Who to blame for 440 Throwing a Rod

[Big_John]

Is it likely that I made a mistake after picking up the car/ made a bad purchase to begin with

Quite possibly. Read on.

is my mechanic the one likely at fault?

No, not at all....

When you looked at the car to buy, did the engine make any rod noise? What did the oil look like when you pulled out the dip stick? What did the coolant look like?

If your mechanic had the car, wouldn't he say "there's an engine noise" if it had one?

Did the car sit without being run for a long time? Did you hammer on the car when you first got it on the highway?

Since the car has forklift damage, that tells me it has a very checkered past... When you looked at the car, how bad did that damage look? Usually, the only time a car gets moved with a fork lift is in a junk yard....

All that said, no one has a crystal ball... You bought the car and when you buy an old car, you have to do your due diligence when you inspect it. Perhaps having someone else more knowledgeable with you the next time might help.

Blaming someone that did some simple work isn't right.

IMHO, **** happens with old cars. It's 57 years old. Sometimes with warning and sometimes without. It's happened to most of us... All is good until there's a bang and a big puddle of oil and coolant.

 

[Triple Pickle]

In the past, I’ve picked up cars from the 60’s that didn’t require total mechanical refurbishing. But, they were only 20 years old. Now, they are nearly 60 years old. If the PO hasn’t already gone through everything then you’ll have too. Not just plugs and an oil change. Engine comes out and on a stand for disassembly and inspection,
along with everything else in the drivetrain. Do you have to do that? No. But, don’t be surprised when you’re broke down with no one to blame but yourself.
A new Chrysler 300 with the biggest engine available is around $56,000 and comes with a warranty. Compare that to what you paid for one 57 years old.

 

[ALRUI]

The old fashioned blame- game, love it.
In the trade we call it the "ever since".
Ever since you changed my brake bulb, my front tire goes flat.
Ever since you changed my coolant, the diff blew up. Can't believe you didn't tell me.
And on and on.

My son tells stories like this every few days. They service XYZ and a few days later the customer is back blaming them for ABC....

 

[cuda hunter]

How does a fork lift damage a gas tank?
No one lifts a car from the rear. Were they pushing the car around with a fork lift?

Are we ever gonna get any pictures here? Would love to see the car and the piston hanging out of the motor.

@Lil_Hoss ?? Still around?

 

[Margos Dezirian]

Sludge can build up in the oil pan and plug the oil pick up screen.
The oil pressure lamp may not work so you won't have any idea.
When I as younger I had this happen with two good running BB MOPAR engines when I started driving them regularly.
I will always pull the pan on an older car I plan to drive from now on.


Uncle Tony @ 10:56

 

[Lil_Hoss]

Apologies for being MIA, posted this thread shortly before beginning the process of moving into a new place. Relieved to hear that its almost impossible for my mechanic to be the root cause of this as I have been going to him for years and we have a great relationship. It was not a conversation I wanted to have in the first place hence the original inquiry. I never got any mention from him of anything unusual about the oil change, he also only has a few techs all of them experienced.

Didn't mention in the original post that when the engine blew the oil swiftly began dumping. Maybe oil was leaking before the rod went flying but my mechanic has yet to do an autopsy. Clarification on the speedo cable sounds: I certainly heard a bang when that cloud of smoke went up but with the cable noise and whistling from the vent window it wasn't immediately obvious my engine had been destroyed and I didn't identify anything off about the engine sounds before it blew up.

In regards to the previous owner I might have been conned but I felt like this was a relatively trustworthy purchase. Originally saw the car listed on ebay from someone with thousands of feedback and 0 negative interactions but there were no bids. Privately reached out and went to look at it to find out that he was a collector with 2 other classic cars in the driveway. He mentioned having just sold another and that he was getting rid of all of them to simplify his projects. It seemed like he more wanted the cars out of his driveway and in the hands of someone with time for them rather than getting the market value but maybe that's just a story he was using. The night that I bought it a tow truck delivered a Triumph Stag, his new project. When I picked up the New Yorker the only car left was the Stag. He mentioned the novelty of driving the car wearing out for him so it might have sat around a month or so at a time but he gave me no reason to believe any long term neglect had taken place.

My understanding is the bottom end of a 440 should be the hardest part of the block for a failure to take place so I thought there might be an obvious reason something like this may have happened. (I have no recourse with the seller so this isn't about trying to sue him but more about learning the right lesson from this whole debacle) Thanks for the help folks

 

[Lil_Hoss]

How does a fork lift damage a gas tank?
No one lifts a car from the rear. Were they pushing the car around with a fork lift?

Are we ever gonna get any pictures here? Would love to see the car and the piston hanging out of the motor.

@Lil_Hoss ?? Still around?

Apologies, this is currently the only picture I have of the tank damage from the ebay listing. Next time I am around the shop I can get some pictures of the piston but I just moved 30 minutes away from where the car is currently lodged

 

[twostick]

I'd be almost willing to bet when you pull the pan off, you will find the oil pick up plugged up with nylon timing gear teeth.

Kevin

 

[66 Monaco 500 365]

Many decades ago I bought a 440 from a storage auction, got it for $40
I pulled it apart and found the rod bolts were stretched more than 0.015" they must have been torqued to more than 75 foot pounds.
If I ran the motor without replacing the rod bolts and torquing them correctly, I'm sure the first time it was revved, it would have "failed" catastrophically.
Just because an engine is "rebuilt" or "Fresh" that doesn't mean it was done correctly, someone without talent can make it a ticking time bomb.
My $.02