I?m getting screwed by Elias Christeas & John Gadd

az_max

1
Apr 22, 2005
7,463
2
I'm torn on this one. Knowing the fragile nature of Rover motors, I think I'd only buy one used on the premise of rebuilding it while still driving on the old one. But in a pinch, I might have to buy one and install it and pray for the best. My best guess is the original owner took no better care of the replacement motor than he did the first. He may have been able to hide the damage well enough to the next owners, and they may just have been on borrowed time. It's happened to me more than once on Ebay while buying stuff. Rarely do I get something in better condition than what's advertised. Take the best parts of the motor, replace or rebuild the bad parts and go from there.
 

Drillbit

Well-known member
Oct 12, 2005
5,943
1
Glasgow Ky
How much time passed from when you installed the motor and when you got it running again after the tranny problems?
 
D

D Chapman

Guest
Awesome. Here comes Drillfag and he's going to tell us about ethics of doing business.
 

Drillbit

Well-known member
Oct 12, 2005
5,943
1
Glasgow Ky
I love you to Dan. It's a legit question. If a lot of time went by between when he bought the motor and when he could actually drive his car this isn't a warranty issiue, it's a good will one. Did they state the terms of the warranty?
 

Drillbit

Well-known member
Oct 12, 2005
5,943
1
Glasgow Ky
p m said:
How can one possibly give a warranty on a Rover V8???

You don't have to drink heavily to do it but it sure helps. I sell all my motors with a warranty as does everyone else I know who does this for a living on here. It's not fun when someone calls me after 59 days to say the motor has a problem but it's part of the job that sometimes it happens. However if the warranty runs out or if the buyer voids the warranty by doing something it's another matter all together.
 

jymmiejamz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2004
6,008
361
35
Los Angeles, Ca
How did you not notice the over sized head bolt when you had the valve covers off to do the intake? I'm skeptical of the whole stop leak bit as well...

IMO what it comes down to is that you bought used parts. With used parts you are taking a gamble, and you lost. If you want something that you know is good then buy a new part.
 
It is difficult to please everyone every time.

None of us are perfect.

We are all in less than perfect financial straits.

We have no real evidence of anything bad taking place with the exception of excessive turbulence in the expansion tank.

Parts were sent to try to make it right, offers of return and inspect were made but not taken advantage of.

It looks as though John and Elias made multiple concessions to the buyer-on a $500 used engine. In the past damned near 40 years of wrenching, I've bought many, many used engines. Sadly, too many of them weren't worth the time and effort to bring home (one memorable 327 Chevy engine even had the water jacket on the intake cracked, along with the block and both heads!).

If it runs and the only complaint is unexplainable bubbling in the expansion tank, for the love of all Rovers, run it on increasingly longer trips-with a real water temp gauge.

There might be a problem, there might not be.

I'm back to lurking.

Dan go back to bashing MAR, MARty is a god guy in spite of what you think of a situation that you didn't even have a dog in the fight!
 

Jake

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,994
0
64
Oklahoma City, OK
I am still amazed at the frgile nature of the Rover V9. I have had three Discos and none ever had head gasket, liner problems, never mind heads. I drove the shit out of all of them, wheeling and using them like a pick up truck. One (a 940 even went 345 thousand miles on the original engine before I got t-boned by an F 350. Is there a run of bad blocks out there?
 

jhmover

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2004
5,571
3
California
I can't speak of your situation personally but I've purchased from John Gadd before and got a terrific set of seats to replace the ones in my Disco for like 200 bucks (leather even), there was never an issue whatsoever, I feel a got more than my monies worth. Quite of few people in California buy stuff from him, I've never heard a complaint.
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
15,639
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La Jolla, CA
www.3rj.org
Jake said:
I am still amazed at the frgile nature of the Rover V9.
V9, damn..

Really, Rover V8s aren't fragile at all. All it takes is the owner paying attention to the temperature gauge, and looking around his/her engine once in a while.
 
I just want everybody involved (and not) to take a deep breath and look at what's really involved here.

It's only $500. If I had a dime...

We still don't know anything is really wrong, just that the expansion tank is very turbulent.

John and Elias are good guys and wouldn't have the reputation either has if they weren't basically good guys. That said, everybody makes a mistake once in awhile.
 

Flyfish

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2004
1,402
212
52
St. Louis
D Chapman said:
I'm wondering how you know stop leak was ran through it.

Yes residue. And when i took the heads/gaskets to the shop they said "someone used stop leak. Nice."

There's always risks in used parts and I wouldn't expect a 12,000 mile warranty. Maybe 12.

But if parts are sold as good, or "great in this case", it should probably work at least once.
 

