[DeTomaso] MME ENGINE FAILURE UPDATE

Fri Sep 12 19:41:15 EDT 2008

Chuck,
I think it safe to say many of us are very interested in Jesel's 
appraisal of what is wrong.  These things shouldn't break and we all 
want to know why so we can avoid it in the future.  I'm sure MME is very 
interested too (hoping it's not something they did of course), though I 
should think -they- should have been the ones to really contact Jesel in 
the first place.

One has to wonder if they engaged in some kind of experiment, ala "I 
wonder if we do -this- if it will give more torque/horsepower... let's 
find out."

... without of course, telling the customer.  Jesel unfortunately will 
be the one to spend money in order to find out what went wrong, and if 
they find it was not a failure on -their- part, MME will most likely be 
left holding the bag.  I wouldn't want to be MME right now.

Asa Jay

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired

& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA

1973 Pantera L 5533
[ASASCAT]

******************************     
http://www.asajay.com
http://www.351c.info

Charles Engles wrote:
> Dear Chris,
>
>
>                  Let me see if I understand this problem.
>                1) you buy a high dollar, custom engine from MME
>                 2)  it breaks in short order
>                3)  they tell you that the warranty is good only until it 
> breaks
>                4)  you or they discover that you have two broken rocker arms
>                5)  the rocker arms are replaced and all is well until ...
>                6)  it breaks again----another, different, rocker arm
>                7)  MME is out of the loop, but Jesel will replace it AND 
> they want to look at your engine and valve train to try to determine why so 
> many rocker arms are breaking
>
>                        Is that right?    If so, then I would be very 
> interested in Jesel's evaluation of the MME valve train.   I am a rookie 
> engine builder, but I think that outright rocker arm failure is uncommon and 
> that multiple failures suggests either a very bad batch of rockers or a 
> fundamentally flawed valve train.
>
>                   The last time I was in the middle of a similar situation, 
> the flawed engine builder accused the objective third party of purposefully 
> and wrongfully blaming them, because "they only wanted to charge you to 
> rebuild a perfectly good engine"!!!      I suspect that you may hear a 
> similar refrain after Jesel's examination.
>
>
>                           Good luck,  Chuck Engles
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chris Lewis" <clewis at dmn.net>
> To: <detomaso at realbig.com>
> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 1:13 PM
> Subject: [DeTomaso] MME ENGINE FAILURE UPDATE
>
>
>   
>> >From the PI Website:
>>
>> The engine broke it's third Pro series Jesel shaft rocker on Labor Day 
>> weekend.
>>
>> I had planned to attend Lime Rock Park's "Day In the Park" car show the 
>> Sunday of Labor Day Weekend with Mel Goldenberg and some other friends.
>>
>> We had left my house and were on the road and covered about 20 miles when 
>> the engine started sputtering again and refusing to develop power.
>>
>> I was forced to pull into the Darien, CT service area on Route #95 and get 
>> flatbedded back home. Thank God for AAA Plus!
>>
>> When I got the valve covers off there was another rocker arm, snapped off 
>> on the pushrod side of the rocker. This time the rocker was on the drivers
>> side bank. Last time two snapped on different cylinders on the passenger 
>> side of the engine. One was an intake and one was an exhaust the first 
>> time.
>> I am not sure whther it was exhaust or intake this time.
>>
>> The good news is that Jesel has agreed to provide free replacement parts 
>> for all 3 rocker arms in this case. Additionally they have asked to look 
>> at
>> the car in an effort to solve my problem once and for all.
>>
>> ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW! HOW COOL IS THAT! THEY ARE GOING WAY ABOVE AND 
>> BEYOND TO HAVE A SATISFIED CUSTOMER. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
>>
>> MARK AND HEATHER MCKEOWN TAKE NOTES! THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT CUSTOMERS, NOT 
>> TELLING THEM YOU ARE LOSIING MONEY ON THEM AFTER THEY SPEND $21K ON A 
>> MOTOR
>> YOU BUILT FOR THEM.
>>
>> So back to Jesel. How great is to have valve train experts like these guys 
>> look over your motor to diagnose a problem?
>>
>> I am planning to go down Jesel Friday the 19th and visit them. I will 
>> update the forum members
>> as to what Jesel says is going wrong.
>>
>>
>> REPLY
>>
>> Cyboman
>>  Posted September 12, 2008 09:15 AM  Hide Post
>> Chris,
>>
>> Did you sign any kind of contract, or agreement with MME?
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> REPLY
>>
>> DJEZC   Posted September 12, 2008 09:59 AM
>>
>> Mike - Yeah my contract read as follows:
>>
>> We build it, you pay for it, no we don't warranty it, now stop bothering 
>> us.
>>
>>
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