Poorly rebuilt motor has loud ticking. I bought a rebuilt motor from Gearhead two years back and paid extra for a no fault warranty. After a year the motor started making loud ticking from driver side valve cover. Gearhead's warranty dept told me to have my mechanic diagnose it, then I should pay out of pocket to repair and get reimbursed for some of it after sending the used parts to Gearhead for inspection. My mechanic tells me this could end up costing $700 or more depending on the condition of the cam as well as the lifters. Gearhead has told me its common practice of theirs to polish and reuse old cams in their rebuilds. That came as a shocker to me since a rebuilt engine should be completely rebuilt. If they reused the old cam then what else did they see fit to reuse as well?
My mechanic, my local machine shop machinist as well as the Mustang forums I belong too have all said this is a very bad practice. The mystery of how bad this can be until I commit to pay my own mechanic out of my own pocket just to start pulling my motor apart is bad enough. But Gearhead refused to deal direct with my mechanic and pay him the labor cost after he diagnoses whats wrong. They want an invoice paid by me and the old parts back for "inspection" Look through all the complaints in this forum and one of their common themes is that Gearhead also known as ATK VEGE commonly denies claims once parts are shipped to them. I want Gearhead to pay my mechanic directly. I cannot lay out that much money and wait who knows how long to get some of it back.
This motor was slapped together using old parts and new seals. Dont bother with them. Go to a local guy you can see your motor being rebuilt.
I bought an engine through O'Reilly Auto Parts. It took a month to get one. At this time I would like to say in no way do I hold O'Reilly responsible for my loss.. A couple weeks ago i ran a compression test. The engine had been in 4 and a half months. the compression was 1-130, 3-139, 5- 15, 7-dry-92 wet 135, 2-150, 4-154, 6-161, 8-162.
I called O'Reilly and they gave me the infomation to contact the builder. Gearhead Engines out of Texas. My wife called and was given a number and a name, Jason. The first thing Jason told me the warranty didn't cover labor, only parts. I told hin excluding number 5 a 70 pound difference in compression is 50 pounds out of spects. He said "you know how those 350 Chevys are. No I dont but I do know how lying engine builders are from my last report I made over 7 years ago on Five Star Engine out of Glendale Arizona.
I purchased my remanufactured 2.5 Jeep motor in Aug 2016. I purchased the Gold Warrenty which was the no fault Warrenty. Before I even reached my break in miles at 500 miles it started making the most horrific clacking noises in the front lower part of the engine.
The Mechanics located the problem in the timing chain. The overhead cam was sliding forward and making the timing gear hit the cover. So the Warrenty people only okayed to replaced a bolt that holds the cam and the timing gear tensioner. I drove it for a while and it started to make more noises so I returned it to the shop.
This time the Warrenty people agreed to replace the timing gear and chain. This lasted for a short time and noises returned. They finally pulled the valve covers off and found that when the engine was rebuilt that the block was probably not good.
It was finally decided by the Warrenty people that they would replace the engine. By time we received the new engine and I was able to get scheduled in the shop it was Sept. 2018 over two years since I purchased the original engine.
Having the motor swapped out of course cost me the labor again, plus the cam walking in the other motor had damaged the gears on my distributor so I ended up purchasing new parts that I originally had. But hey they did replace the motor. The motor seemed to run fine, after the break in we changed the oil and all seemed good.
I’m retired and handicapped so I don’t drive much, in fact since Sept 2018 I haven’t even put the 3000 miles on recommended for my first oil change. I got up this morning Jan 15, 2020 and went to the Doctor. When I came out and started my Jeep it started making a horrible clicking noise. I thought surely it’s something simple. Nope I’ve lost a piston.
Guess what no Warrenty. Only offer was a discount. Two motors in less than three years id think they would want to replace it. Especially if they sell as many as they claim without any problems. I can’t believe that any Company would not have something set aside for these kind of incidents.
Their Salesmen tells me they sell 9000 motors a year and don’t have any problems. Well either he’s lying or they surely have the poorest business model I’ve ever dealt with.
I few positive points: in general, everyone I've talked to on the phone have been courteous and professional. The rest of this process has been painful. There are plenty of details, but here is the high level summary: I received my replacement engine and shipped my old engine back to them to receive my core deposit.