Flyfish

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2004
1,402
212
52
St. Louis

Elias, you?re gonna wear out those mad acting skills if you?re not careful! Lets review and also compare a few things to the ?Inbox?. I?m a fan of Non-fiction.

he blew up his tranny b/c he made a mistake and what did he do? took it to a shop for a prefessional service. done deal. by the way, he pleaded for a deal on a tranny t/c set up and we sold him the one formery attatched to the motor he bought from us for $150....

Still dwelling on the tranny?

The same rover mechanic that helped my with the install is the shop you sent the tranny to. A tranny swap on the garage floor didn?t sound like fun.

Do I shop for a good price? Yep. But lets review the conversation (pleading) when I inquired about getting a tranny?.


T:
What year D1 did my engine come out of?? I can't remember.
E:
95! the tranny is lonely and misses its old friend. . .
T:
I'm gonna go look at one on friday, but give me cost on yours to compare. I'll be able to get one here for 3-400. If it weren't for the shipping costs, i probably would have already had you send it.
E:
i think i quoted ya on it already - $250 with the torque converter - gonna be about $100 shipped.


The tranny here was garbage, so I bought E?s.

he wanted to try his hand do it yourself style - fine. but if i were to post ALL THE SCHIZOPHRENIC emails that he sent to me it would embarrass him to no end - i do not trust ANY of todd's tests or technical ability whatsoever. he has no idea what he is talking about.

Go for it, I don?t embarrass easily. Nor do the facts bother me. Shit, I?ll post em.

I think most of my tests involved replacing old (good) parts with new. Otherwise, am I technically skilled enough to alter Napa?s block test fluid? Or maybe use some sort of special power to alter the readout on the laser temp gun?? I do have powers.


once upon a time, I had no idea what i was talking about - but i learned at great expense, and never tried to belittle anyone who i felt misinformed me.

He wants us to pay for this and pay for that - and who's to say we're paying for him to learn, when in fact, there may be something else going on. and why the fuck would he use replacement parts - serviced incompletely - from his previously blown motor....

Replacement parts- serviced incompletely? You mean the tested, leveled heads with new seals and valve work? Vs. using your warped heads from your previously blown motor?

Yep, silly me decided to use the good ones.


too many other things have crossed my way which present the same symptoms, but he doesnt care - as i have advised him of all this.

Unfortunately, I don?t recall much advice addressing combustion gasses in the coolant. Was it the cooling hoses, vacuum leak, heater core, radiator, valley gasket or something else? I guess with more experience, I will see all those things get combustion in to the cooling system?

if anyone is interested - this motor was sold to him for $500 after he pleaded with me for a deal b/c he was up shits creak.

Or? the conversation (pleading) was more like this?..
E:
whats up dude - got 2 d1's in yesterday and today. 1 has a replacement 3.9 in it with 40k on it, serpentine, dont know the price but we'd hook it up.

T:
I may be interested in it.

E:
yo dude - wanted to check in with ya because you kinda had dibbs. a guy brought his 88 in today and wants that 40k 3.9 installed like YESTERDAY. we have that other d1 i just bought - also with a 3.9 serp that i think i quoted you 400 + s/h (anywahere from 2-300). i dont want you to feel snaked if this guy wants to throw down cash tomorrow.

T:
Hard to say without a price, but go ahead.

E:
compression's good - it ranges from 155-165. how complete would you need it? if your putting it into a classic, you'll need everything (minus the dizzy). $500 s/h since its my birthday today and i'm feelin celebratory! lemme know, the guy with the motor swap is kinda on the fence cuz his truck also needs diffs, swivels, a t-case. . . oi.

T:
Happy B-day! Hopefully the rover-fairy brought you some fun stuff!

It's going into my 95 swb. I definately want to talk about it. Give me your phone # or you can call me. I probably won't check d-web again until monday if you PM me your number.

Thank you!


Was everyone on the edge of their seats or what?!

i feel bad for you, todd. do you take responsibility for anything in your life?

Don't go keepin youself up at night.
 

KyleT

Well-known member
Mar 28, 2007
6,059
8
39
Fort Worth, TEXAS
So, did you drive it yet to see if it runs hot???

E:
yo dude - wanted to check in with ya because you kinda had dibbs. a guy brought his 88 in today and wants that 40k 3.9 installed like YESTERDAY. we have that other d1 i just bought - also with a 3.9 serp that i think i quoted you 400 + s/h (anywahere from 2-300). i dont want you to feel snaked if this guy wants to throw down cash tomorrow.

so did you get the one with 40k or the other one? its ambiguous and from my pov it seems he is talking about the not-40k motor???
 
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Flyfish

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2004
1,402
212
52
St. Louis
KyleT said:
So, did you drive it yet to see if it runs hot???



so did you get the one with 40k or the other one? its ambiguous and from my pov it seems he is talking about the not-40k motor???

No, haven't driven it. I didn't want to make a bad situation worse.

It's the 40k unit.