In June of 04 I discovered Motor Meister on the internet which advertised Porsche 911 engine rebuilding services and touted as USA's #1 Porsche 911 motor builder (motormeister.com)
- I talked to the customer service manager Roy Marks and discussed an engine rebuild Turn Key service since I had a 1974 911s 2.7L motor that was blown.
- I agreed to have the engine and transmission rebuilt by Motor Meister and I removed the engine and placed it on a pallet for shipment to Downey California.
- The motor was shipped via a freight company to the rebuilding facility in Downey California.
- I was then introduced to the Pelican Parts website that sells Porsche parts and provides a technical forum for Porsche related questions. (pelicanparts.com)
- I read horror story after horror story on this website and I confronted Roy Marks on the issue of Motor Meister quality.
- Roy Marks assured me that these were isolated issues and that my motor was in professional hands which would be remanufactured to exacting standards.
- The motor was torn down and inventoried it was discovered that the engine threw a rod due to catastrophic engine failure.
- While the motor was in California, Roy Marks called to instruct me that I needed to remove the gas tank and have it professionally cleaned; in addition I needed to clean the fuel lines.
- Roy Marks contacted me via telephone and told me the engine case might be cracked and that the case had to be magnafluxed to ensure no cracks were present. I voiced my concern to Mr. Marks on what the way ahead would be if the case was indeed cracked and he informed my not to worry, Motor Meister had plenty of cases in stock if the case was cracked.
- 2 days later he informed me via telephone that the engine case was not cracked and the rebuilding process continued.
- I was sent the estimate to rebuilt the engine. The cost to rebuild it would be in excess of $8,345.
- I agreed to the amount and the rebuilding process commenced.
- I had the gas tank cleaned. I re-installed the gas tank without any issue and I cleaned the fuel lines in accordance with Motor Meister's direction.
- On 8 Sept 04, towards the end of the rebuilding process, Mr. Marks informed me that it would cost a total of $10,994 to complete the job and after a heated question answer session I agreed to the amount. Mr. Marks ensured me that this motor would be bullet proof and I would get 100-200 thousand trouble free miles out of this high quality rebuild.
- On or about 1 Nov 04, I received the motor here in Colorado Springs via freight company and transported the engine to the Peterson AFB auto hobby shop for installation.
- Upon opening the crate received from Motor Meister, I noticed the bottom was covered in motor oil.
- I immediately noticed that various parts were missing from the crate that was needed to finish the install i.E. The throttle cable, fuel filter, fuel line, and shifter bushing which postponed completion.
- That day I installed the motor under the supervision and guidance of an ASE certified mechanic with instructions downloaded from the Pelican Parts website and a Haynes mechanics shop manual. The installation procedure is quite simple. The engine and transmission is held in by 4 bolts. Once the engine is in the car all you have to do is hook up the electrical lines, fuel lines, transmission shifter, and drive shafts.
- While the install was progressing perfectly. I contacted Roy Marks and asked about the oil that was leaking out of the motor and he instructed me not to worry, the seals have not been broken in yet.
- I called Motor Meister before start-up to ensure there was no detail left out. I then attempted to start the engine.
- I got the engine started it ran extremely bad and I noticed a constant oil drip from the bottom of the engine and the alternator warning light would not extinguish.
- I called Motor Meister once again to inquire about the leak and the poor running condition, Mr. Marks told me not to worry, the engine needed to be broken in and his techs would work with me on the alternator issue.
- The next day I worked with Ruben, a Motor Meister tech to troubleshoot the alternator issue. After a timely trouble shoot Ruben instructed me to remove the alternator, take photos and send them to him via email.
- I talked on the phone with Ruben and he informed me that the alternator was wired backwards and needed to be rewired. I accomplished this and reinstalled with no issue.
- I proceeded to drive the car in accordance with Motor Meister instructions and continued to troubleshoot the poor running issue with Ruben and Mr. Marks through out Nov 04 with no resolution.
- I offered to drive the car to Downey California if Motor Meister would fix all of the issues present in the motor under warranty.
- Roy Marks sent me an email agreeing to the fix all the issues in California. Therefore I called Mr. Marks the next day to set up the logistics and details. Mr. Marks then informed me that it would cost additional money to fix the motor even though it was still under warranty. I disagreed with driving the car to California.
- I noticed that the spark plug wires were defective and Motor Meister sent replacements 2 weeks later.
- After reaching the target mileage I noticed the oil leak continued to get worse and evolved to a steady stream while running. Oil smoke would fill the cabin of the car while driving to the point where it impaired my driving. The car was extremely hard to start when cold and smoked continuously until it warmed up. It also backfired and popped while driving in addition to an erratic idle.
- I was getting sporadic customer service from Motor Meister and continued to become more frustrated when Roy Marks stopped answering the direct questions posed in my emails.
- After additional emails and phone calls, I offered for Motor Meister to find a local Porsche mechanic to fix the problems and never received an answer for this question.
- Email and phone contact from Roy Marks and Motor Meister ceased.
- I took the car to Concours cars in Old Colorado City to troubleshoot these problems.
- They found the following problems; The valves were over machined, the fuel injectors and seals were defective, there was a poorly welded crack in the engine case that was creating the massive oil leak, an exhaust leak on cylinder # 5, a pulled exhaust stud on cylinder # 5, oil leaking from the flywheel seal, oil leaking from the oil cooler, and extreme oil pressure when cold. Their prognosis was that the car was undrivable.
- I attempted to contact Mr. Marks with these problems and on the third attempt the secretary finally put him on the phone. He instructed me to clean the crack with brake cleaner and glue the crack with epoxy. He didn't offer any help for the other problems.
- The same day I then asked Concours cars if this was an acceptable repair and they informed me it was a temporary fix that would create more problems down the road.
- I attempted to contact Motor Meister to no avail.
- On or about 25 Mar 05 I authorized Concours cars to repair the most extreme problems in order to get the car in the most basic running condition. This cost me $2288.59 with an additional estimate on 5 Apr 05 of $1624.47 to potentially repair the rest of the problems.
- I contested the charges from Motor Meister on my credit cards to no avail.
- I sent a last ditch email to Roy Marks to try and reach an amicable resolution. He informed me that I could have sent the motor back all along and that he informed me of this over and over. He in fact did not inform me of this. I then sent an email requiring him to guarantee me in writing that he would not charge me any more money to fix the issues discovered upon install and a timely repair without prejudice. To this day I have not received a reply.
- I filed a complaint with the Bureau of Automotive Affairs in California to no avail.
- I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles and they lowered Motor Meister's rating from BBB to BB.
0 comments