Auto Repair Problem

[EDTKG]

I brought my car to a shop for repair to the engine. I was told I needed to replace the pistons. I had a new set of pistons custom made by a well known piston manufacture. The mechanic told me to have them made exactly the same size as the current pistons. I sent in a sample piston.
The mechanic installed these new pistons, but after a couple of days, the engine was making strange noise. I had it rechecked, and they found out the new pistons were TOO small for my engine, and that they caused some damage to the cylinder and cam shaft. He told me that I now need to get new parts or a used engine.

I checked with the piston manufacture and found out that they made these pistons SLIGHTLY smaller than stock pistons due to the material they were made with. I checked with another piston manufacture and found out it was standard proceedure to make them slightly smaller for any pistons made with such material, and that the size difference seems to be within standard range acording to this proceedure.

It seems that my mechanic only checked the size of pistons but did not check the size of the bore of the cylinder before he told me to order these pistons. He told me that I will have to pay for any parts since these new pistons were ordered by me and not through them. He said that they will take care of the labor part for this repair.
Is this right?

It seems to me that the original repair was never completed and thus the shop should take care of the labor part. My question is, shouldn't either the shop or piston manufacture (since they didn't make these pistons exactly the same size as the original) take care of the additional parts needed?

I need some advise. The car is in California.

Thanks.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. WHat I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

WHat type of contract did you sign? What did the contract say?

Another alternative, sue them in negligence. They owe a duty of a reasonable mechanic and if he didn't check the parts of the car a reasonable mechanic would have checked, then he is liable because that negligence led to you ordering more parts. However, sometimes, one cannot recover in negligence for pure economic loss but you can recover for reasonable cost of repair.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Call the "800" operator, 1-800-555-1212, and ask for the number for the California Bureau of Automotive Repair. Get their complaint forms, fill them out, and send them back.

You'll also notice, that somewhere in the garage of the mechancic, there is a sign posted with the Bureau's phone number, and an explanation of what they can do for you. It's post in every mechanic's garage.

All of my experiences with the Bureau have been quick, and very good. They get results.

IAAL

[Edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE on 12-27-2000 at 03:34 PM]

 

[TimC]

I rebuild old cars as a hobby. I have done lots of engine work, so I will answer this from a mechanic's point of view.

Mechanical components in an engine are very sensitive to tolerances. Properly fitting a piston into a bore takes some savvy as to what those tolerances are. You have to take into consideration the expansion and contraction of the pistons, etc. A forged piston will have different rates than a cast piston, etc. In other words, some intelligence is needed.

The CORRECT way to deal with piston replacement jobs is to order the pistons OVERSIZE. ALWAYS oversize. I see NO reason why the mechanic told you to order them slightly smaller than the originals. I can understand his theory about the different expansion rates between the originals and the aftermarket pistons, but getting them smaller than the originals tells me that he did not bore the block to mate the new pistons to the cylinder bores. In other words, he only did half the job. Not boring the cylinders was a disservice to you. By not boring the cylinders, the whole job was destined to fail.

Once you get the pistons in your hands, you measure them. You NEVER take it for granted that they will be the size that the manufacturer claims. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! You measure ALL of the pistons. Not just one. You measure them in more than one location on the piston, as well.

Now that you have the measurements for the pistons, THEN you bore the cylinders to an appropriate size, which is a tad MORE than the piston diamter to account for expansion, etc. You may wind up boring one cylinder a hair more or less than another cylinder, just because the pistons are not EXACTLY the same size. This is just the way the job is done. This is engine rebuilding 101.

If the mechanic installed pistons that were not the right size, then he is an idiot. He simply did not do the job properly. I see no way around it.

The piston manufacturer is not at fault. The piston manufacturer knows that it is the mechanic's job to bore the cylinder to the appropriate size. There is no way that the piston manufacturer knows what the bore of the cylinder is! That is why it is the mechanic's job to order OVERSIZE pistons (compared to the original bore size) and then bore the motor to accomodate the pistons.

Even if the piston manufacturer made the pistons incorrectly, there is no way that the mechanic should have installed them. Based on the limited information that you have provided, laziness on the part of the mechanic is the cause.

 

[TimC]

In addition to the above information, you said that the motor now needed some repair to the cylinders. More than likely it will require a cylinder boring. HOWEVER, this is not necessarilly ADDITIONAL work, because the engine REALLY should have been bored in the first place.