BOOM!

Hammermechanicman

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When i took it back she refused to let me eat the blown engine repair. We haggled and i said just pay for the parts and labor for the original repair and the parts for the blown engine. She said OK and then wrote the check for $50 more than that and gave me a hug. She lost her husband 8 years ago and is retired on a fixed income.
 

Rivets

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You’ve got a customer for life and she has a mechanic for life. Hope you used the extra $$$ to buy bigger shirts, as I know your heart just doubled in size. Great ending.
 

Hammermechanicman

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Thanks. A very long time ago my father told me that something you have is worth what someone else will pay for it and you are worth what other people think of you. Took a while for it to sink in.
 

woodstover

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9 year old mower came in for bad drive belt and broken hydro fan. Easy fix. Never touched the engine. Fixed the belt and fan and sharpened the blades. Fired it up and mowed for about a minute and BOOM. Rod, piston and gasket kit $150 and labor. Charged her for the belt and fan and i ate the rest. Some you win and some you lose.

And yes it had oil in it. The bore was fine and the rod didn't seize on the crank.
Did you drop the engine pulley to get the drive belt on?
 
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Smithsonite

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Only time I had ever seen something like this happen was on a Craftsman lawn tractor in the late 80's - it was fairly new at the time, so guessing a '87-'88 model. Think it had a Briggs, but that was 10's of thousands of gallons of beer, whiskey, rum, gin, and who-knows-what-else, ago ... the mind is a little "pickled" ...

The reason it blew up? After my buddy melted the engine down on his '85 KTM 125MX running wide-open down the street in the rain with me on the back, we were bored ... so why not BOTH of us hop on his dad's tractor and see how many wheelies and burnouts we could do! 🤣

Every day after school for about 3 weeks straight, I'd head to his house, we'd push the tractor out, I'd hop on the fender and we'd go to a section of his driveway that was on a hill, and let 'er rip! Almost flipped it over backwards a few times, so I started sitting on the hood. Front end would STILL pop up! :D This was after years of mowing commercially with it at some condos his dad built, with he and I freewheeling it down those hills at 40 MPH, throwing it in reverse and doing a smokeshow in the street, etc., etc. ...

You have NO IDEA the amount of abuse this thing took! I can't even put it into words. Nothing built in the last 30 years could withstand this!

One day his dad was mowing, and BAM! Rod came out the side of the block! I'll never forget walking into that one day. We go down the basement from outside, and there's his dad holding the mangled rod and piston in his hand, engine parts scattered all over the bench, he hears us come in, he turns around and stares at us with what I thought was a red glow in his eyes ... "SEE WHAT YOU ASSHOLES DID??" He was NOT happy! 😬😂

Ahh, the good ol' days!!
 

bertsmobile1

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9 year old mower came in for bad drive belt and broken hydro fan. Easy fix. Never touched the engine. Fixed the belt and fan and sharpened the blades. Fired it up and mowed for about a minute and BOOM. Rod, piston and gasket kit $150 and labor. Charged her for the belt and fan and i ate the rest. Some you win and some you lose.

And yes it had oil in it. The bore was fine and the rod didn't seize on the crank.
For this reason i always get them to start the mower & show me the problem
About 1 in 50 look real sheepish and find a reason why it will not start , usually claiming the battery is flat so I grab the jump pack and they suddenly remember it started to shake bad
 
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