Hi! GOOD NEWS! My engine is only flooded!!! What a relief!! But, can anyone believe this? Being told it my engine was probably destroyed because at startup it had made three huge thuds like hitting a fender with a fist and sounded like it was running backward... that they wouldn't dare start it again and needed to consult Ford? How do you flood an engine anyway, when doing a flush/replace of brake, power steering, and transmission fluids? The service manager said he didn't bleed the brake or clutch after flushing them with the machine, so he could't have been stomping on the throttle (instead of the brake)...
What a fiasco!!!! Fortunately the shop manager was in today, and my husband and I went down to talk with him, after getting inconsistent info this morning. Our whole approach was we wanted to help resolve things, not blame anyone for anything; during some slightly tense exchanges reminding that this was our intention helped move things forward positively.
After much conversation, the shop manager finally checked to make sure the clutch was engaging (it was), so we didn't have air in the clutch system system. The service manager had refused to rule this out, saying that they had heard a timing chain rattle and they "were way beyond this issue".
Then they reached a Ford service manager by phone, who said neither timing chains nor tensioner arms break out of the blue on these cars (he'd never seen it though there's always a first time...) AND that any damage that would have been done was done if the valves/pistons had collided at start-up. Finally, based on the info from Ford (and Janos and I) the shop manager decided to start the car. Janos tried to get him to turn it over with a breaker bar by hand, to be on the safe side, but he wanted to start it.
It was simply flooded! Took awhile to start, but started, and ran a little rough. The shop manager and Janos said that was because the plugs are saturated with fuel, and that he will replace the plugs at no charge. I asked, "how could it be flooded based on what was done?". He said he had no idea, but is going to check things over carefully.
The minute the car started he said he's firing the service manager for putting us (and him) through all this for no reason. Among others, a whoppingly weird and wrong statement the service manager made (in front of the shop manager) was that the 60K service included examining the timing chain, that it was only a matter of removing a couple covers and that's what the $180 charge for 60K service was all about! We asked why wouldn't he do this now then (all the time knowing that it was a HUGE job to get to the chain) since he suspected a broken chain or tensioner. He replied because now there were liability issues, and he had to get information from Ford before proceeding.
The manager said he would now handle the job himself. I think the clutch feels funny as it rises, little play at the top and a little hitch. I thought the brake felt a little hard. We'll see how it drives. I'm also still nervous that they're saying some racket came from the engine. What happened to Ferret II at that shop?! I think the shop manager will have it looked over carefully, as he was quite appalled by the situation. At one point, though, the shop manager did say he thought the problem was that the tensioner had gone when oil pressure fell, and he related it to my husband's having changed the oil. Fortunately, Janos kept his cool... but he was pissed. I have liked working with the manager, but I was disappointed he would try to hang anything on Janos' oil change.
Thank you all so much for helping in this!! Going in with some info helped us keep this thing moving forward. I really did not want them to tear into that perfectly good engine without ruling everything out!! Or, as they were on the verge of at one point, to send it to Ford to be torn up.
Lynn
