Are you suggesting that OP deliberately omitted a picture, because it might cast doubt on their story?
In any case, it’s literally over, since the arbitrator ruled in OP’s favor, and that individual undoubtedly saw much more evidence than we did
to be clear, this is one time where I’m not doubting the OP
I understand there was a lot of money at stake, though
I went back and viewed the pics; although there are only 2 of them. Again and mainly due my curiosity always getting the better of me, I’ve love to have access to that pile of parts for a while,
The rod is broke. Fine, i’s broke. There should be someone in that collection of people who should be able to answer the question as to WHY. It surely won’t be the arbitrator because that person probably knows little or nothing about engines.
I can think of various as to why this could have happened. Note the end of the connecting rod where the break is. Note the discoloration near the break. That can often point to a lubrication shortage. I wonder (and this is strictly theorizing…) if lack of regular oil changes could have coked the wrist pin up and caused a pin seizure???
I’d love to see a pic of the cylinder bore, the piston, and some closeups of the pin in the piston.
I realize this is a dead issue now. I’m just wonderin’ is all… 
It sounds like you’re more than “just wonderin” . . . in my opinion
The way I read your comment . . . to me it sounds like you think the engine may be toast, because of either OP or the father’s lack of proper maintenance
If they didn’t have proof of warranty required maintenance their claim would have been dismissed for that reason.
Are you assuming they did NOT have proof of the required maintenance?
it seems certain people on this forum have just about made up their minds . . . that the engine failure was due to neglect
I’m not one of those people, at this point in time
I’m inclined to agree with OK4450.
It occurred to me before, but lacking any clear evidence I said nothing. Something like that can be impossible to prove. The bottom line is that the engine is history, the arbitrator issued a compromise decision, and the OP should move on with life. Or get a lawyer, which would probably end up costing more than the car is worth.
it would not surprise me if arbitrator said, what do you want? will replacing motor make you happy? i think the OP is annoyed at whole process and wants to be rid of car. so arbitrator said fine, we will take car back and you pay for mileage. i was not present during negotiation. i dont know if they can make a deal to fix or buy back.
So some points were raised, I’ll try to address them all. The break vs bend… Good point I didn’t pick up on that. As you can see the rod is broken. That’s also how chrysler referred to the rod in their first correspondence to me after they found the issue. I’m attaching a picture of the text message. So it’s a good question why the arbitrator refers to a “bent” rod. And for that I didn’t need to look very far to see that that is how chrysler chose to present the issue to the arbitrator in their written statement. Personally I wouldn’t think anything of that but if you say it’s almost impossible for a rod to bend by manufacturer defect what do you think now that you know that “the story went from broken to bent” but not from me it didn’t go but from chrysler.
Don’t get me wrong. I have a completely open miind on what happened. However, the way I look at it is this way.
Think of a scale. On one end you metallurgical failure. On the opposing end you have shoddy or incorrect maintenance, water inhalation, and half a dozen other possibilities that could lead to engine failure.
Which way do you think the scale tips?
Just speaking from my 40+ years of turning wrenches I have NEVER seen one metallurgical failure in that entire 40+ years. Not one.
The only thing I’m saying is that people who have no mechanical knowledge made a decision for the easy way out with not even a wild guess as to what happened.
Same scenario with the guy in CA who sued (and won…) Toyota because a lower ball joint broke on his Tundra at 107,000 miles. Allegedly this was a “defective” ball joint. Does anyone on the planet buy this…
I swear this is a coincidence but me and my cousin were just talking about hydrolock, and this thread reminds me of that. I know you say he didnt drive through any puddles, is that why you mention the air filter not being wet? Did the dealer mention the possibility of hydrolock? Just odd my cousins truck did that once after mudding and 4 wheeling through the creeks and stuff. Caused the piston or rod thing to knock a hole through the engine because water got into the motor. I remember seeing the damage and thats kinda what the pics reminded me of. Only his blew right through the motor like a big rip in it.
My mechanic instructed me to check the air filter. It was a very rainy day and all of sudden the car stalled out the way it did so he had me check it.
If you’ll notice chrysler suggests the car flooded out in record rains of June. But the car was towed from the freeway July 12th. Also it isn’t possible to encounter a foot of standing water on the freeway. And I was told also that if the car had gone through a foot of standing water at 60mph it wouldnt have just blown the engine. The car would have totalled. Besides the tow bill which verifies the time and place of the breakdown I was told that the pcm also contains much vital information including the time the car was driven and speed and such.
When we were told chrysler wouldn’t honor the warranty I called the dealer we had purchased the car from. I asked him to see if there was anything he could do. He called this dealership where the car was at and he reported back to me "look it’s very unfortunate. They’re not sure why chrysler restricted the warranty. Theyre also saying there’s no water damage. They just don’t get it. They’re fighting like hell for you"
Now take that statement which was heard by the arbitrator Btw and contrast that with the statement the dealership actually submitted to chrysler. Chrsyler corporate states “the evidence was so strong” but in fact they had no evidence at all. Only these statements from the service manager (that the engine was certainly disassembled and the air filter changed)
Now consider again this statement from the insurance rep who went out there and she told them this is bs what you’re doing why are you doing this to these people and the service rep "just smirked and said they’re shady"
This statement was also heard at the arbitration.
And so the arbitrator granted his ruling in our favor to the maximum he was allowed. Not because he didn’t have any other option. He had a few other options. One to deny our claim altogether. Option 2 was to grant us a warranty fix. Instead he granted us the lemon law even through chrysler lawyers expressly told him that wouldn’t apply here.
