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Bad dealings with Teds Trucks!

9

94DieselSub

Member
Messages
75
Reaction score
72
Location
Reno, NV
Hi Guy's,

Just to clarify, yes I did just join the "Truck Stop" today. And yes, I did join to share my bad 6.5 purchase experience with Teds Trucks!

A little background info:

I purchased one of Teds 6.5's back in April 2011, when I purchased it I told Margaret that I intended to pull the heads to replace the Head Gaskets and install ARP studs. She said that sounded like a good idea. So upon tear down I find the engine had ingested water/coolant at some point in three cylinders. These cyl & heads were rusted, and had pitting/erosion on the order of 10-30 thousands deep. There was also Cam lobe damage on several lobes!

After sending them detailed pictures of the damage, and calling several times they sent me a replacement 6.5 engine.

They stated that to ensure I didn’t get a lemon again, they were going to pull the heads off the second engine to inspect for damage.

Life got busy for me so I let the engine sit for about a month before I pulled the heads. Low and behold, the second engine (that they tore down to inspect) had water damage too! As an added bonus, the pre-cups on all four of Ted’s heads were severely cracked and beyond GEP/GM’s service limits! Read cracks almost to the fire rings of the Head Gaskets!

So I purchased eight replacement diamond pre-cups at the tune of $330, and sent the heads to the machine shop for pressure testing. The machine shop called me and said they passed the coolant pressure test fine but failed the valve vacuum test miserably. They said the valve seats (which are only induction hardened Iron) were very pitted from rust and required machining to the seats & valves. Another $450 in machining into Ted’s heads.
Subtotal to get a usable set of heads: +/- $780!

The machine shop says the first block needs an overbore, new pistons & rings as a minimum, and the second block needs at least one sleeve to repair it!

I’ve documented all of this with lots of email, pictures, and phone calls to Ted’s!
Their position now is: this is a used engine, that cyl/head water damage is normal for a used engine, that they comp tested these engines before they shipped them to me! And basically that I can now go screw the pooch!

Just to put things into perspective: I’ve got two pieces of rusted up cores from Teds, a pissed off HOA, loss of use of a vehicle for months for $2100.10.
I’ve got a GEP authorized dealer 15 miles from my house that quoted me $5600 out the door for a 6500 Opti! Sometimes trying to save a buck really doesn’t pay off!

Buyers beware!

Chris
 
These are some Pics I have at work, keep in mind most of these are post cleanup with WD-40 & Scotchbrite. The Cyl pitting is like coral and about 10-30 thou deep! Note the dots on the Pre-cup, denotes end of cracks!
IMG_0778.jpgIMG_0782.jpgIMG_0784.jpgIMG_0784.jpgIMG_0785.jpgIMG_0776.jpg

Chris
 
These are military take outs. While some are removed during the "refresh" program and they are fine, others are/were removed for issues. I wonder if the last engine's Ted's got some duds were mixed in?

These aren't new built in house by Teds.

A compression test would've shown issues though, unless the issues were during shipping/storage after the compression test was done that is.

Remember if you remove heads from an engine that has coolant in it, coolant/water will spill into the cylinders, and needs to be cleaned up promptly or else it promotes rust.

Teds say they run every engine, and comp check every engine, and i'm sure they have a full cooling system hooked up when test running them.

If coolant spilled into the cylinders i'd think they'd clean it up, but if they didn't then while the engine was sitting still after it got to you is when the rusting occurred on the walls.

Just for the record, no i'm not saying it's your fault.
 
Coolant won't promote rust.
I wonder how long these engines have been sitting outside in the weather ( either upright or laying on the side)and wether the intake and exh manifolds were off or covered up???
It usually takes a long time for rust to eat its way in a cyl wall( espessialy with cast iron) if the engine was a running take out and set aside intact,the fuel and oil residue in the cylinders takes a good while to disapear.
I'have had engines sit for 10 yrs or more and be clean as a wistle or nothing but a haze of rust on cyl walls with an open valve(usually exhaust)provided the stack and intake were covered.

my 2c
 
Hi iamdave0887,
"not saying it's your fault", I realize I'm new here but all the people who know me, know that if I dork-up something I'll be the first one to admit it, probably make fun of it too! Nope no coolant involved on my part, the 1st Teds engine had serious water damage upon inspection; like it had sat out in the rain at National Guard depot for a year or two. Second Teds engine was better as the damage was mainly only one cylinder & head. None-the-less, I and the machine shops I use would never recommend running either engine before repairs had been made!


Hi btfarm,
Yeah I know kind of funny isn’t, it was because of those threads that I pulled the trigger and went with Teds. Too bad their implied warrenty, or business ethic didn’t apply to me. Please keep in mind I never installed/ran either of Teds engines, they’re just sucking up floor space in my garage. While my 94 Sub still sits out in my driveway racking up HOA fines & snow!
 
Hi DZZ71,

Well to tell you the truth I'd love to recoup some the money I have tied up in this mess, but the better of the two Teds engines I have got to get rebuilt. My Sub is sitting in my driveway like a dying beached whale, and let me tell you, hell have no fury like an HOA that thinks it can suck fines out of you on a monthly basis!

The other block will need a 30-60 thou over bore, which will necessitate new pistons/rings; it’ll also need to be decked. Heads will need substantial work too! Quite frankly I’d wouldn’t feel right about selling these parts as they are, let alone to someone as far away as you! Your up in Canada right?

