If you deal with
Competition Heads in Mobile Alabama
this could happen to you, or something like it
A little background:
In 2010 I brought my head and block on my 6BT Cummins to Competition Heads in Mobile Alabama because I had oil in the cooling water. The engine only had 452 hours on it. Both head and block checked out ok but I replaced the block anyway because it would be very difficult to remove from the boat later. Since it was very low hours they took the parts out of the old block and put them in the new block. I put the long block back in the boat and reassembled the engine. The engine sat there until 2017 while we completed the refit of the boat.
First thing I discovered:
When I went to start the engine in 2017, I put oil in the top of the engine and it ran out the cover over the push rods. On inspection we discovered the j-gasket was put on upside down and backwards. There are two tags on the gasket, one says 'outside' and the other says 'front'. Competition Heads installed the gasket with the 'outside' on the inside and 'front' in the back. We had to remove the cover and change the gasket. Do able but not real easy with the injector pump on. This can be verified by a US Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer MK (mechanic) that was helping me get the engine started.
The second thing that happened was:
We lost oil pressure when there was ten hours on the new block. After the engine was running, I changed oil at one hour. We were on a shake-down cruise when the engine lost the oil pressure. Had to get towed back to the marina. When we tore the engine down for the marine surveyor we discovered there was a steel washer jammed in the oil pump. (see picture). There was only one way that that washer could have gotten in the pump - it was left in the oil pick-up tube. Also, upon inspection it was discovered there were metal flakes in the oil, therefore the block was no longer useable. I ordered a remanufactured long block and installed it in the boat.
Both things were, in my opinion, due to sloppy work.
In 2010 I brought my head and block on my 6BT Cummins to Competition Heads in Mobile Alabama because I had oil in the cooling water. The engine only had 452 hours on it. Both head and block checked out ok but I replaced the block anyway because it would be very difficult to remove from the boat later. Since it was very low hours they took the parts out of the old block and put them in the new block. I put the long block back in the boat and reassembled the engine. The engine sat there until 2017 while we completed the refit of the boat.
First thing I discovered:
When I went to start the engine in 2017, I put oil in the top of the engine and it ran out the cover over the push rods. On inspection we discovered the j-gasket was put on upside down and backwards. There are two tags on the gasket, one says 'outside' and the other says 'front'. Competition Heads installed the gasket with the 'outside' on the inside and 'front' in the back. We had to remove the cover and change the gasket. Do able but not real easy with the injector pump on. This can be verified by a US Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer MK (mechanic) that was helping me get the engine started.
The second thing that happened was:
We lost oil pressure when there was ten hours on the new block. After the engine was running, I changed oil at one hour. We were on a shake-down cruise when the engine lost the oil pressure. Had to get towed back to the marina. When we tore the engine down for the marine surveyor we discovered there was a steel washer jammed in the oil pump. (see picture). There was only one way that that washer could have gotten in the pump - it was left in the oil pick-up tube. Also, upon inspection it was discovered there were metal flakes in the oil, therefore the block was no longer useable. I ordered a remanufactured long block and installed it in the boat.
Both things were, in my opinion, due to sloppy work.
You can see the washer jammmed in there, it also cracked the housing
Here you can see the idler gear cocked, the entire oil pump casing was broken off behind the idler gear
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I did write them a letter with pictures and an explanation and requested some kind of compensation. I did receive a note from them stating that the legal statute of limitations had run out. I already knew that, I was hoping for some kind of moral responsibility. After all, they did the work and the engine only had 10 hours on it before the washer got jammed in the oil pump.
Everything on this page can be verified.