Need an opinion, yet again my friends - Engine Issues.

paitken76 · 02-17-2005, 06:15 AM

Well in terms of the last drama my car and I were through, it's still going. After getting hit by an uninsured motorist and my insurance picking up the tab, it'd been pure hellz. A month after the hit they finally agreed to do repiars. It went into Atlanta best dealer body shop and got bandaged, but thats it. I picked it up a month later, pretty but...uh, still broken. The insurance company told the dealer to do the body work but disreagrd the engine service order. Obviously I comlained. First very nicely and now four months after the incident with every angry word my mouth can omit. They refuse to do engine work even though it was tested just before and always ran smoothly. "It's 17 years old for God sake. We stand by it being general wear and tear and poor maintanance" What! On top of that issue (to be continued...) I have another which with the help of you all I've been researching for quite sometime now. Isn't it great paying premiums on a car youy havent even driven in soon 1/2 a year. Don't get me started!

I'm losing coolant, I have evidence of it leaking due to thick white smoke coming out the tail pipe. I don't have oil in the radiator, or the overflow tank. I do however have milkshake in the oil pan, and foamy sediment on the dip stick and under the oil cap. Does this tell you anything? I know it's either that I have a blown head gasket or that I have a blown oil cooler gasket / seals. Can you all tell which it is? If I compression test the car one by one, I would know if it's the head gasket right? And if it's a leak in one cylinder or all of them. If that checks out OK then it must be the il cooler, right? Anything else I'm missing? I'm really tight, REALLY tight on funds.... I cant afford to take it in for engine work that isnt needed right now. So I need to know how to determine exactly what it is and what it will cost me. Also, what are the chances I could do the work myself? Not recommended or a good experience thats very do-able? As always very appreciated. Please post your thoughts or email me if you'ld like. paitken@earthlink.net Thanks!

hpaulb · 02-17-2005, 07:01 AM

It's up to you to prove the condition before and after for insurance. The problems you are describing shouldn't be caused by an accident? Get it looked at profesionally. If you take it apart yourself, you've lost the claim. Right off, I'd say, take the car off the road. Your engine is about to blow or at best get worse and cause more damage. A compression test may not tell the hole story but you most likely have a blown head gasket leaking antifreeze into the oil. May not be a compresion leak though. Bad loubrication causes severe damage to bearings. Best solution is to bite the bullet and do some/most/all the work yourself. There is more than enough help here at the forum to cover all the work/parts required.

paitken76 · 02-17-2005, 07:31 AM

No it's not the damage from the accident it's what happened after it due to coomplications. Specificly, the back end was crushed in, bumber shocks fully compressed, muffler damaged and torqued 4 inches in and to the side, hair crack in the Cat bolted to it and a crack in the down pipe (exhuast manifold) connected to that. Basiclly the force followed it's connections all the way up. That's giving me a roar, sputter, and thanks to the crack in the exhuast manifold also white smoke leaking out under the hood as well as the back.

The white smoke (coolant loss) is what I'm trying to take care of myself as it's the biggest issue while waiting to see what comes of the insurance fiasco. At the moment the source of the coolant leakage and resulting white smoke is what I'm concerned about. Thanks-

bryanthompson · bryanthompson's Garage

Could you get a certified Porsche mechanic or a mechanic that has had experience working with insurance companies like in this situation* to look at your car and tell you definitively that this damage was a direct result of the accident? If so, they could write a letter or something that might mean more to the insurance company.

*My grandpa was a mechanic for 30 years, then sold insurance for another 20 (ish). I'm going to ask him for you what the best way to handle this would be. See if he has any advice.

ae1969 · 02-17-2005, 08:53 AM

Possible cracked head.

ken_xman · 02-17-2005, 09:01 AM

If the force of the impact split the manifold, my bet is on a cracked head also.
All the pieces fit in the scenerio.

ken_xman · 02-17-2005, 09:02 AM

Call an attorney.... today. Find one that is a car buff.

paitken76 · 02-17-2005, 09:35 AM

When you all say cracked head, do you mean the gasket or the actual cylinder head itself?

I would really like to drive my car again, we all love these great cars too much to let them just sit around. The insurance case I'm going to pass on to the Insurance Commisioner and BBB. But since it will likely take a while I thought I might be able to sue the uninsured motorist in small claims court for the cost of repairs. They might settle before going to court?

