Dealer Guessing, replacing parts that are fine. What to do?

[lib135]

I just ordered an 07 malibu, and I am trying to unload my old I/O boat. The local marine who was servicing the boat, has been trying to solve an issue on my boat, and in the process replaced the exhaust manifolds ($600 part), and charged me 2 hrs labor at $85/hr. This did not fix the problem, and I had enough, so I picked up the boat. I took the boat to the dealer, who is investigating the issue. Problem is a water leak into the pistons. Anyway, since this work by the marine did not fix the problem, do I have any recourse to get my money back, and have him reinstall the original part which apparently is not bad? What should I do, or am I stuck eating this bill?

[MoonDawg]

They replaced a highly suspect part and probably the least expensive. You could have also had multiple problems....The next option will be new head gaskets. You may also have a crack in your head. Labor will get expensive because they will have to tear the whole top of the engine apart. Was the engine run in salt water? You may need a whole new engine if that is the case.

Sorry for the bad news.

[electricjohn]

Do a compression check, and watch the suspected cylinder. Dawg is right, but they should have done a bit more investigation. Your really caught between a rock and a hard place there.

Edited March 25, 2007 by electricjohn

[lib135]

I have someone tearing it apart to look at the heads now. I used in salt water maybe 2 times last year, but used is fresh water several times, when the problem started to occur.

I know the compression was ok. Am I mislead, or are there entire new heads on ebay for under 200? Mercruiser v6 head, is what I searched for? I am hoping I can just replace the whole head and be done with it.

[MoonDawg]

I have someone tearing it apart to look at the heads now. I used in salt water maybe 2 times last year, but used is fresh water several times, when the problem started to occur.

I know the compression was ok. Am I mislead, or are there entire new heads on ebay for under 200? Mercruiser v6 head, is what I searched for? I am hoping I can just replace the whole head and be done with it.

I am not exactly sure what Casting Number your head is but for a 4.3L (262CI) GM V6 Marine engine you can get a remanufactured head for $329 plus shipping from eBasicPower

I have never used this company it is just a guide

head castings could be HA1045, HA1046, HA1047, HA1048.... Some descriptions at Hi-Tech Vison Cylinder Heads

You need to match the set to make sure your compression is matched and manifolds fit

Edited March 27, 2007 by MoonDawg

[vette-ski]

Getting shoddy work bugs me. That's why I do most everything myself. It doesn't take much to test an exhaust manifold for cracks before replacing it. I bought my malibu with freeze damage and I tested everything....found one manifold was cracked with a simple pressurized air test in my garage with common tools. Heads can be checked too, although it's not uncommon for crack in a head to only open up when it gets hot. Makes it harder to check this yourself. But you can pull the head and have a local machine shop mag check it. Or it could just be a head gasket, and all the hard components are fine. If the gasket is blown, you can probably check for water in the cylinder after putting water pressure on the cooling system w/o running the engine. Is there only water in one cylinder, or the whole bank, or both sides? Also, where are you located and could you have freeze damage?

As for the previous repair, I would have no problem asking them to show you the crack and if none are found (again, not a hard test to do) put your manifold back on so at least you aren't out a $600 part. You could offer to split the labor with them and pay for the gaskets. They should have never replaced it if they didn't find a crack. If you are afraid to do this, at a minimum get your manifold back and try to sell it to get back some of your money.

[jdhurd]

Could also be your intake manifold. Especially if you have run it in salt water.

[vette-ski]

Could also be your intake manifold. Especially if you have run it in salt water.

In order for it to be the intake manifold leaking water into the cylinder, there'd also have to be a lot of water in the oil. But that's something that can easily be checked.

[lib135]

There is no water getting in the oil, just enough to burn off when it hits spark plug