[NoVa-Corvairs] client car issue

[Daniel Goldberg]

In 2002, my client puts his 1997 Ford F-150 (70k) into "storage".  He goes to 
Germany and the middle east.

In March he returns to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

He says he has the F-150 towed to a local shop for fluids and filters, and 
that he did not try to start it.  The shop says he did try to start it.

(I believe the shop and not my client.)

Mechanic attempts to determine why the F-150 won't start.  He runs a 
compression test and finds low compression on three cylinders. He determines 
that the camshaft has destroyed the valves -- he theorizes that the valves 
were stuck open and the lobes sheared them off because no oil was getting to 
the top end.

The mechanic had the heads machined and repaired.  He reinstalled them.  The 
F-150 is running well.

Soldier pays $2,700 and receives back the F-150.

His wife is driving it and it shows low oil pressure.  Naturally, she 
continues to drive it.

Heads are redestroyed, F-150 is towed back to mechanic.  Mechanic removes the 
oil pan and finds that all this crap circulated through the engine, clogged 
the passages and oil pump, which most likely rewrecked the heads.

Mechanic will charge clients $1,200 to repair new damage.

My client was beligerent and not open to discussion or compromise.  The fact 
that his wife and young child were in my office also put me on edge.  I spoke 
with the mechanic who was quite calm and reasonable.  The meeting deteriorated.

Non-gearheads expect mechanics to be perfect.  We know better.  My client is 
an asshole and I'd prefer not to deal with him again, but I can't shake the 
feeling that the mechanic should have determined *why* the heads were 
destroyed the first time.  If the mechanic pulled the heads, should he not 
also have pulled the pan?  There was probably so much crud in the engine due 
to infrequent oil changes -- I'm guessing.  And certainly the wife should not have 
continued to drive the vehicle.  Again, though, the mechanic repaired the 
vehicle without fully diagnosing the problem.

Thoughts?

I'm so happy that I'm getting kicked upstairs to the prosecutor's office in 
two weeks.

daniel