while it was apart!  We do however have most of the old parts and lots of pictures to back up all of what was said here... 2 pics attached.

Harry Bergner

National Auto"

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