Strange engine repairs.

[Blazin]

How about some strange engine problem stories with and odd fix. Anyone got any?


Years ago I worked at the local oil / gas company. We replaced the head and intake gaskets on a 1970 F 800 with a 371 gas motor. It still blew white smoke after. Before we could get it in to look at it farther, the branch manager had a local shop come pick it up and take it to fix. Manager told us we had our chance. The guy that owned the shop is supposed to be the local Ford Guru! He replaced both head gaskets again. That didn't fix it, he replaced both heads with new ones. That didn't fix it. He replaced the intake with a used one. that didn't fix it. He then replaced the short block with a reman one. He said there must be a hair line crack in the block, and that when we worked on it we must have over torqued the head bolts. That is what caused the crack. New motor still didn't fix the problem. He sent it back three weeks later, with a bill around the $7,000 area saying he didn't know what it was. I jumped under it drilled an 1/8" hole in both mufflers, let them drain, started it, less five minutes it stopped blowing white smoke.
0 seconds ago - Edit - Delete

[ccz145a]

That is classic -- essentially replacing the whole engine, a piece at a time!

I do remember breaking a trans mount on my '65 Mustang when I was far from home. Used a pair of vise-grips to hold it and drove 6hrs back. Worked like a charm.

Chip

[Blazin]

Buddy of mine lost a belts on his 351W in his F250 while we where out wheeling one time. Him and another guy drove all the way back to my place, got a bunch of belts. When he unbolted the alternator he broke the adjustment bolt off. He had a fit. I got under the truck another guy put the belt on and tightened the slack. I clamp a 2 pairs of vise grips onto the bracket, then duct taped them so they couldn't open, and to the bracket. He drove around like that for about 3 weeks until he took it apart drilled and tapped the hole out.

[Lt.Del]

Not really and engine repair, moreso a mechanical repair.
When I was in college, many moons ago, I was heading back up I-95 after a weekend at home, going back to George Mason University.  I was taking the exit off of the interstate in Northern Virginia.  I always downshifted to help slow down while exiting.

I went to downshift down to second gear and the entire stick shift and assembly attached to the trans moved forward and back.  I couldn't get it out of high gear. Apparently only one bolt was holding the entire selector assembly and it would swivel on the one pivot bolt.

I held the clutch in and coasted to a stop off the road.  Looked up under the stang and on top of the tranny and sure enough, only one bolt holding the assembly. 

Knowing everything on a mustang is all the same bolt size and thread, i popped the hood and took out one of the 20 or so fender bolts under the hood. Took that 1/2 inch bolt and popped that joker into the gear assembly so that it would not swivel anymore and tightened up the other bolt.  VIOLA!  Back in action.

[Fordeatinz71]

well, i have a lot of stories but right now i can't really think because i'm really fried from working too long...so here's one i can think of...i had an '88 Mustang GT with a 5.0 and a 5-speed...when i got it it had this WEIRD idle issue and no matter what all i tried it wouldn't idle right.  one day i was working on it again and needed to shut it off...so messin around i covered the throttle body completely to kill it.  it sucked the cardboard i used tight against it...and KEPT running.  turns out the intake manifold gasket was shot and it started sucking air from around the intake when the main source of air was cut off...i thought it was pretty cool...fixed those gaskets and it idled like a dream...sounded great too...something about a Ford 302 with nice exhaust...

oh, i got one more.  when i was a 17 year old private in the Army (2000) i had a Humvee come in and all the geared hubs, t-case and differentials were FULL of fuel and leaking.  took me a while but i figured out that the vent tube on top of the fuel pump had gotten mistakenly placed on the return nipple...turns out there are two fittings that are just alike on Humvee fuel pumps (6.2/6.5/6.5 turbo mechanical fuel pumps) that can get reversed easily...when this happens the truck will still run, but the fuel will "return" to the rest of the components in the vent tube system...

[JCFreak]

I had a 454 in a Camaro years ago. Daily driver/dragracer. I was doing regular checks on it one day and pulled the dipstick and the oil was milky white. Pulled the motor down. No bad gaskets, heads checked ok and block checked ok. Every check done said there was nothing wrong. A friend of mine at the engine shop got to thinking and desided to put the block in the oven and heat it up and then pressure test the cooling system. Block started leaking in the lifter valley. What we figured happened was when the block was cast a pocket in the valley didnt cast properly and some casting sand was still in there and it finally came out causing the leak when it heated up.