[rteichman]

If you have been following my other threads you know that I moved from Philadelphia to Portland Oregon and my Lotus had somehow sheared off all mounts between the engine/transmission and the frame. I am happy to report that the repair shop in Portland was able to reconnect the engine to the frame and all is good. HOWEVER....

When he called to tell me the work was all done, he said he needed to talk to me about the car. He said almost ALL the bolts were either loose or just hand tightened. He tightened everything but found it strange and asked if I had worked on the car recently.

Well the past year my car has been in and out of a shop that I have used for several years. I actually only got to drive the car about 5 days the whole year because it was back and forth to that shop. The major items were the gas tank replacement and head gasket replacement. Don't you think its odd to have all these bolts loose? I don't want to mention the name of the garage in the Philadelphia area in case they were not at fault.

What do you think? Was the shop in Philly doing shoddy work???

 

[Vulcan Grey]

I've found that many of the bolts in the engine will vibrate out if some blue loctite is not used. The exhaust studs will definitely fall out if the locking clips aren't carefully secured, even Lotus hadn't secured them well enough, often only partially folding the clips.

 

[jtrealty]

Unless you know that the shop had touched the bolts we can only assume they loosened on their own. Shops do not usually go out of their way to touch things they don't have to so unless they accidentally noticed the bolts were loose there is no reason to check them. Just because you had a car in a shop can't make them responsible everything that happens subsequently. Unless you mentioned a knocking or "thud" and asked them to check, there is no reason the shop would have noticed this.
David Teitelbaum

 

[rteichman]

I understand that, but realize that in my case lots and lots of bolts needed to be loosened and removed to repair everything over the past year. The fuel tank, head gasket, were only two items worked on. That's why I am suspicious...

Unless you know that the shop had touched the bolts we can only assume they loosened on their own. Shops do not usually go out of their way to touch things they don't have to so unless they accidentally noticed the bolts were loose there is no reason to check them. Just because you had a car in a shop can't make them responsible everything that happens subsequently. Unless you mentioned a knocking or "thud" and asked them to check, there is no reason the shop would have noticed this.
David Teitelbaum

 

[e-spree]

Bolts that "vibrate out" as Travis said above will look different from ones wrenched out and then insufficiently tightened back in. Oxidation scraped off, nicks, etc. Ask your guy if the bolts he found loose appear to have been wrenched on recently. If he thinks so, then contact the shop and tell them what you know. "Tell," don't accuse and see what you get as a response. Good luck.

 

[Vulcan Grey]

I understand that, but realize that in my case lots and lots of bolts needed to be loosened and removed to repair everything over the past year. The fuel tank, head gasket, were only two items worked on. That's why I am suspicious...

Removing the fuel tank and head gasket account for removing roughly 80 percent of the bolts that you can see on an engine... Which is precisely when my bolts vibrated out after doing all that work... I switched to blue loctite to ensure that they don't vibrate out again. It's been many years since one vibrated out again.

 

[rteichman]

Removing the fuel tank and head gasket account for removing roughly 80 percent of the bolts that you can see on an engine... Which is precisely when my bolts vibrated out after doing all that work... I switched to blue loctite to ensure that they don't vibrate out again. It's been many years since one vibrated out again.

That's what I thought and I only drove it maybe 25 miles since all the work was done. Unless vibrations from the cross country trip on the carrier did it...but that sounds strange doesn't it?

 

[carbuff]

That's what I thought and I only drove it maybe 25 miles since all the work was done. Unless vibrations from the cross country trip on the carrier did it...but that sounds strange doesn't it?

Especially with engine hardware, it would make sense that a cool but vibrating engine (during transport) would result on more loose hardware.


With the car moving under it's own power, the expansion of the metal when everything is warmed up would prevent loosening IMO.


Luckily for us all, the gas tank wells prevent the tanks from falling out even if the bolts fall completely out... anic:
rotfl