Life just got really bad, really quick. I need some advice.

In reply to Steve_Jones :

He's already spent more than $300 by not getting it diaged, in opportunity cost as the plan is to sell the car once it's fixed. in the meantime he's made another month's payment and another month's insurance payment on it. He can cut down on the amount of the diag by doing the oil change and confirming whether or not there's sparkling glitter in place. He could also cut down on it by doing a compression test. But physically location-wise, it doesn't sound sound or prudent to do either, nor does it sound like a prudent location to do a timing chain, guides and tensioner. I diag things before I go to a shop, and 95% of the time I know what's wrong. But here's the thing, You're paying for the diag anyway. That shop is doing the job and you're having them do the job, based on their expertise. if Mr Jones brings his car in and says that X y and Z is bad and I perform job X y and Z without a diag and it doesn't fix the car, Guess who has a pissed-off customer and guess who also has no recourse against the pissed-off customer. If you're not paying for diag I'm not allowing you to drop the keys off at my shop. 

More than 80% of the time the diag cost rolls into the cost of the repair. If I charge you 2 hours to R&R the oil pan to check the bearings and oil pump, and one of those needs attention, That labor overlaps it applies to the bill. 

People who don't pay for diag set you up for liability, and they're also the people that if you don't charge for diag when you tell them what's wrong, they have a cousin who will do it cheaper and you don't get the job. So any shop that allow you to take it without charging a diag, is a E36 M3 shop. 

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

I agree with you, but you're blasting the shop for not doing $300 worth of diagnostics (your words) and jumping right to it's a bad shop. All I'm pointing out is maybe he didn't authorize the $300 diagnostics, how is that the shops fault?

He was told to cut the filter open at least 3 weeks ago, and a few times since then but refuses to. That's a very easy step, yet he thinks it makes more sense to continue to drive the car and blame others for not doing their job.

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I follow you now. I picked up some of that beforehand, and if I were the service writer, and again this could have all been declined, I would have outlined what was going to be covered at various amounts of diagnosis. Starting with compression check and oil change, then having the option of dropping the pan as needed. In this instance I wouldn't have pushed to drop the pan, as there's a chance that the job wouldn't sell if it was in fact a bearing or anything involving the fuel pump. 

regarding the inquiry made elsewhere in the thread regarding a compression check. These are interference motors and if the timing chain is off enough you can have valves bend on the pistons, That's why you want your compression check. 

The amount of time taken before tempting to diag is concerning. I understand their situations regarding work area. But community colleges still have facilities and even if they're not doing in person classes, there are shop instructors who are still doing work and diags out of the shops. An either doing live streams recordings or photographing what they do to distribute to students who are either current or future students. There's some people in this world who are wired to look at why they can't do something instead of finding a solution to get over the hurdles keeping them from doing what needs to be done to move forward and cross something off the list. 

Dude it's been weeks and you haven't figured out how to pull a valve cover or cut and oil filter. Make a move. You have everything you need. Get something done. 

In reply to tuna55 :

Perhaps both you and my biggest fan Steve missed where I said I already pulled the valve cover off a while ago and found no evidence of scoring or scratches, no burn marks, no wiggle, and no slack. I also ran the car for a few seconds with the valve cover off and the sound did not change any and wasn't any louder. I also posted earlier that I did ask the dealer to check and confirm the problem. They listened to it briefly and the guy assured me 100% that it was a rod knocking and I needed a new engine. This is the first time I've ever taken a car to a mechanic and I can see why dealerships have such a bad rep. 
 

Next is the oil filter. I had to purchase some things first in order to do that. I checked the dipstick in accordance to the one link someone posted earlier, and saw zero evidence of any metallic debris or rainbow shiny patterns. I'll go ahead and do the oil filter to ensure that's ruled out. Now my only barrier is safely jacking the car up on sugar sand. Serious question here for you all - is putting the jack and jack stands on thick plywood safe?  Better or worse than ramps?  This is a 3600lb car. Will 3/4" plywood safely hold?

Also if a valve was hitting a piston, wouldn't that pretty much wreck the motor right away?

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

Ok, I understand now. The compression is to check for a failed tensioner and not bearings. I thought you guys meant it in order to diagnose the bearings. Makes sense.

You can probably also hook up an OBD tool and check your timing will running. No? Borrow it from the autoparts and go for a spin. 

I find it interesting that the $7 dollar oil filter is not out and cut already ...