They received my core a month ago and I have yet to receive my deposit. I've called three times asking about the deposit and have yet to receive a clear answer when I'll receive it. Shady. The agent I’ve been working with (John Davis) refuses to work via email and cannot be contacted directly via phone; only callbacks.
When working 8-5 it is very difficult to accept random callbacks from them. This makes it very hard to make any progress on my claim. The engine they shipped me had a cylinder with bad timing. I'm NOT an engine guy, but from what multiple mechanics have told me, this is clearly their fault and is a foreseeable, preventable problem.
Shipping an engine with this defect is a poor reflection of their remanufacturing and QC process. I would expect a company to apologize for their mistake and do whatever they could to help make the situation right. Instead, they tell me that they will only pay for a portion of the labor cost of the replacement repair.
To be fair, this "split cost" IS following their standard written warranty policy, BUT I fundamentally think it is wrong to send a customer a preventably faulty product and then immediately expect the customer to pay for the manufacturer's mistake. Why would a customer ever do business with a company like that?
Yesterday I received a call that they might honor the warranty, but only if I shipped them the faulty engine back because they wouldn't recognize the diagnosis I paid for from 2 different mechanics (not a cheap diagnosis).
This means my mechanic will have to remove my engine, package it, ship it to them, they inspect it and if they're honest, then MAYBE they'll send me a replacement back. Sadly, I don't trust them to honest in their diagnosis process.
It would be very easy for them to say something "technically" wasn't their fault and then I would be even more screwed than I already am. All in all the process will take an additional 4 weeks.
Per my mechanic, industry standard practice is to ship a replacement engine and complete the repair and send the old engine back. By doing it this way, the complexity, labor and chance for error in the repair go up so much that my mechanic refused service doing the process they demanded.
My wife and I have 2 kids. This process has left us sharing a single vehicle for the better part of 4 months. There are things I could have done to speed the process along, but at the end of the day, I'm the guy who ordered a preventably bad engine.
Their mistake has cost me hundreds of dollars and hours of time and I still have their bad engine in my truck.
Gearhead Engines Reviews
Poorly rebuilt motor has loud ticking. I bought a rebuilt motor from Gearhead two years back and paid extra for a no fault warranty. After a year the motor started making loud ticking from driver side valve cover. Gearhead's warranty dept told me to have my mechanic diagnose it, then I should pay out of pocket to repair and get reimbursed for some of it after sending the used parts to Gearhead for inspection. My mechanic tells me this could end up costing $700 or more depending on the condition of the cam as well as the lifters. Gearhead has told me its common practice of theirs to polish and reuse old cams in their rebuilds. That came as a shocker to me since a rebuilt engine should be completely rebuilt. If they reused the old cam then what else did they see fit to reuse as well?
My mechanic, my local machine shop machinist as well as the Mustang forums I belong too have all said this is a very bad practice. The mystery of how bad this can be until I commit to pay my own mechanic out of my own pocket just to start pulling my motor apart is bad enough. But Gearhead refused to deal direct with my mechanic and pay him the labor cost after he diagnoses whats wrong. They want an invoice paid by me and the old parts back for "inspection" Look through all the complaints in this forum and one of their common themes is that Gearhead also known as ATK VEGE commonly denies claims once parts are shipped to them. I want Gearhead to pay my mechanic directly. I cannot lay out that much money and wait who knows how long to get some of it back.
This motor was slapped together using old parts and new seals. Dont bother with them. Go to a local guy you can see your motor being rebuilt.
I bought an engine through O'Reilly Auto Parts. It took a month to get one. At this time I would like to say in no way do I hold O'Reilly responsible for my loss.. A couple weeks ago i ran a compression test. The engine had been in 4 and a half months. the compression was 1-130, 3-139, 5- 15, 7-dry-92 wet 135, 2-150, 4-154, 6-161, 8-162.
I called O'Reilly and they gave me the infomation to contact the builder. Gearhead Engines out of Texas. My wife called and was given a number and a name, Jason. The first thing Jason told me the warranty didn't cover labor, only parts. I told hin excluding number 5 a 70 pound difference in compression is 50 pounds out of spects. He said "you know how those 350 Chevys are. No I dont but I do know how lying engine builders are from my last report I made over 7 years ago on Five Star Engine out of Glendale Arizona.
