1 /5 Randall Goralewski: My truck needed an engine, I tried to replace it myself since I have some automotive knowledge and had replaced engines in the past. I quickly found out that I was in over my head and would not be able to finish the job before my vacation was over. I reached out on social media looking for help. Denny asked me to contact him. My wife looked up reviews for his shop and found 4 5 star reviews and a one star review. I called and mentioned that I am on a time crunch and would like my truck back before my vacation was over 5 days later. He said that he would do his best to make m it happen. He gave me pricing, I mentioned that there were parts that I wanted replaced while he had it and also some parts swapped from the old engine, parts like the thro body which would have had to be calibrated if it was not swapped from the old engine, coil, thermostat and coolant temp sensor which were replaced recently. Catalytic converter because of a code and transmission cooler lines which would be easiest to replace while the engine was out. He picked up the truck and i supplied the engine and what I had thought were all parts needed to install the engine on a Wednesday. He told me that he had some cars currently in his shop but was waiting on parts and would do his best to get my truck up and running ASAP. Sunday comes and the excuses started. A few days passed and I had asked for an update, more excuses. The second week comes and there is a death in the family and he cant work on my truck. I hope it wasnt just an excuse to not work on my truck. I also kept hearing itll be done later today or the day after, then another excuse on why it wasnt ready. At one point he told me that the engine was in, but was leaking oil out of the rear main seal, and the engine had to come back out. Then a few days later there was a grinding noise while cranking and he wanted to swap flywheels because he thought the one on the engine going into the truck was bigger than the one on the engine coming out. I questioned if it would be easier unbolting the trans and moving it back instead of removing the engine and third time. He claimed that he can do it faster pulling the engine and third time and reinstalling. At one point Denny said that if my truck wasnt done bya certain date, I wouldnt owe any more money and offered $500 toward future service. My wife thinks I should have held him to that. After 5 1/2 weeks on a job that should have taken a week to a week and a half, I finally got the call that my truck was ready. 2 blocks away from home my check engine light comes on, I pulled the fault codes and there was one for a throttle position sensor and an oil pressure sensor. Denny called after I got home and I mentioned that the check engine light, and the fact that my hood deflector was damaged on both sides of the hood. I took the bad engine to my work so that I could return it for a core deposit, I found that the coolant temp sensor was not swapped over, the throttle body was not swapped over, when I went to check the oil level, the dipstick wouldnt go back into the tube. That made me question if they actually checked the oil level after the engine was running. I also found out that the oil pressure sensor was never plugged in. When I was looking at my old engine, the junk yard that it came from painted the back of the engine red, the flywheel did not have red paint on it, so Denny lied to me about having to swap it. That made me wonder how many of the other excuses that he used were lies. I paid him less than we originally agreed on because I didnt have enough money to cover all of it at the time. I told him since he didnt do everything that I asked that I wasnt paying any more. That is when he asked what it would take to make it right. I told he that he could replace the hood deflector that he broke. I will never go back and would not recommend this shop.
