ok my question is I got a jasper motor for my fiero, to make this story short i was driving and the motor started knocking and it blew. Jasper took the motor because it was under warranty and they said they cannot replace the motor under warranty because the shaft on the distributor rod broke and caused the motor to freeze. i have never heard of that ever happen and could cause a motor to freeze. Need help or advice on if this is true.

Side note:
When I was driving the car the motor started to knock and the oil gauge dropped down. It was running when it was knocking.

thank you
cheers

ive honestly never heard of that. sounds like the oil pump failed regardless if its under warranty they should still replace it. sounds like they are trying to get out of replaceing it.

I was a Feild Service Rep & Claims Adjuster for ATK engines from '89-'93.

That being said, if you supplied the distributor then you bought the engine.
If Jasper (and I like Jasper) supplied the distributor, Jasper should honor their warranty.
To put it another way, did you buy a long block or a short block from them?

*Question ~ Did the distributor shaft really break or did the pin holding the drive gear shear? Just curious...

The camshaft is driven by the timing chain. The camshaft has a gear that drives the distributor, and the distributor gear in turn drives the oil pump. The cam is the only source of energy into the oil pump drive shaft, and the oil pump is the only source of resistance at the other end of the that shaft. The only way that shaft could have broken is if the oil pump seized. It's a simple piece of hexagon bar stock, 6mm IIRC, there's nothing that could go wrong with it that would cause it to spontaneously break. Even if the distributor siezed it would just shear the gear pin, instantly throwing the timing off and killing the ignition (and thus stopping the engine without damage).

Jasper's trying to get out of paying for a defective oil pump, it would appear to me (assuming it was their oil pump).

JazzMan

[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 12-15-2008).]

I agree with Jazzman, the distributor would not cause the engine to blow, it would just shut the engine down if it failed.

Not to restate what was said above but as was asked, who's oil pump and rod was it.
Yours or came with the motor? Thosewould be the determining items.

Any failure of the dist would stop the motor before the oil pressure should have dropped far enough to distroy the engine.

I'd have them explain how anything else could do that.

If it was a short block and you put the pump in them they might have a case.

[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 12-15-2008).]

Also remember that the oil pump drive shaft is installed when the pump is put in (from the bottom). Should be a retainer that prevents the shaft from coming out when the DIS is pulled out. I believe that it is a plastic shoulder style retainer. If Jasper installed the pump - short or long block - I would imagine they also intalled the shaft? I would want some proof of the shaft failure. As stated, sounds like a pump failure to me, I can't see anyway that the shaft would break and if it sheared gear pin, motor dies. I also believe that the shaft is solid! Sounds fishy to me!

Pat

Assuming the oil pump and shaft are Jasper's, I smell a rat. Word of mouth goes a long way in Jasper's line of work and now that people have the ability to spread that word of mouth far and wide with the internet, it would definitely be in their best interest to honor their warranty.

I would say it was a oil pump drive shaft broke if you put it in then it comes back to you but if they put it in then it is there problem but they normaly dont twist up and break unless there is something like realy thick oil or a bind in the pump

its common practice to get out of warranty stuff by saying that. it costs you more money to get a lawyer than the engine is worth and still they could make a reasonable case that its still your fualt so now your out of an engine and owe a lawyer money. this is why you take your crap off the engine or whatever when you send it in. they lie, you lie, we all lie. first chance you give them to get out of it though, theyre going to do it. the size of jasper remanufacturing is so vast that losing a few engines/transmissions really cant hurt them. much like how chevy produced garbage for the last 30 years and didnt tank till recently, they sold so many cars that they still make money even if one guy needs a whole new car because they forgot to bolt down the oil pump. vw installed piston rings upside down on an entire years worth of 2.0 engines and they didnt even have to warranty crap. you can always make you provide records which most people dont keep(unless you only go to the dealer). if theres any discrepency you lose, much like health care. not to be sexist but get your wife or gf to call, have her play dumb, cry, and complain non stop. eventually theyll give in just so you stop calling.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JazzMan:

The camshaft is driven by the timing chain. The camshaft has a gear that drives the distributor, and the distributor gear in turn drives the oil pump. The cam is the only source of energy into the oil pump drive shaft, and the oil pump is the only source of resistance at the other end of the that shaft. The only way that shaft could have broken is if the oil pump seized. It's a simple piece of hexagon bar stock, 6mm IIRC, there's nothing that could go wrong with it that would cause it to spontaneously break. Even if the distributor siezed it would just shear the gear pin, instantly throwing the timing off and killing the ignition (and thus stopping the engine without damage).