I purchased my remanufactured 2.5 Jeep motor in Aug 2016. I purchased the Gold Warrenty which was the no fault Warrenty. Before I even reached my break in miles at 500 miles it started making the most horrific clacking noises in the front lower part of the engine.
The Mechanics located the problem in the timing chain. The overhead cam was sliding forward and making the timing gear hit the cover. So the Warrenty people only okayed to replaced a bolt that holds the cam and the timing gear tensioner. I drove it for a while and it started to make more noises so I returned it to the shop.
This time the Warrenty people agreed to replace the timing gear and chain. This lasted for a short time and noises returned. They finally pulled the valve covers off and found that when the engine was rebuilt that the block was probably not good.
It was finally decided by the Warrenty people that they would replace the engine. By time we received the new engine and I was able to get scheduled in the shop it was Sept. 2018 over two years since I purchased the original engine.
Having the motor swapped out of course cost me the labor again, plus the cam walking in the other motor had damaged the gears on my distributor so I ended up purchasing new parts that I originally had. But hey they did replace the motor. The motor seemed to run fine, after the break in we changed the oil and all seemed good.
I’m retired and handicapped so I don’t drive much, in fact since Sept 2018 I haven’t even put the 3000 miles on recommended for my first oil change. I got up this morning Jan 15, 2020 and went to the Doctor. When I came out and started my Jeep it started making a horrible clicking noise. I thought surely it’s something simple. Nope I’ve lost a piston.
Guess what no Warrenty. Only offer was a discount. Two motors in less than three years id think they would want to replace it. Especially if they sell as many as they claim without any problems. I can’t believe that any Company would not have something set aside for these kind of incidents.
Their Salesmen tells me they sell 9000 motors a year and don’t have any problems. Well either he’s lying or they surely have the poorest business model I’ve ever dealt with.
Sent me a low compression motor
I never drove the car upon install by a very large ford dealership the motor already had engine codes for left and right side low compression!
At gear head request and my cost the dealership preformed a compression test to get the same result as the computer said!
They are sending me another motor at no cost to me except that I have to pay now for two take out and installing!!!
If this second motor even works! There is no guarantee per their words!
I few positive points: in general, everyone I've talked to on the phone have been courteous and professional. The rest of this process has been painful. There are plenty of details, but here is the high level summary: I received my replacement engine and shipped my old engine back to them to receive my core deposit.
They received my core a month ago and I have yet to receive my deposit. I've called three times asking about the deposit and have yet to receive a clear answer when I'll receive it. Shady. The agent I’ve been working with (John Davis) refuses to work via email and cannot be contacted directly via phone; only callbacks.
When working 8-5 it is very difficult to accept random callbacks from them. This makes it very hard to make any progress on my claim. The engine they shipped me had a cylinder with bad timing. I'm NOT an engine guy, but from what multiple mechanics have told me, this is clearly their fault and is a foreseeable, preventable problem.
Shipping an engine with this defect is a poor reflection of their remanufacturing and QC process. I would expect a company to apologize for their mistake and do whatever they could to help make the situation right. Instead, they tell me that they will only pay for a portion of the labor cost of the replacement repair.
To be fair, this "split cost" IS following their standard written warranty policy, BUT I fundamentally think it is wrong to send a customer a preventably faulty product and then immediately expect the customer to pay for the manufacturer's mistake. Why would a customer ever do business with a company like that?
Yesterday I received a call that they might honor the warranty, but only if I shipped them the faulty engine back because they wouldn't recognize the diagnosis I paid for from 2 different mechanics (not a cheap diagnosis).
This means my mechanic will have to remove my engine, package it, ship it to them, they inspect it and if they're honest, then MAYBE they'll send me a replacement back. Sadly, I don't trust them to honest in their diagnosis process.
It would be very easy for them to say something "technically" wasn't their fault and then I would be even more screwed than I already am. All in all the process will take an additional 4 weeks.
Per my mechanic, industry standard practice is to ship a replacement engine and complete the repair and send the old engine back. By doing it this way, the complexity, labor and chance for error in the repair go up so much that my mechanic refused service doing the process they demanded.
My wife and I have 2 kids. This process has left us sharing a single vehicle for the better part of 4 months. There are things I could have done to speed the process along, but at the end of the day, I'm the guy who ordered a preventably bad engine.
Their mistake has cost me hundreds of dollars and hours of time and I still have their bad engine in my truck.