In reply to infinitenexus :

3/4" plywood should be fine. You are jacking just the front, not the whole car. Put a brick or a wheel chock on the back wheels for extra precaution. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

I just want to point out in 8 days you have managed to find your own place, tap into your funds, have the wife look for extra hours, get the unemployment answered, and put a good amount of effort/time into fixing the car that sat in your parents driveway not moving. You're also willing to spend $1200+ to fix it now. 
 

Maybe, just maybe your Dad and step-mom were mad for a reason. You've done more in 8 days than you did in 3 months while living with them. If anything you've proven their point. 
 

I saw that you pulled the valve cover, and again, you did the harder/longer job instead of the simple one, and are mad at us for wondering why.  

Geez.... you are getting bombarded.  Take a deep breath.

There is a high percentage chance that the guy at the dealership knows his poop, and you have a bad bearing.   I am basing this on the fact that you stated that you have already inspected the valve train, and saw nothing out of place.

If that is true you need to take Tom's advice many posts above.

I threw a rod bearing in my motorhome in Canada last year.   (a wee bit far away from home, and my shop)   I was able to buy an engine out of Kentucky and have it installed in Canada for a total of $6K.   

Now, you have to ask yourself... can i pull off this repair and it still make sense.   If it is a rod i don't believe you can fix it laying in the dirt in your front yard.   Just saying.

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I'm really glad you know exactly what I've done the past three months!  For the record, in the last three months I've also completed a semester of college, among other things. Sorry to disappoint you.  In all seriousness though, it's obvious you have a problem with me and have nothing really helpful to offer, just cutting comments. There's really no reason for you to post in here anymore. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

Yup I missed it, sorry. I was thinking the timing cover. 

Yes, plywood and stands will do it, just make sure it's solid. Should take ten minutes to get it off. 

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

I do understand what you're saying. My issue is that I still feel it's the timing chain tensioner.  I was a bit too stressed from them throwing around numbers like $8000 to catch it at the time, but looking back several things the mechanic said didn't add up, and several things people have said in here also add to that. I'm going to do the filter tomorrow after getting some 3/4" plywood to help narrow things down. I wish there was a way everyone could hear it in person - a cell phone video just doesn't do it justice.  

In reply to tuna55 :

Thank you. I'll grab a couple of those 2'X2'X3/4" squares to toss under the jacks. If nothing else, that'll be more motivation to hurry up and get the filter off quickly haha. 
 

Also, I don't know if it matters any but this noise started about 50 miles after I got my last oil change. I've read countless other stories about mustangs ticking after oil changes, but it's usually the bbq lighter tick or the noisy lifters tick or any of the fifty other noises this engine is known to make. 

Also if by chance it does wind up being a rod, then I think Tom's advice is probably the best way to go. Fingers crossed, though. 

infinitenexus said:

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I'm really glad you know exactly what I've done the past three months!  For the record, in the last three months I've also completed a semester of college, among other things. Sorry to disappoint you.  In all seriousness though, it's obvious you have a problem with me and have nothing really helpful to offer, just cutting comments. There's really no reason for you to post in here anymore. 

I have no problem with you. I'm just not telling you what you want to hear. You want to hear how unfair everything is, and make excuses for why it's not your fault. I don't agree with you, and obviously your Dad didn't either. I think you need to be responsible for your own family, and stop making excuses of why it can't be done. 
 

Like I said above, you've done more in the last week to figure it out and make it happen. The only thing that changed was you were finally forced to do it. Once that happened, you found a way to do it instead of a reason you couldn't. 
 

I'm actually glad you did because if not, you'd be in the same situation in a year as opposed to where you're going now. I bet if you look back in a year, this will end up being a good thing, if not the best thing, to happen to you. It might not feel like it now, but you'd be surprised. 

Steve_Jones said:

I'm actually glad you did because if not, you'd be in the same situation in a year as opposed to where you're going now. I bet if you look back in a year, this will end up being a good thing, if not the best thing, to happen to you. It might not feel like it now, but you'd be surprised. 

I have to agree with Steve and his tough love approach to you. You have done very well this past week in getting your act together, which means you can better your life situation and that of your family. Keep it up and you'll be in great shape by the time you are ready to move north. 

