Advice on engine re manufacturers

[Spotty1]

Hi there, has anyone heard of or used the engine shop in Harmondsworth London, not to be confused with the engine shop tes engines. I'm looking at getting my engine on my vw t4 re manufactured due to a failed timing belt and need some advice of used and trusted garages. I'm liking the look of the engine shop but can't seem to find anything good or bad about them.

Thanks in advance for any replies

[C. Grimsley]

Wouldn't your trusted local garage rebuild it for you?


Carl

[davepoth]

It appears to be a new address/trading name for the one that gets the exceptionally bad writeups. Find someone local on a recommendation. If your garage is any good they'll know a guy, if they don't have time to do it themselves.

[Limpet]

Don't touch them. They are the latest name for a company that has been ripping people off for many many years.

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-re...

[Spotty1]

C. Grimsley said:

Wouldn't your trusted local garage rebuild it for you?


Carl

My local garage I usually go to would quite happily rebuild or fit a reconditioned one, but I'm looking into re manufacturing my existing engine, which is specialised work. It will basically be as good as a brand new engine.

[Si_steve]

Spotty1 said:

My local garage I usually go to would quite happily rebuild or fit a reconditioned one, but I'm looking into re manufacturing my existing engine, which is specialised work. It will basically be as good as a brand new engine.

So a rebuild then.

[Agrispeed]

Si_steve said:

Spotty1 said:

My local garage I usually go to would quite happily rebuild or fit a reconditioned one, but I'm looking into re manufacturing my existing engine, which is specialised work. It will basically be as good as a brand new engine.

So a rebuild then.

Unless the bores or head are significantly mashed then you could almost do it at home...

Your trusted local garage can probably rebuild it even if it is and send the head (or whatever) off for specialist machining.

[Spotty1]

Limpet said:

Don't touch them. They are the latest name for a company that has been ripping people off for many many years.

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-re...

Don't think these are the same people, I checked out the company names from the link you posted, and the addresses are different, unless they've moved. Thanks for the heads up tough mate

[davepoth]

Spotty1 said:

My local garage I usually go to would quite happily rebuild or fit a reconditioned one, but I'm looking into re manufacturing my existing engine, which is specialised work. It will basically be as good as a brand new engine.

Remanufacturing is exactly the same as rebuilding an engine, if anyone tells you different they are likely trying to scam you.

[Spotty1]

Agrispeed said:

Unless the bores or head are significantly mashed then you could almost do it at home...

Your trusted local garage can probably rebuild it even if it is and send the head (or whatever) off for specialist machining.

Due to it being the second time this has happened due to the muppet I bought it from not tightening the crank shaft pulley bolts, causing the pulley to come loose, shearing the bolts causing the gearing behind it to shatter and enter the engine, and also some how snap the top timing belt. The fact that the engine has felt metal on metal colliding twice now I'd prefer the whole engine to be fully stripped cleaned, tolerances checked, re border, pressure checked for cracks and all that nonsense. It's a lot of specialised equipment and would require sent away from my local garage for most of the work. Hence why I'm looking in dealing directly with companies that will take the van and do everything from start to finish.

[Spotty1]

davepoth said:

Remanufacturing is exactly the same as rebuilding an engine, if anyone tells you different they are likely trying to scam you.

Not any garage can re manufacture an engine though, they could completely strip it, repair what's broken and then rebuild, but would not have the equipment to chemically clean, re bore, grind and polish crank shaft, check tolerances, pressure test and check for cracks that can't be seen till heated and under pleasure and so on and on and on. They could send it away for this specialised work, but all this is going to cost extra for shipment. So re build and remanufacture are different. Remanufacturing is basically recycling your engine and returning it to its original new state, so as good as a new engine

[Spotty1]

Spotty1 said:

Limpet said:

Don't touch them. They are the latest name for a company that has been ripping people off for many many years.

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-re...

Don't think these are the same people, I checked out the company names from the link you posted, and the addresses are different, unless they've moved. Thanks for the heads up tough mate

I stand corrected, on further digging I think you're right. They have some sort of affiliation with the company name in the link. They are a different company name but are a new company and is a bit fishy once you start digging. Thanks for the warning, think ill try some where else

[Limpet]

They have been disappearing, then cropping back up under different names for 20-odd years now. Also been on various consumer programmes.