One of the reasons they sited for closing the claim and refusing payment for damages is that there are apparently small welds that hold connected hard patrs to the body that are "intact and unstressed" But the back end was crushed, muffler, cat and exhuast manifold (right at the head by the way) cracked. Welds or not, that doesn't just happen and was the result of nothing but getting slammed into. I argued with the claims rep's manager who was the supposed "specialist" that examined the car. He sounded about 30. "Specialist", I said, it's your laymans opinion is it that I'm full of shi_ and that the certified techs at the dealership as well as a Porsche specific highly regarded service shop's diagnosis is false? "Yes that's right" is what I was told. I sighted him for his laymans opinion and asked for credentials. Get this,.... he is "very well trained, and it was intense hard training" at Progressive's Training Center! Ha! (training = how to save us money and screw the client)

ken_xman · 02-17-2005, 09:43 AM

Yes to the cracked head.... not gasket.
My best idea is to have a Porsche dealer diagnose the current mechanical condition and write up the findings for an attorney to review, along with other repair invoices of any repairs made directly relating to the accident.
Call your local DA, district attorney, if you can't find any legal advice. Your tax dollars pay him..... keep it in mind & make him work.

bryanthompson · bryanthompson's Garage

I think that's good advice, ken. If you sue anybody, you'll probably have the best results going against the insurance company, not the uninsured driver. If the dude's uninsured in the first place, odds are even if you win the case you're not going to see any money... or you'll have to garnish his wages. It probably wouldn't be worth all of the effort.

I'm sure you're not allowed to use a lawyer at small claims, and I don't believe you're allowed to tack on legal fees to your lawyer onto the court costs. I really hope you don't have to go this route at all.

The best case scenereo would be to get a mechanic to investigate, find that the damage is a result of the accident, then have a lawyer of some sort come up with something official looking.

bryanthompson · bryanthompson's Garage

Hey man, have you had any word from the insurance people about your situation?

I got off the phone with my grandpa who is pretty familiar with Progressive, and he said that the best way to go about it would be to get your insurance agent to fight for you. Also, getting a Porsche dealership to look at the damage and write it up on their letter head will do a lot for your cause.

Is driving while uninsured legal in GA? Here in Nebraska, that clown would be hauled off to jail.

paitken76 · 02-18-2005, 08:47 AM

Nothings happened yet since threating Progressive with legal action and tearing my rep a new one. The problem here is though that Progressive is my insurance company. And prior to the accident a year back was also the chump that hit me's insurance company. He gave the officer his expired insurance card so they were contacted about it at the scene only to inform us that he did not have valid insurance. I was told to leave after being given the case number by the officer. So I have no idea what happened afterwards, legally though yes he should have been taken to jail for a few days or something. When considering sueing him I also thought I should check and see if he did go to jail or not, and if not press charges so that he does. Anyways, Progressive called me (for him) to say he didn't have a current policy, then they called back (for me) to say that maybe I should put it against my policy becuase it's there intention to obviosly deny the claim since his policy expired long before. It's my own insurance thats screwing me here! I've asked everyone who has seen it for their opinion, they all say it had to have happened from the accident, it doesnt just happen or develop. That the force travelled up from the blow to the rear and cracked it all. After all the smoke happened immediately after the accident. They even told the adjuster so, and that they could drag their feet through the mud all they want but will eventaully need to pay for it. The problem I've been told here and by them is that it is however incredibly hard to prove and the insurance companies bank on that. The shop themselves said that while it is their professional opinion, they hesitate to put it in writing becuase probubable doubt and that it cant really be proved to be so. So I really am screwed. I'll have to try and sue the driver then, I cant afford legal aid or have the time to take on a big dog like Progressive. They are showing more muscle than I am. Back to the car though, what should I do next? Should I look at it myself to determine if I now have a bad gasket or a cracked head? Or take it in to a shop. I've never done that intense of engine work on it before and am a bit nervous. But paying out of pocket is really hard to swallow right now. What should my course of action be if I did take it to a shop? A diagnosis... and how much should that cost/ Taking it apart to inspect the head specificly, and how much should that cost? etc, etc. I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO and am not only very frustrated but miserably sad.

AznDrgn · 02-18-2005, 08:55 AM

Doesn't really help much here but that must have been one hell of a nice car before the accident if the insurance opted to fix it rather than just total the car.

paitken76 · 02-18-2005, 09:23 AM

Thanks?

I'll take that as a compliment. It certainly wasn't mint but I painfully restored it and put a lot of time and money into making it look good. I tried to keep it clean so much so that I was asked serval times to bring it to shops etc during meet & greets, swaps, club meetings etc. I'm really, was really proud of the hard work. I thought they would have totalled it too, to be honest. Based on the NADA book value of our beloved cars. I guess in a small way I was lucky there....