Now go and remove that filter. We are all desperate to see the clean innards. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

Something that I have often found lots of uses for is lengths of planks. 2x12 x whatever (I also have some 2x18). They work like ramps, help secure stuff from sliding in a van/trailer/whatever, span across moving dollies, you get the idea.  That may be more dual use than squares of plywood, and they will still support a jack. I guess they could tip sideways in really soft stuff, though, so whatever you think is best will work fine.

Here's the thing though - I wasn't just sitting on my ass for three months, as Steve accused me of doing. I was busy the whole time and getting a lot of things done. There's a big difference between "tough love" and Steve's comments like "OP should do this but I know he won't because he's too lazy," which is about all he's said. That helps precisely nothing, it's just you (Steve) being a shiny happy person. And I'm not looking for anyone to tell me how unfair things are. Quite the contrary. I'm over stressed and I need to take a breath, center myself, and approach this one step at a time. Others have offered wonderful advice, which has helped a lot and I'm grateful for it. You just keep saying I'm too lazy to do anything and that my dad was right - which makes me laugh, because friendly reminder, my dad never threw us out. My stepmom did when she was drunk and stressed out from dealing with her drunk brother all week.  My dad repeatedly told us he didn't want us to leave. He just didn't have the stones to speak up and really do much except mope about it and say he didn't understand why my stepmom flipped out. 
 

So unless you have something that's actually beneficial to say, I'm just going to ignore you from now on and focus on the people that have actually been trying to help. 

matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to infinitenexus :

Something that I have often found lots of uses for is lengths of planks. 2x12 x whatever (I also have some 2x18). They work like ramps, help secure stuff from sliding in a van/trailer/whatever, span across moving dollies, you get the idea.  That may be more dual use than squares of plywood, and they will still support a jack. I guess they could tip sideways in really soft stuff, though, so whatever you think is best will work fine.

Thank you, Matthew. My main concern is the softness of the sand, so I'd like to try to spread out the footprint some. I'm going to try the 2 foot square pieces of plywood as thick as I can find them. First thing tomorrow morning I'll be grabbing some so I can get this done. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

Don't take it personally, you're doing great. Just take it in that you've demonstrated progress.

The backstory can come later but from this thread, call it act one, you've been thrown out  and now it's go time. You've found a place, you've figured out how to get some money back, you're wife is pregnant (again happy anniversary and hope you guys have a great Christmas all things considered), you're killing it in class.

Next up is the mustang, yes it's intimidating, but that's where this forum has great expertise also. Don't hurt yourself but get that sucker in the air and check things out. This is the internet and we're all impatient here, 12 second cars on $2k in a hotel parking lot and all that 

You're running this thread and everyone really does want you to be successful. I agree if you go back and read it a year from now you'll be proud of yourself.

Hello there, resident coyote expert chiming in here (see VMPPerformance.com). As someone who builds these daily, please don't try to tear this apart in your driveway if you think taking a valve cover off was hard. These 11-12 motors are the worst iteration of the coyote motor and are very susceptible to spinning bearings. If you want a second opinion and can afford to get the car over to Daytona Beach I'd be glad to look at it for you, however, it doesn't sound too promising for any repair besides a used truck motor. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

I've made 6 posts in this thread. Show me where I said you were sitting on your ass for 3 months, and/or called you lazy. I'll wait. 
 

if you read my posts without a chip on your shoulder, maybe you'll see I'm on your side.

In reply to JesseSpiker :

Can you tell me anything about replacing the timing chain tensioner?  I probably misspoke about the valve cover - it was a pain mostly because I've never worked on a V8 before and there was just some stuff in the way, along with that rearmost bolt being kinda hard to get to.  Now that I've done it I could probably do it again in 5 minutes.  If it winds up not being the timing chain tensioner I'll probably give you a call.  Thanks!

In reply to infinitenexus :

It's a fairly involved process as far as timing chain procedures, it's pretty simple disassembly of the motor prior to that. I will say again, this does not sound like a failed tensioner. Pull an oil sample and send it to black stone for $28. They will tell you if there is a significant amount of bearing material in your oil. 

JesseSpiker said:

Hello there, resident coyote expert chiming in here (see VMPPerformance.com). As someone who builds these daily, please don't try to tear this apart in your driveway if you think taking a valve cover off was hard. These 11-12 motors are the worst iteration of the coyote motor and are very susceptible to spinning bearings. If you want a second opinion and can afford to get the car over to Daytona Beach I'd be glad to look at it for you, however, it doesn't sound too promising for any repair besides a used truck motor. 

Very cool of you to offer. Cheers for doing so!