Driving to work this morning... cruisin around 70 mph, all at once, BOOF, everything kills, no acceleration, power steering, brakes, whole thing, gone. So after a hell of a struggle slowing down and pulling to the side of the road, I called a tow company, so on and so forth. While I was waiting, I took my oil cap off, and tried to move my belt assembly to see if the rockers were moving. No such luck. The entire belt assy, both accessory and main serpentine turned with very little force. Still, no valve train movement.

Took it to my mechanic, he confirmed that the timing chain did infact break.

That being said, since ZZP just recently did this work for me, less than a month and a half ago, I called them. I spoke with Tim, then Eric after lunch. They assured me they would research what kind of warranty the chain had...

However, you and I both know... now we're talking bent rods, bent valves, and a slight chance of a damaged piston or two.

I will keep you all updated....

Wish me luck.

-Keegan

 

Un - Bee - leave - a - bull!
Holy smokes!
I'd be looking at who did the work and demanding they do the tear-down ... so they'll know what to order to make it right!
I wouldn't be able to sit-down, quietly, and type any kind of Forum Post about it.
You can't type at all in the kind of jacket that they'd stick me in from going berserk on somebody!

 

I already flipped, threw things, and hit a few walls. now all is good =)

I am taking things one step at a time, and hoping ZZPerformance will either flat bed it up there to fix it, or have an authorized builder take my car and make it better, but I highly doubt they will...

 

It depends on what state you're in...MI has a mandatory 30 day warranty period...If I was in your situation, they would build me a new motor no questions asked. I would raise holy hell until they did. There is NO reason you should have had failure like that, especially since (I'm guessing anyway) they installed performance parts, which are made to be heavy duty? Correct? Keep us updated!

 

Whatever you do ... don't give them time to breathe! Time is their ally. They'll put-off dealing with this for as long as you let them. I'd be asking for their OFFICIAL Response, in writing, as often as I could dial their number.

Once you find-out what responsibility they are going to take, then your Legal Options start to kick-in. You might be waiting for them to call you, but they aren't going to want to have to deal with you until you are exhausted and will accept the minimum offer they put forward.

It might be a good idea to seek the advice of an Lawyer on the whole deal. I'm sure that there are Legalities that both sides have and you should act to have yours implemented right away. Get the ball Officially rolling toward them reimbursing you for the scrapped engine. Have an investigation started. Do something other than be upset about it. Having the ball rolling is going to get your questions answered faster than letting them drag their feet and putting the whole thing on some back burner hoping it goes away.

Least of which is gather all your receipts and take a whole bunch of photographs. Accumulate evidence to support your claim before they find-out what wernt wrong and remove it calling it all an unfortunate matter and an Act of God. God wants you to have your engine fixed by them. Make them do it. Pronto!

 

That sucks big time. ZZP must have some kind of work guarantee.

 

Would you like Rick to call ZZP?

He'll kick their @$$es for them if you want him too.
[sm=icon_rofl.gif]



PS. (I wanted that to be large so Rick would notice it)
Rick, you offered some excellent advice and what I posted was just a joke.
Repeat after me.
"No kil, RJ."
"No kil RJ."
[sm=smiley20.gif]

 

This is the #1 reason why I chose to learn how to do everything myself with my build. That way, if anything goes wrong, I have only myself to blame, but most importantly, I know that I did my best to do the proper job.

Hopefully it's just a broken chain, and not too much damage is done.

Was it the JP double-roller, or the Rollmaster? The rollmaster isn't 100% suited for our application, but it fits, so long as you double gasket the front cover *and* *or* mill the oil pump cover inside the front cover. I had mine milled, and I did a double-gasket, and I had no wear issues. What happens is that the chain will wear against the oil pump cover, and end up breaking.

I have also heard of the Rollmaster hub that fits on the crank shaft can sometimes split and break apart, causing the loss of timing to the cam.

Like I said, hopefully there's no valvetrain damage, and the engine cut out before it could do any damage.

Are you comfortable enough to tear off the front cover yourself to assess what broke (hub or chain)? You can also do a borescope to see if there's any damage to the pistons... this saves you time of pulling the heads off to find out. Pulling the front rocker cover to check the pushrods is a quick job too... 30 minutes and you'll know if you have bent pushrods.

If ZZP didn't double gasket or mill your front cover, and gave you a double-roller timing chain.... shame on them. This is base knowledge amonst the whole 3800 community.

If you can't assess the damage yourself, demand they send one of their authorized installers to come do it, or they have to flatbed your car up there, and you be present when they teardown.

If you need any help through this process, let us know.

Sorry to hear about your predicament friend... I hope it all turns out ok in the end.

 

SonofaBitch!!! Now I know why you texted me to check out this!!! I would be pissed. Just cruising and the damn chain breaks on you?!?!

It might have also weakened or broke when racing and finally didn't snap till on the highway, but damn!!!

 

Don't even think about doing ANYTHING to that motor, even if it just pulling a cover off. If you do, it voids ALL legal action you may have against ZZP. Like RJ said, get the ball rolling and find out what they are going to do, and get the advice of a lawyer. I wouldn't even have your mechanic work on it until ZZP figures something out or unless your lawyer says take it to a mechanic and have them assess damages, then shop fees can be added to the cost of the motor and to the cost of what ZZP will have to pay. Call, call, call, call, and call some more. You may be without a car for a couple of weeks, but if you have valvetrain damage ZZP should pay for the rebuild. GOOD LUCK and keep us updated!

LAV: This was NOT meant to be an attack on what you said; you gave very good advice. However, if for someoff the wall reason this goes to court, and he were to have assessed the damage himself and ZZP found out, it COULD take all legal responsibility off ZZP. They could argue that HE did more damage when he took the front cover off. It's one of those things that you don't want to do anything just in case.