If any mods think this is out of line or unfair, please let me know. Also, if mods feel this belongs in another forum, feel free to move it. Not meaning to offend, just inform

Pics at the end

So a while ago, i decided to buy my old accord back. I needed a winter car and it seemed to be a good cantidate for a daily driver. The car was swapped with a JDM H22A prior to my selling it. One of the following owners decided to try running nitrous. He was succesful for a short time and the car ended up blowing up. Instead of fussing with the old motor and rebuilding, I decided to purchase a motor from Zerolift in Ohio.
I am on an extremely tight schedule with school and work, so they said they would hold one for me with a down payment. I made the downpayment and paid the remainder of the balance upon picking the motor up two weeks later. A friend who was picking his race car up from there, after having his own unpleasant experience, said he would take it home for me since I am 3 hours from my garage. Over Thanksgiving i finally had time to go home and get the new motor in.

Upon preparing for the motor to be installed, an SAE tech and myself discovered that the balancer shaft was seized. Wonderful. I contacted Zerolift stating i would like the bring the motor back for a refund since i wont have time to work on the car again until Christmas break. They were extremely poor communicating once the problem arised. They stated that all they could do was exchange the motor. In my opinion, this is a generous and professional offer. The problem is, I am at school, 3 hours from the motor, 4 hours back to Zerolift, 4 hours to my shop from Zerolift, then another 3 hours back to school. Basically, a whole weekend, and at least $250 in gas. The motor is quickly getting much more expensive and time consuming than planned.

A friend who is an employee of Zerolift tells me about two weeks later that he will be an hour from my shop, and he can meet me with a replacement motor, providing i pay for his gas. Hesitantly i agree. I dont have time to do the exchange so i arrange for my dad to meet him, and have another friend meet there to check the replacement motor out. This time it is a JDM H23A since they are out of stock on JDM H22A's. No big deal. I get a few pictures of the motor and am extremely happy with how clean the replacement looks.

I have time to go home and try this swap again, a month later than i was expecting. So i begin to tear into the replacement motor to do the timing belt and water pump. Upon pulling the valve cover, everything in the head is a bright orange color and smells of varnish. I fully understand that this is an imported motor and could have sat for a number of years prior to my purchasing. Again, with an SAE tech next to me, he states that the motor, " Looks like its been ran for 30,000 miles without an oil change and was never maintained properly. Against his recommendation of not installing the motor, i decide to think it over before doing the water pump and timing belt. I begin pulling the intake manifold to install my OBD1 manifold that already has all of the appropriate sensors, etc. After pulling the intake manifold i see rust all over an intake valve. I immediately call Zerolift. This is on the 22. I speak to Robert and he asks me to send him some pictures and then he will call back. Today is the 29 and i have yet to hear from them. I have tried calling, facebook messaging, and e-mailing, all unsuccessful.

I contacted an attorney today and he is currently working with me to make some things happen. The whole situation is ridiculous. I have dealt with it as professionally as i could and tried to hide my frustrations with them but enough is enough.


MOTOR #1





MOTOR #2


(scrapes were there upon pulling VC, not from me)

 

That's just a really poor way of doing business, I've had similar issues with smaller items and I can't believe how hesitant some businesses are to work things out. I would expect the negative opinions floating around after such an incident would cost them more than another engine. Hope you get it all taken care of and things are made right.

 

you are probably going to waste more money on the attorney than the motor is worth. I have heard nothing but bad reports about Zerolift and I don't even live near there. Shame on them for giving you the first bad motor, shame on you for taking the second bad motor. Not enough time to get it done right, probably shouldn't be doing it.

 

they ripped my buddy off for a sr20 swap and they jerked him around for 2-3 weeks saying the motor was there and it was ready to pick up blah blah blah, he finally got fed up called his bank reported the charge and go his $ back. poor service,poor product and over all just ****.