Need some serious advice....

Well, i dont post too often - never had any troubles till now.... I sure could use some advice now... my 2001 was due for oil change and had a slight rough idle -barely noticable, so I decided to take it to the dealer (60 miles away) to have it checked out vs. a very reputable oil change service nearby. They changed the intake gasket ( the source of rough idle according to them), rear shoes, and the oil change. Two months later ( after maybe 1500 miles) my VX breakes down.... after some inspection it was discovered that the drivers rear cyclinder spark plug blew out of the cylinder and mangled the coil.... I got it towed back to the dealer and they give me the obvious news.... 3,600.00 for a new cylinder head. Why would the spark plug just all of the sudden blow out of its threads unless it wasnt properly (re)installed? That cylinder is an obvois tricky one to get to being under the master cylinder.... do you suppose the tech pulled the plugs looking for a source of the slight rough idle to start with? Maybe not getting it properly reinstalled? They say the guy that originally worked on it is in Jamaica for a week... my VX has 73,000 miles -I am not the original owner.... the power train warranty is only 50,000 correct? Am I totally screwed here or what? Just looking for any thoughts or advice.... thanks guys.

Well that sucks bad, but for $3600.00 I would expect a complete new engine. Maybe I am way off course on prices because i do alot of work myself, but that sounds VERY high for a head. I would think you could get one from someone parting out a vx for relatively cheap, like a couple hundred bucks, again maybe I am way off course.

Whats interesting to me is, what the cause could have been, I agree it is the hardest plug to get to and very easily to %^$* up, and I would say it probably was cross threaded. Its probably too late, but I would try to get him to admit whether he pulled them before you say what happened, beacuse if it were cross threaded a close examination would reveal it. However if he knows in advance, its not likely he would admit to it.

Personnaly I cant imagine changing the gasket without pulling the plugs, but I suppose technically its not a requirement to do so.

Hope that helps a bit
Keith

Well, I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune. I can't offer any knowledge on the cause and effect personally but I would say $3600 for a head is a raping. With some patience you could wait for a wrecked VX to come up on eBay and buy the whole thing for $4000! Not that that is your only viable solution or anything but I have seen them sell for that. Plus, with all the problems I hear about 3.5's spinning bearings there has to be some accessible heads around for cheap. I would get a second opinion and search the web... a mechanic was going to charge me $375 for just a fuel injector - without labor! I found one from ISUZUPARTS.com for something like $80 - turns out I didn't even need a new injector because all that happened was a clip came undone and the injector lost electrical current. The mechanic said they checked it but obviously they didn't. That's why I say get a second opinion. Good luck, I hope it works out for you!

Maxx,
I just bumped Tone's "misc. parts" thread to the top...He has "loaded heads" $1000.00 on his list of things for sale. Maybe pm him to see if that'll do the trick.
Ldub

i think that the powertrain warrenty on it is 75,000 miles (or 5 years) my 2001 is still under powertrain (but only has 41k).. but definately look up the warranty, i think it is 75k miles

Good call LDub!! I sent him a message - I'll let you know what I find out.... thanks for the replys guys!
Ross

On the Isuzu site it says the 10 year -120,000 mile powertrain warranty is transferrable to direct family members only - so I really dont know where that leaves me.... I did some complaining to the service manager at the dealership, I just cant believe that the thing cant be fixed with a helicoil or something... he called me back, left a message said he may have some helpful information for me... - we'll see.... I chat with him in the A.M.

My apologies, i just looked in the warranty book that came with my VX.... there is a warranty for subsequent owners that arent related.. but its 60 mo/ 60k miles, sorry about the mix up!

They used to have devices to repair a messed up spark plug hole. Why hasn't repair of the spark plug hole in your head being mentioned. They would drill out the defective hole and insert a" piece" with threads for a standard plug. Can't they do that any more? I have seen it work on everything from cars to lawn mowers. I forget the name of the procedure tool.

You can HELI-COIL the saprk plug hole, its routinely done. Like mentioned, you thread a new set of "threads" into the previous hole. usually requires enlarging the current hole. The you plug "bites" into the new metal threads. I would first go back to the shop that made the intake gasket repair and have them access the damages and make them pay/repair the spark plug hole. Do you even know for sure what amount of damage was done, what did the dealer say? And why would you have gone to the dealer and not back to the place that did they original repair, sounds related to me. Definitely look at repairing and not replacing the head!

I did take it back to the dealer ( the ones who did the intake gasket) - they say its not necessary to remove the plugs for this and they dont.... so they're saying they have never touched the plugs... when they first gave me the estimate - i was all over them about helicoiling it, but they insisted it was too far damaged - now this morning after my pressure to the service manager- he says they have a "special tool" that can replace the threads -"not a helicoil though" and I may get by with repairs costing only 400.00. Whatever.... I still dont understand why my spark plug would just all of the sudden blow out of the cylinder - I still say they removed the plugs to do the intake gasket, even though it isnt required to do so

TJMaxx, from one Connecticut VXer to another - who was the offending dealer?

For what it's worth, I think it must have been a cross-threaded plug - I cannot imagine any other cause, and I've never even heard of such a thing happening to anyone. They may have pulled the plugs to check for evidence of poor combustion (every mechanic I know can tell what's wrong with a poorly-running engine by looking at the plugs), but I guess that wouldn't have been the one to pull; or the mechanic pulled the valve cover off to make the intake gasket replacement easier (my buddy who used to have a Trooper with the 3.2L just told me that's how he did it).

Although it's absolute nonsense for them to say that "they don't pull the valve cover off to change the intake gasket" (really, how can a service manager categorically say that there's no way in the world that the mechanic in the shop didn't pull it durign the repair that happened 2 months prior?!), they're not going to willingly admit their mistake.

Good luck!!!

they could have pulled the plugs to check your ruff idle. Then not properly installed that one. When I put that one back in I have a flex shaft that works perfect. Not something you want to take a shortcut on.

But, then again the dealer doesn't care about you nor your VX...that is unless ofcourse you wanted to trade it in and then the sells department would give you the full service :o !!!