TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:05 pm

I fell in love with a beautiful restrored66, very little rust...thoight it drove well,shifted well, power..however before road test was over it bulked a little...the owners said they hardly drove it much..just gave it anything it might need. Well I bought it ,this was very orig. great finsh, new everything. Yep you guesssd it...mofoco rebuilt engine failed today after three weeks of ownership. And 1800 miles on it.....warrantee over of course.my mechanic..put engine in 3 yearsago...was tooo loud...drove very well tho. Talked to MoFoCo..and he said never have built a bad engine where CAM WAS BAD. MY MECHANIC SAID THAT WAS THE PROBLEM..NO COMPRESSION NO NOTHING., Now .
IT GETS SHIPPED BACK..Owner of FoMoCo said he’ll fix it on his dollar, Ill pay shipping. What a disappoint,,If it still isn’t right. What would you guysdo?. Price was great for this 66 bug...it looks brand new from dealership...but now is waiting for rebuilt to be Rebuilt....bruce

Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:14 pm

Roy is well known here, If he says he'll fix it, he'll fix it

you probably need to learn how to work on your VW, a mechanic is going to cost you a lot of money

Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:31 pm

I agree with above. If he said he will check it out and fix then he is doing his part for his product. Roy is a very active member and their company has a long history with vw. Let him see it through for you and he will hopefully have some feedback on what may have happened so you can avoid any further issues in future.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:45 pm

WOW, why are you getting bent out of shape? Most companies would say that the warranty was null & void since you weren't the original purchaser of the engine much less the fact that the warranty expired time wise. The very fact that he is willing to even contemplate warrantying it says a lot about MOFOCO.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:11 pm

No compression, and it's a bad cam? Get a new mechanic.

I'm not sure why your bent here. Roy didn't build that engine for you. The PO could have slapped Roy's heads on a crappy short block to CLAIM the engine was built by them.

The fact that Roy said he would look at it is a favor to you.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:15 pm

I recommend you post this in his feedback topic. That way others will see it when they look for feedback.

But... only after you've exhausted any private discussion. Because once you go public, there's no going back.

And most "high performance" engines have a driveway warranty... once they leave the driveway the warranty is over.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:19 pm

Glenn wrote: I recommend you post this in his feedback topic. That way others will see it when they look for feedback.

But... only after you've exhausted any private discussion. Because once you go public, there's no going back.

And most "high performance" engines have a driveway warranty... once they leave the driveway the warranty is over.

The only feedback the OP could provide is that he bought a car with a possible MOFOCO engine, it broke, and Roy said he'd look at it for free.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:25 pm

Pruneman99 wrote: The only feedback the OP could provide is that he bought a car with a possible MOFOCO engine, it broke, and Roy said he'd look at it for free.
Agreed... seems like good feedback to me.

Roy owes the OP nothing and is gong above to try to help.

BTW... i've seen a number of "mechanics" that know diddly about VW engines.

Did the mechanic do a leakdown test?

If you have a flat cam, you'll have 2 opposite cylinders with the valves not opening and no compression.

Just a few weeks ago, I had someone say he was running on 3 cylinders. The engine was also a few years old with very low mileage. We noticed that the #2 intake valve was not closing all the way. After removing the carb and using a borescope we could see the valve seat came loose and got jammed between the head and the valve. The "builder" said the warranty was over and offered nothing. BTW... it was a EMPI head.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:51 pm

MoFoCo is a straight shooting company. What validation do you have that the engine only has 1800 miles? When a purchase is made on a used anything suspect the worst.
No compression, how was that verified.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:06 pm

Good rule of thumb in life:

If someone is doing you a favor, don't make them regret it.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:25 pm

Could also be wrong oil or break in. Could just need valves adjusted. How did mechanic check cam? Shiney stuff in oil?

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:29 pm

Erik G wrote: Roy is well known here, If he says he'll fix it, he'll fix it

Emeraldlion wrote: I agree with above. If he said he will check it out and fix then he is doing his part for his product. Roy is a very active member and their company has a long history with vw. Let him see it through for you and he will hopefully have some feedback on what may have happened so you can avoid any further issues in future.

I also would be suspicious that a camshaft could cause total lack of compression, unless the gear rivets or bolts gave way, and I've never heard of that.

Roy from MoFoCo has offered to investigate even though long out of warranty period, take him up on that.

I bought a rebuilt transmission from Roy/MoFoCo April 2018 and have been very satisfied with both the product and the dealings with Roy and MoFoCo.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:35 pm

Years ago had a guy with no compression on #1 and #3. We dropped the old strainer and found the cause....

His cam was flat.

