End of Jan 05. Ordered a 2.5 engine for my 86. Pulled my old engine from the Fiero.

Feb 9 Thurs. Receive a blue 2.5 engine for an S-10, no water pump hole in back of block.

Saturday send email w/ photo of hole in old engine and same area w/ no hole in new eng.
Mon Call r.com, trucking co. delivers new blue 2.5 and picks up wrong 2.5 engine.
Working after work on evenings and weekends, it takes me a couple of weeks to install engine.
Start engine, hear a rpm dependent metallic rattle.

Drive 80 miles, the noise does not go away.
E-mail Wav file of engine rattle to remanufactured.c m
Call r.c m. "If you think the problem is in the engine send it back & we'll check it out."

Pull the engine and it send back.
3-1/2 weeks later, after several calls, "Bad piston, we'll send you a new engine."
Get 3rd new 2.5 in April, engine is painted black.
Install engine and get running by April 20. Engine runs great!

Call for core pickup for $200 refund.
Different trucking firm shows up. No lift gate. Can't pick up engine.
Call weekly for past four weeks scheduling a pickup. Still have core pulled in Jan 05 sitting in shipping crate in garage.

When dealing with remanufactured.c m, I get a live answer about 10% of the time. They Never return any left messages. When I do speak to someone other than Laurie (she's the only person who handles core returns), they say they'll have her call back but she never does.

[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 12-08-2005).]

could you show me a picture of the waterpump hole you are talking bout? it has befuddled me.

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1988 Aero 88 coupe.. 2.8l v6.. more mods to come.
FieroNews.com - Photo Gallery - Fiero Links
I am the signature virus, please put me in your signature so I can spread

you couldnt pick up a duke on your own? j\c

quote Originally posted by netpro55: you couldnt pick up a duke on your own? j\c

From where & how far is that from Parsons, Ks?

"Laurie no longer works here." I'm told to call Conway to schedule a pickup. Laurie had always told me that I couldn't do that. Anyhoo, called Conway out of Nevada, Mo on Wed. Jun 1 to pickup the core. We'll see how quick they respond.

Soo, called Con-Way today to see how the pick-up schedule was coming. "We don't have a lift gate truck at the Nevada, Mo. facitily and the one at Kansas City is broken. Could you take the core to a lumber yard or someplace that has a forklift?"
LUMBER YARD? This was not the orginal agreement with R.c m. Guess I have to wait.

Called r.c m to see about an alteranate trucking co. Put on hold. Got through again to Danny at 5:45pm. "Too late in the day. Talk to Laurie."
Whatttt? I was told Laurie no longer worked there. You think maybeee they hired her back? I don't need this soap opera, I just want a trucking company to come and take my core away at no additional cost to me. I paid for round trip shipping to my garage up front!

[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 12-08-2005).]

At 5 pm on Friday June 24, a Con-Way lift gate truck arrived and hauled away the old engine in the shipping crate.

Cool, In about four weeks I should have a core refund check for $200! (Rrrrright, dream on.)

At least I have some garage space back.

Haven't got the refund, so time to call. Dave answered on my first try!!

Teardown had revealed a ''cracked head and a bad crank." Bad crankshaft, I'll go for, that's probaly why the oil pressure was heading south. Cracked head, how convienent. Trying to recover some of the freight costs, no doubt.

Anyhoo, Dave said they'd send me a core check for $100 because the block was good.

A good core was listed as a $200 refund. I either lost $100 or gained $100 (as in NO refund ).

I'm just glad to get some of the cash back & to be (hopefully) almost done with them. Will be once the check is received and cleared.

[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 12-08-2005).]

The water pump deal is part of the Vin R requirement. Found that out the hard way.
Ok, I'll give my reman 2.5 story from April, 2003 on Jane's 84. Her white 84 ran ok, but had a lot of blowby and hi miles. It actually went pretty good, but I also ran into trouble with the waterpump hole. I'd have to dig out the paperwork to tell you the name of the outfit where I bought the long block, but it was a distributor out of San Antonio, with their rebuild plant in Dallas, but they also do some assembly in San Antonio. I was running on a tight schedule, as I wanted the car ready for the AAFO show. Since I live in an apt, I found a reputable shop to do the R&R. They recommended the remanufactorer to Jane. "Premium" long block. $950 (I think) plus $100 freight from San Antone, plus $200 core charge. No shipping charge for returning the core if we waited for them to make a scheduled visit to San Angelo. I was leery of it, as I'd already checked prices at Grooms and they were several hundred dollars higher just for the long block, but it was Jane's car and she was adamant that we go with the semi local place. It had the same warranty as Grooms. The shop orders the engine, a Vin R. I pay the shop for the engine, and it gets to San Antonio, and they discover the water pump hole problem. Dallas tells them they have a short block with correct water pump placement, so they ship that to S.A., and S.A. assembles the engine, runs it out to verify it is ok. (That's the diff between a reg long block and 'premium' long block maybe?) Now, the deal with the shop:
They quoted Jane $600 R&R, ready to drive away. And, he put it in writing. My immediate thoughts? "They are either very dumb, or damn good at this." It turns out they were both. I dropped the car off Thursday morning. I was to pick it up the next Thursday, and we'd take a very leisurely drive down to San Antonio the following Saturday for AAFO. We didn't make it. Their labor quote was right out of the book----but they had never done a Fiero it turns out, and I had told them I also wanted all new consumables; belts, hoses, a new metal impellor water pump, and anything else it needed. They kept the car 10 days, with me making frequent trips over to see how it was going. I was understanding, and could see they were loaded down with other work too. I used to be a mechanic, and hated being rushed, so I told the guy not to lose any of his other business on account of our "Hangar Queen". They were working on it every time I went by, so I didn't once think they were hedging on it. I also knew they were taking a beating on that $600 quote. Finally, they called and told me it was ready. I walked in, and the guy that did most of the work was standing there wiping the last of the grease smudges off the rear fender. I sez: You got it done huh?"

He sez: "Yep, but damnn man-They coulda done that different!". I just smiled.
The guy stuck with his quote, but told me he didn't make much, so I told him next time the truck came by to throw the core on and he could keep the core deposit. He did have a pretty good markup on the parts, especially an IAC he said it needed, but I didn't bat an eye and paid him in cash. Can't remember the exact amt, but altogether, the engine, shipping, parts and labor was around $1900. He called me a couple of weeks later and asked how it was running, and reminded me to bring it back in to re-check some of the bolts, do an oil & filter change, and give it a once over, as he had to stand behind his work too. It hasn't missed a lick in the last 2 yrs, and anyone from the Texas bunch can tell you Jane is pretty dang hard on that poor little 4 cyl. It took them about twice as long as they promised, but the price was right (IMO) and most of all, the quality of their work was great. I'd recommend Kirksike Auto Repair to anyone, but I often wonder what they'd do If I drove up with my silver 84 and ask how much to put a reman eng in.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 08-22-2005).]

Engine cost me $890 + 151 shipping + 200 core deposit - 100 refund = $1,141 plus fluids and my labor.

No $100 check yet. Time to call again.

So I called today and asked about the $100 check.

The reply was "It's right here and will be mailed out today."

Soooo... which will occur first, my 1 year warranty expires or I get the refund check?

Got a beat up envelope postmarked Sept. 20. Inside was a $100 checked dated 8-22-05.
If it doesn't bounce, this should be my last post.

Hopefully this topic has spared someone the frustration of dealing w/ Remanufactured.com.

quote Originally posted by 30+mpg:$1,141 plus fluids and my labor.

I get $35 every time I donate plasma... did you count your blood?