One thing to always check with any advert is whether the wording re-manufactured or re-conditioned is used. Re-manufactured engines are what you would expect. Re-conditioned has no legal definition. Could have just had a coat of paint or a spray of Gunk.

I would suggest finding a convenient member of the FER who have to comply with a code of practice. You can do this from their website.

http://www.fer.co.uk/find.asp

Best of luck.

[davepoth]

Spotty1 said:

davepoth said:

Remanufacturing is exactly the same as rebuilding an engine, if anyone tells you different they are likely trying to scam you.

Not any garage can re manufacture an engine though, they could completely strip it, repair what's broken and then rebuild, but would not have the equipment to chemically clean, re bore, grind and polish crank shaft, check tolerances, pressure test and check for cracks that can't be seen till heated and under pleasure and so on and on and on. They could send it away for this specialised work, but all this is going to cost extra for shipment. So re build and remanufacture are different. Remanufacturing is basically recycling your engine and returning it to its original new state, so as good as a new engine

Any full rebuild will include that stuff if it's a good rebuild, but generally a fair bit of it is farmed out to an engineering shop. You'll find that (assuming they actually do it) any remanufacturing company would do the same.

The engine for my car should be finished in a few weeks. It's been stripped, cleaned, polished, rebored, lightened, balanced and tested. The guy doing it works in a shed.

[N7GTX]

Once you have read these links I think you will understand....

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?17673-TH...

This second link starts off about another company but if you follow it all the way through you will see they keep changing their names and addresses. They were investigated by Sky News too and attacked the film crew. Maybe not the best garage to deal with? (Understatement of the year)

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-re...

[Spotty1]

Thanks for all your posts, well and truly glad I didn't book it in with them. What about vege or Ivor searle they seem like reputable company's, has any body had any dealings wiith or heard of them?

[Spotty1]

N7GTX said:

Once you have read these links I think you will understand....

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?17673-TH...

This second link starts off about another company but if you follow it all the way through you will see they keep changing their names and addresses. They were investigated by Sky News too and attacked the film crew. Maybe not the best garage to deal with? (Understatement of the year)

http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?11016-re...

Yeah thanks, just watched the sky news report. Scary how these people can get away with this. Total scum

[V8RX7]

Reading your posts it's obvious you aren't very knowledgeable on this stuff (which is fine)

DO NOT GO TO ANY of the "engine re manufacturers" 99.999% of them are con men who at best will fit an engine pulled out of a scrap van.

Go onto the T4 forum and find a recommended garage or buy a good (heard running) used engine.

[digger the goat]

^^^^^ THIS Been there, done that !!
edit to say good advice...just in case misread..

[Butcher31]

DO NOT USE ENGINE SHOP, UNIQUE ENGINES OR WHATEVER THIS COMPANY DECIDE TO CALL THEMSELVES! THE ENGINE SHOP IN HARMONDSWORTH UB7 0LW IS A BUNCH OF ROBBING COWBOYS THAT IF THEY RETURN YOUR VEHICLE IT WILL BE IN A WORSE STATE THEN IT ARRIVED IN.

After having my van for over 2months and handing over a substantial amount of money we are still awaiting our van back. It has been promised to be returned of several occasions, I was told I would be emailed, rang back and informed of any delays, all of which never happened. I spent a good chunk of each day chasing this company to be passed pillar to pillar with a bunch of empty promises and a lot of being put on hold!!

The said they were waiting on parts, or a noise had developed, or they had to take it on a road test when I'm pretty sure they were doing none of this. Each employee had a different story and each as disinterested and rude as the previous.

I have been told that they would repair a injector knock but I had to pay extra for this as it came in with it, even though they failed to mention this in the 'in depth' engine report sent to me. I said I would have the van back and repair myself as I couldn't go without it any longer and was then told my 'life time' guarantee would be void unless I returned it to them to road test. I couldn't care less about the warranty I wouldn't send my van back if it was falling apart.

I have never felt so ripped off and sick after trusting a company that were nothing but con artists. I beg that you do your research before using a company like this. AVOID AT ALL COSTS