Bad bad news

Friday 3/5

Bad news. I talked to a mechanic (highly recommended by other mechanics) who said that the rod knocking down in the engine could only be fixed by replacing the engine.

Shit shit shit.

Seems the looseness, indicated by the knocking sound, means that it's messing with other parts and putting nasty stuff everywhere, like metal bits etc. So there's no fixing it, just replacing the whole thing.

And they have no way to let me stay in the rig so I'll have to stay in a motel for a couple of nights. More expense.

So I called the company who did the remanufacture of this engine, Jasper. This company has the best reputation in the business. And this engine, which was installed in July 06, only has 25,000 miles on it.

They were ever so sorry but there's nothing they could do about it as it's out of their 18-month warranty. Even though their brochure says because their products are "remanufactured" not just "rebuilt" they should work just like a new product. I don't think a rod should fail at 25k miles -- these engines should work fine for 200k miles.

So I'm screwed.

I will be posting this to the Toyota RV yahoo group, made up of long-term owners and master mechanics. I told the Jasper guy I was going to tell them and he was outraged. I said I'd bought this RV because it had one of their engines in it and I expected mechanical reliability and longevity and am not getting it.

I'm deeply depressed and plan to wallow in self-pity, at least for a while. This also means that I'll have to stay with this job until I have a definite job elsewhere, as my savings are about to be wiped out.

Sigh.