Of course, and she isn’t that gullible. You may recall the story I told about 3 years ago when she bought the car (I doubt it). I went along as expert help to make sure the dealer didn’t take her for a ride. I was arm candy. She knew exactly how to handle the negotiation. She told them how much she would pay and they returned with the contract. They omitted certain fees and she called them on it, reminding them that it was an on the road price. The sales manager admitted the error immediately and returned with a corrected contract. If I buy another car, I’m taking her to help me through the process.
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They won’t do that repair. Just replace the motor. I even talked to my usual mechanic and he said it wouldn’t be good to use an insert. I’m not an expert, it’s just what I was told.
I believe this happened while removing the bolt and seems to be a fairly common problem. Not one that they are going to pay for.
Repair is stopped at dealer? So, car is tore apart and in back lot? Waiting!
I tend to agree, I have seen Properly reman engines use an insert and it pull and crack the block around the head bolt hole… Just don’t think an insert (or Heli coil) would hold up under high torque and heat cycles… But I have not seen them all and others may have seen them work good overtime…
I don’t believe removing the head bolts caused the threads to fail in the block, the engine blocks are weak and the blots pull out due to stress and fatigue. Too many leaking head gaskets on late model vehicle for this to be normal.
This is such a common failure that there are repair tools available to drill, tap and install thread inserts, however looking at the engine block, they are thin around the bolt holes. An insert repair may not last long.
2015 Kia Sedona 3.3L pulled head bolts REPAIR. - YouTube
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Dealer shop pulled heads. Rebuilt them. Put them on block. Stripped 1 headbolt. Stopped. So, you have fresh heads and job is halted? Hmm, put in a new short block.
I just ordered a used motor. I’ve got one with a 5-year warranty including a labor warranty. Just chalk it up to a lesson learned. Don’t ever buy an aftermarket extended warranty no matter how enticing it seems.
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I believe that is my motor even though mine is going into a Sorento not a Sedona.
There’s only one reason I can think of why that would happen and it’s the same reason the original bolt failed in the first place. The base metal is inferior in some way. Otherwise, they would all eventually fail. There’s no reason a perfectly good threaded hole couldn’t be properly drilled, tapped and an insert put in and have it be just as strong as the original hole, if not stronger.
Just as an example, for a line of products at work, we purposely install inserts in every mounting hole of an aluminum baseplate on a 225 lb unit that rotates at 40+ Gs. It’s designed to withstand 80G. It produces 80kW of power and dissipates heat from the power electronics directly into the baseplate. Below the baseplate is a cold plate to remove the heat. The mounting plate gets quite hot. Analogous to the engine but TTY bolts are not used as departing from the gantry at speed is discouraged 
One explanation for this perhaps being a common problem is there is a fault in the casting method. So a percentage of blocks fabricated will exhibit the failure.
There’s a difference between a machine shop doing the repair (or at least on a stand with the proper jigs and guides) and a mechanic trying to do it in situ. I can understand a dealership shop being leery of successfully completing a lasting repair. Personally, I’d be more than willing to take the risk doing the work myself or from a trusted machine shop.
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Yes. This started 3 months ago. The warranty has declined service every chance they could and I’ve had to continually fight them.
Dealer won’t put in insert.
They agree to install used motor.
An independent shop might try insert
i know you say arbitration would be a cost you don’t want to pay, but given the little bit of knowledge I have gained in this post about the crap blocks that Hyundai put out in these engines, an arbitration process may be able to present facts of this matter and push the issue enough to get the warranty company to give in and cove this.
my first thought was that the tech screwed up, which warranty company wouldn’t cover- but dealership should. Dealership knows this engine is crap, so they won’t cover the stripped bolt, but (depending on the wording of your contract,) this is what the extended warranty is for. Endurance doesn’t want to cover it, because they can say “tech screwed up, not our problem.” with enough facts, I would think they would be persuaded.
I know you are putting in a used engine, but perhaps there is an Endurance forum out there with other folks having this issue? Prove to them that this is not the dealers fault, and perhaps it could change the outcome.
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I have always considered these pseudo-insurance policies to be nothing but a scam, and this kind of distinction proves it. It is preposterous to argue that head gasket failure on a cast iron block engine due to deterioration of the gasket over time is covered, but a head gasket failure on an aluminum block engine, caused by bolt threads “pulling out” of the engine block is not. And it is disingenuous for the warranty company to argue that the cause is a fastener coming loose, when they know full well that the problem is a design defect or metallurgical flaw in the engine–which should be covered.
And installing another used engine with the same design defect is not a solution, unless the goal is to get this vehicle running long enough to unload it. If you are planning to keep this thing for the long haul, then you should find a shop which is willing to pull the short block, send it out to a machine shop to have proper thread inserts installed, and the head gasket mating surface checked and flattened if necessary. Why would you expect a used engine of the same type and age to not develop this same problem at around the same mileage?
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I bet $10 the heads were not rebuilt. If they were then that’s a waste as motor is a core now and is leaving. Ironic, heads were removed so only shortblock was in engine bay. Would have been easier to install a shortblock now and use fresh heads. But, assumptions are being made by folks who did not work on motor.
Not disputing in general. But this involves drilling a larger diameter hole than was drilled when the car was first manufactured, right? For that drill operation to be successful, it seems like there would have to be a certain amount of extra metal surrounding the original hole. Or am I missing the point?
There are head bolt repair kits, such as Time-Sert, which are designed to solve this problem, for example in the 2002-2006 Camry 2AZ-FE engines. I have never used such a kit, and hope to never need one. When I see a used car for sale, which I am considering buying, I always look online at the head gasket replacement instructions in order to ascertain if it’s a closed-deck cast iron engine block, and if not, I pass. These open-deck designs, especially when made of aluminum are vulnerable to head gasket problems, and difficult to get a new gasket to seal. (And of course, I also look to see how difficult other maintenance operations are, such as replacing the timing belt, replacing the water pump, etc, and if too difficult, I pass.)
Yes, there needs to be a minimum wall thickness of course but perhaps not as large as one might think. Much depends on the pitch and depth of the threads when it comes to minimum thickness required. As mentioned, a stud kit is also an option however that creates a disparity in clamping force which may or may not be a concern, depending on a number of circumstances. Too often there is a tendency to get wrapped around the axle in the theoretical discussions when the practical solution is not quite as critical as feared…
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I can’t believe car has been sitting for 3 months.