If you want, look up this GEP dealer near Reno NV on the web. He’ll give you a really good price, and I’d imagine have the product(s) drop shipped from GEP/AMG direct to a shipping hub near you.
Dennis Sweeney @
Ultimate Off Road Vehicle Accessories, Inc in Reno, NV
15570 N Red Rock Road
Reno, NV 89508-6535
Phone: (775) 970-3516
 
LOL ... no such thing as drop-shipped from there to here, unless you have a truckload of cash...

94, not doubting you at all, but I gotta tell you, the last time there was an issue with a Ted's engine on here, they came through for the guy and stood behind their warranties. Ted isn't a vendor here, but as far as I know, they have been stand-up guys to our members, so I just gotta suggest that you try to work with 'em.

I hope it works out for you, really. Keep us up-to-speed with the proceedings, OK?
 
Hi JiFaire,

Sorry I’ve never really shipped anything to Canada, but I’ve heard scary stories of customs, VAT taxes or something to that extent.

Anyway, here’s what I posted on another diesel site:

{BTW, even though they replaced the first damaged longblock with another damaged longblock, their official stance now is “it’s a used engine”. And as such, “it’s perfectly normal to have water damage inside of a used engine”!
Note: that is actually verbatim from my phone conversation with Margaret at Teds!

And that “they performed compression tests on both engines before shipping them to me”. “That they have sold hundreds of 6.5 engines, with many repeat customers and never have had a complaint like this”. “That there is nothing more they can do for me”.
IE, tuff luck sucker!}

Trust me this whole transaction went sourer, and no amount of discussing, pleading with Ted’s is going to make them make this right. Their official stance is we ship you a lemon, so we replaced it with another lemon. There’s nothing more their willing to do for me!

Sucks to be me!
 
I will sell you a mostly complete truck with unknown miles, unknown hours, unknown maintenance, unknown year, unknown treatment; and I will warranty it with an exchange of: a mostly complete truck with unknown miles, unknown hours, unknown maintenance, unknown year, unknown treatment...

Sound like something you'd be interested in?

People, we need a reality check here...
 
94DieselSub said:
Hi DZZ71,

Well to tell you the truth I'd love to recoup some the money I have tied up in this mess, but the better of the two Teds engines I have got to get rebuilt. My Sub is sitting in my driveway like a dying beached whale, and let me tell you, hell have no fury like an HOA that thinks it can suck fines out of you on a monthly basis!

The other block will need a 30-60 thou over bore, which will necessitate new pistons/rings; it’ll also need to be decked. Heads will need substantial work too! Quite frankly I’d wouldn’t feel right about selling these parts as they are, let alone to someone as far away as you! Your up in Canada right?

If you want, look up this GEP dealer near Reno NV on the web. He’ll give you a really good price, and I’d imagine have the product(s) drop shipped from GEP/AMG direct to a shipping hub near you.
Dennis Sweeney @
Ultimate Off Road Vehicle Accessories, Inc in Reno, NV
15570 N Red Rock Road
Reno, NV 89508-6535
Phone: (775) 970-3516
Click to expand...


I was thinkin ship it to the boarder then i could pick it up there. Im not to sure what it would cost. I guess that would depend on if its the bare block or with heads crank, pistions ect.
 
DZ - if you can get it shipped to someplave in GreatFalls you trust, then go pick it up, you'll do OK. Youonly get screwed when you ship it OVER the border...
 
Hi 3500GMC,

Your response to this debacle is hilarious, and I probably would’ve cracked a smile reading it! But because of Ted’s Tucks my wallet is $2100 lighter, I’ve got three dead 6.5 plugging up my garage floor, and a dead vehicle sitting in my driveway since April! I’m a working slob just like most of you guy’s on this forum, that’s why I’m wrenching on early 90’s technology in my driveway instead of cuzing a nice shiny DMAX, or 6.7 Cummins/6.7 Scorpion.

Anyway, that about all the energy I have for bitching today.
I’ll check in tomorrow.

Chris
 
3500GMC said:
I will sell you a mostly complete truck with unknown miles, unknown hours, unknown maintenance, unknown year, unknown treatment; and I will warranty it with an exchange of: a mostly complete truck with unknown miles, unknown hours, unknown maintenance, unknown year, unknown treatment...

Sound like something you'd be interested in?

People, we need a reality check here...
Click to expand...

And this is to use another military surplus vendor that checks their engines better.

Both 6.2 engines I got from Boyce Equipment in Utah have run well from install. They pull them from the vehicles themselves and know the odometer is under 30,000. They then test run the engine, you can visit and watch if you like, and send any bad running engines as cores to a re-builder. I put ARP head studs in both engines and the pitting on the walls appears to be normal for some reason. Didn't affect the running at all. Maybe not as deep as yours as mine cleaned up with a hone after I put 30K miles on the engine. (I overhauled the engine after I dropped a clamp in the intake...) I have 40K total on the first 6.2 from them and almost 10K on the second.

From the 2 bad posts about Teds engines it looks pretty clear that their test run of their surplus used engines is not up to par.
 
WarWagon said:
And this is to use another military surplus vendor that checks their engines better.
Click to expand...

This is my 'sticking point'. I'm waaaay to cynical for the used engine arena. I guess I just do things the 'hard way'........

Carry on carry on.
 
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