Jasper's trying to get out of paying for a defective oil pump, it would appear to me (assuming it was their oil pump).

JazzMan

i agree with jazzman i just couldent elaborate in my post i had to leave for work.

wait a sec:

the dist shaft and the oil pump shaft are 2 different shafts.

next - the line "Side note:
When I was driving the car the motor started to knock and the oil gauge dropped down. It was running when it was knocking."

this means the distributer was working while the oil pump was not

the dist shaft DID NOT break - the oil pump shaft did. and that is part of the motor, not the distributer
and, the dist is easy enough to remove and look. you will you can turn the gear on the end, and the rotor will trun. you hold the rotor - and you wont be able to turn the gear. that is NOT a broken dist shaft.

now - I can see not haveing the dist fully installed, and the hex shaft slid out of the gear hex hole. and, that would be an installer error.

agreed, IF the distributor shaft breaks, OR the pin shears, either way, the engine stops immediately, BEFORE the oil pump can stop pumping & damage can occur. UNLESS the thin TIP of the dstributor shaft breaks off completely ( the part that slips INTO the slot in the oil pump shaft), Then the engine COULD keep running with no oil pressure. BUT, the lack of oil pressure, if that did happen, the oil Sender should have cut current to the fuel pump so the engine should have stopped ! sounds like theres more to this story !

quote Originally posted by Lou6t4gto: still, the sender should have shut down the fuel flow.

This fallacy just won't die!!!!
Look at the fuel pump circuit again.. The OPS (backup circuit) can't shut down the fuel pump unless the fuel pump relay (primary circuit) has already failed.

quote Originally posted by Lou6t4gto: ah, forgot about it being a HEX shaft like ford, could have stripped, but still, ... did they ship you the engine with the Oil Pan ON ? (with oil pump already in ??) still, the sender should have shut down the fuel flow.

Like he said, there is NO LOW OIL PRESSURE SHUTOFF SWITCH IN ANY FIERO, never was. In fact, the liability for installing such a switch would be very high. For instance, on a busy freeway at high speeds the engine loses oil pressure and such a switch kills the engine immediately, leaving you stuck in traffic lanes where you're likely to get hit by one or more vehicles. Or, idling on a railroad crossing and the oil pressure dips low enough to trigger such a switch and kill the engine just as a train comes around the bend. And so on.

The only purpose of the fuel pump switch in the oil pressure sender is to provide a BACKUP path for power to the pump in case the main path through the relay fails, that's it.

In the OP's case, since the engine still ran with no oil pressure it's pretty conclusive that the oil pump drive rod broke or stripped, my money is that it broke because the oil pump seized. If the OP supplied the oil pump then he's out of luck, but if Jasper supplied the oil pump then they owe him another engine, barring new info from the OP. Speaking of which, where is he?

JazzMan

The lack of response from SwiftFiero28 kind of make me wonder if he put the oil pump in.... bummer...

Which motor are you running the 2.5 4 cylinder oil pump has a seperate rod and gear that runs off it's own gear ground into the cam between #1 and #2 cylinder the distirbutor runs off another gear ground into the cam which is between #3 and #4. The 2.8 oil pump drive rod goes into the distributor which runs off only one gear ground into the cam. Either way the distributor breaks and stops turning the motor stops running. and it's hard to blow up a motor that doesn't run.

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Home of 3 1/2 Fieros, a 900HP AWD S10, a 1967 Pontiac Catalina Convertable, a Chevy Avalanche and lots of misc GM parts.

sry guys been really busy with the fiero. i got a new motor put it =) i gave them hell so i got a motor.