I’d run if I could, but the sale was from his pal the retired pit crew chief who was helping him out when he was short-handed. My friend rebuilt the engine so the pit guy could sell it, and he now lives in Texas.
Right there is one of your problems.
Idiot lights refer to oil and alternator.
Did you choose to ignore checking the oil frequently?
CEL needs codes read.
There is problem number two.
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I brought it in the first few times the CEL came on and they told me the emission codes hadn’t cleared yet. I checked the oil of course (I’m 57 and owned used cars for 40 years) but the dipstick tube came out in my hand! I had it towed right away…I could feel it was loose every time I put the stick back.
I’ve always had cars that let you know what the temp was and this never let me know it was high, I am guessing oil escaped from the loose dipstick holder…bye bye piston. Also, the coolant level never dropped more than a few ounces. Did I mention I never drove it farther than 25 miles or a total of 3,000 in 6 mos?
I wonder if it comes down to it (he is an honorable guy) if I have any recourse. My friend did the rebuild but it was owned by the elderly pit crew chief who now lives in Texas (also an honorable guy, he has communicated with me to have it fixed)
No, it’s not. It’s a basic pushrod V8. It’s also not a “racing” engine. It’s mass-produced production engine. There’s nothing exceptionally high tech about it.
Do you have any documentation of what codes it’s throwing? If you post them here, someone could probably give you an idea of what you’re looking at. Your Master Mechanic friend should’ve pulled the codes as the first order of business.
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I’ll get them post haste, thank you
A FRIED piston.
Tester
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I guess you will have to get the codes from the mechanic that has the vehicle in the shop now. I doubt if he will be thrilled that you are asking people on a forum what to do . If it was me I certainly would be annoyed.
To keep this friendship I think the best thing to do if he won’t take it back ( even at a loss of money for you ) is to trade for something else after he gets it running.
Wow, guess I have to qualify my statements. OP says he has less then 3k miles on this motor. Tell me how a NA dodge hemi could melt a piston? Crazy lean?
Details on your pic please. Low mile motor? No boost? 2 stroke?
I see a lot of potential issues here. You state you know nothing about engines but praise them as being honorable, a master, etc, etc. Going to school does NOT make someone a master of anything. That depends upon how much info was retained and the biggest criteria of all; real world experience over time.In general; a lot of time.
It would seem to me that an engine that was built properly should not have given up the ghost in 3k miles and that red light you mentioned sounds like a “No oil pressure; it’s about to blow up” light.
That leads to the question of why that light was on. The usual suspect is not enough oil which means…
The word rebuilt has 2 versions. Rebuilt and rebuilt correctly. The parts and machine services list on the latter is much lengthier than the former. To determine which one you got ask to see that list…if it exists.
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I have known 2 men who I would trust to rebuild an engine for me. One was a car hauler, the other a mechanic with a small shop behind his house. Both are life long racers who built their own engines. They charge more than most commercial rebuilders and have a long waiting list. The people that use them generally have collector cars that they want the engines rebuilt over the winter.
I would rather buy a used engine I could hear run or a new crate motor myself than a rebuilt.
My daughter got a Jasper engine put in her RAV4 and it took 3 engines before she got one without serious problems and the third one had an uneven idle he shop kept trying to fix but after a half dozen times she got disgusted and traded in the car.
Let’s get some basics down first. You referred to this as a racing engine but as @Mustangman pointed out, that’s not what the car came with.
Did they try to modify it for performance while they were rebuilding it, or is this a straight rebuild of the factory engine?
If it’s the former, then that can open up a whole mess of problems, especially if they built it to “race” specs which emphasize power over reliability. A race car engine does not need to last 3,000 miles, it just needs to get the car around the track as fast as possible for a few hours at most.
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I overstated it, I only meant that the stock Hemi 5.9 was extremely powerful, I’ve owned mustangs, a '77 Z-28 with lots of extra work and the Magnum had more power than all of them (if you looked, R & T had this running with Ferraris, Porsches and more) but they didn’t port it out or anything, my racing days are 20 years behind me LOL
It looked like that but the part in the chamber was much closer to the surface
That’s because the piston was at the top of its stroke.
Tester
I see, thank you, just to clarify since the user “Nevada” is making statements that he has no idea what he’s saying, I brought the Magnum in at least 4 times in a month and had it towed twice, once when the oil dipstick tube came loose in my hand and once when it was driving in “limp-mode”. Each time I swung by the shop or called, they told me I had to drive it long enough to clear the codes and the light would shut off so I could pass emissions. I’m 57 and have owned used cars for 40 years, I knew to check oil and antifreeze the second I see the idiot light turn on, I knew to go easy during the break-in period of a rebuild…I’m not nearly as talented as 90% of you, but I have done a hundred different repairs in 40 years, they told me to ignore the light as it simply needed to clear emissions codes, clearly a mistake which is why they rebuilt the motor a second time “gratis”, I only paid for 2 parts, the fan and belt pulley. They’ve had it running for a month but the last time I saw the Magnum, I noticed the serpentine belt appeared to be wobbling. I’ve told my friend he did not need to rush the job since we have a 2nd car and I could see his shop was maxed out with about 15 cars on the lot. I also believe he has Covid now, he went to his grandfathers funeral in Mexico who died of Covid, he’s had severe Flu-like symptoms for over a week. I told him to get well and finish the Magnum then, he did say he was making some final “tweaks” which I’m betting means it’s throwing fault codes after the 2nd rebuild. I’m contacting him today for an update. Thanks
Ask for an update ? Tell him you want the car repaired now or give you some of your money back . I seriously doubt the first engine was rebuilt properly and the second may never be quite right either .
P.S. This is a public forum so you will get all kinds of replies whether you like them or not . Also George has not posted here for sometime.
Thanks, it does appear I’m allowing a friendship to cloud my actions, I wouldn’t tolerate this ineptitude if it were a shop a friend didn’t own. I hear you on the “PS”, but it’s not unreasonable to expect common courtesy, and I don’t let anyone bark at me like a junkyard dog in person, let alone behind a pc monitor. Nevada needs to learn some manners, I’m happy to teach him… (-;/
There is no 5.9L Hemi. In the Magnum you could get the 5.7L Hemi (340 HP) in the R/T or the 6.1L in SRT-8 (425 HP). Either will be much more powerful than a smog era SBC. I want to say that the R/T would do 0-60 in just under 6 seconds and the 1/4 mile in the low-mid 14 second range. Very quick for large wagon, but nearly as quick as the exotics you mentioned. A Magnum R/T was a bit slower than the contemporary Mustang GT or the late 4th Gen GM F-bodies. The SRT-8 model was quicker still 0-60 in about 5 seconds flat and mid 13’s in the 1/4 mile, but still off the pace of the F430 or 911.
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