Tore the engine down and the intake lobe for #1 and #3 was almost round and lifters were badly pitted.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:35 pm

If I was Roy and read your post, I would immediately stop work on your engine, box it up nicely and let you know where to have it picked up. It’s apparent from your initial post that you’ll be a pain in his ass even if he goes out of his way to help you when he has zero liability to do so. I wouldn’t touch anything you sent me with a 10’ pole.

Good luck.

Edit: would like to add a link to this thread. You stated it ran poorly towards the end of your test drive and then you started having additional issues after buying it. My guess is, something was wrong when you bought it and the PO sold you a screwed up car. Further guessing your mechanic doesn’t know his ass from his elbow when it comes to ACVWs. Why else would he have you coming here to ask for help?

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8869326&highlight=#8869326

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:44 pm

I think Roy will want to know what went wrong.

If it's not a parts or assembly issues, he should charge the OP for parts and labor.

Once sold a guy a distributor. 6 months later he contacted me that he had a problem with it and has his mechanic try to fix it. He couldn't and sold him a Chinese 009 instead. I told him he should of contacted me first and i would of tested it and fixed it at no cost but since his mechanic messed with it, he should send it back and i'll give him a full refund. I had to change the springs since his mechanic damaged them, but i rebuilt it and sold it to someone else a few days later. I asked the new owner to let me know if he has any problems. i heard back that it worked fine.

I could afford to buy it back since the out of pocket was minimal. Roy can't do that and 3 years later is beyond trying to keep a customer happy. The OP is not HIS customer.

OP... if you want I can remove this topic, just PM me. I think you'll be better off dealing with Roy in private.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:47 pm

Sharp64 wrote: If I was Roy and read your post, I would immediately stop work on your engine, box it up nicely and let you know where to have it picked up. It’s apparent from your initial post that you’ll be a pain in his ass even if he goes out of his way to help you when he has zero liability to do so. I wouldn’t touch anything you sent me with a 10’ pole.

Good luck.

Exactly! How the hell could anyone still bitch about a company where they are CLEARLY going above and beyond?!! I would do the same thing you say and just tell him to stuff it.

Curious, did you mechanic remove the valve covers and make sure the rocker arm assemblies weren’t just laying in the valve cover on one of the heads? Seen that happen a few times now.

Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:52 pm

Pruneman99 wrote: No compression, and it's a bad cam? Get a new mechanic.

Let me clarify this statement because after reading it, I think it was misunderstood.

It shouldn't take a compression test to find out your cam is flat. Doing a compression test in car is kinda a PITA, especially if you have big hands.

But what is easy, and takes 8 seconds is to pop the valve covers and roll the engine over. Oh crap, my valves aren't (or barely) moving. I don't then proceeded to do a compression test. That's like discovering your gas tank is empty, and rebuilding the fuel pump.

And losing total compression all at once, in all the cylinders? Yeah right

Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:04 pm

Although Roy and I have personality issues with one another.
I cannot find any fault in his kind offer to repair your engine. Free!
Read that again. FREE!
What more could you ask for on an out of warranty engine that was built for a previous owner.

The shipping will be way cheaper than paying a mechanic to rebuild any engine. Plus you get a rebuild by (what many say here) a quality shop.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!
Take the deal and be very happy with it.

BTW. Find a new mechanic. There's now way he can tell you have a bad cam. Unless he measured the rocker throw to determine that the cam has flat lobes. But as stated above. That would affect two opposing cylinders.

Good Luck.

Wed Sep 19, 2018 11:21 am

Yeah, this is one strange story. I am very interested to get the engine back here and check it out.

Wed Sep 19, 2018 10:40 pm

So, Roy is going to fix the engine “on his dollar”, and you come to a VW site and complain—where thousands of VW owners will see your complaint?

He supposedly rebuilt the engine three years ago—for someone else—and now it failed. Not when the previous owner owned it, but a few weeks after you bought it. You doubt Roy’s integrity, but not the previous owner’s.

How odd.

I’d love to have a builder offer to fix without charge some other owner’s (the original owner’s) engine after I bought it.

I suppose you want Roy to pay the freight? Is that the reason why you’re complaining here? Did you think complaining on this site would put more pressure on Roy to pay the freight, too?

Maybe I’m being too hard on you, but it seems you’re putting the horse before the cart. You might have waited until Roy got a chance to check out your motor—for free—before raking him out in a public forum where a number of potential customers would read about your issue and come away with a bad feeling about the builder.

Regardless, send off the motor to Roy; that’s my advice. Let him try to help you. And consider yourself lucky that he didn’t just tell you the warranty was shot and you’re on your own.

Tim