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I wanted to get some advice from my fellow mechanics. My girlfriends car (2005 Mercury Marinar 6cyl) broke a piston bearing on a long drive. The mechanic who was to replace the engine told her that it will cost an additional $2100 because she needed a new computer. The piston she was told when it came loose and was rattling around caused the coil to mis-fire and in turn fried the computer.
Anyone ever heard of this happening? The car would turn on and run, just rattled really badly obviously prior to taking it to the mechanic.
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Get a second opinion.
First, $2100 for a new “Computer” sounds way steep. A brief serach for “engine control module (the so-called “computer) shows proces in the $200 to $300 range. He wants $1800 labor?
Second – This chain of events just sounds bogus.Engine rotation triggers crank and/or cam sensors to control the ignition timing (and therefore the coils) but mechanical problems in the engine are not going to fry the electrical unless a broken engine part destroyed a sensor but even then…
I think he is trying to rip you off
I would get the car away from that mechanic and get a second opinion. Sounds like they’re trying to rip you off.
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Agreed that this is suspect. Get a second opinion. Is he talking wrist pin? Crank bearing? I have never heard the term “Piston Bearing.”
[quote=”Evil-i” post=158970]”piston bearing” ?[/quote]
What he said.Let’s talk about that bad coil all by itself for a moment. Ford’s ignition coils are a coil on plug design. They’re a very common pattern failure part for Fords in general. I’ve replaced hundreds of those coils just on Ford engines and never once seen them fry a computer. It would most likely need a severely shorted coil or coil circuit to actually damage a driver in the PCM. That didn’t suddenly just happen if the engine is legitimately blown.
$2100 is a bloated price for a PCM even if he was selling you a brand new unit.
In any shop’s defense, they’re going to take a mark up on that part. Flashing that new computer would have to be done and it would probably cost you another $125 on top of the cost of the PCM. But still, $2100 is fairly bloated. It looks like they made their markup based on the MSRP instead of their actual cost. Summer_Night probably sourced a used PCM from a recycler and that’s totally fine. Recyclers in my area are charging $250-$350 for your PCM. The shop you’re dealing with should have given you the option to buy used too. It would still need to get reflashed and shouldn’t cost you much worse than $550 parts and labor on the PCM alone. That’s assuming you even need a PCM.
Lastly, I don’t want to entirely hang this shop just yet because this looks suspiciously like a communication problem to me. My worry is that we’re all absorbing piston bearing all too literally if this is a scenario where this is what your girlfriend relayed to you. I’m reminded of far too many scenarios where she’s not a mechanic, she’s uninterested, overwhelmed, intimidated by, or otherwise has no understanding of what that shop just told her and she’s probably just trying to piece together what she can remember as she’s telling it to you. Then we get mystical things like piston bearings to add to our vocabulary.
If something like that has happened, call the shop back and get the right story. Then we can better sort out just how bad they’re actually trying to bend you over.
My guess is it was the main bearing that broke and so the piston was slapping. From the sounds of it. I got some more information on it. They replaced the engine, she drove it for a few days and then it would suddenly lose speed from 70 to 50. She went to the dealership and they told her that the computer wasn’t communicating with the engine and that the misfire of the coil caused a feedback that fried the computer.
The PCM’s I saw were just by googling “2005 Mariner PCM” and seeing what came up first on the top of the page. It wasn’t deep research I I know not what they might really cost.
Anything (parts and/or labor) at a dealer is going to cost 2 to 3 times what non-dealer shop would.
$2100 for all that at a dealer “seems” about right.
Talk to a couple other shops first to see what they charge.It’s a much more viable price tag than before.
@ Summer_Night, car-part.com is a very nice site to go shopping at your local salvage yards that are participating on the site. It’s a very plain and simple website. The worst complexities of the site come with the excessive options they build into cars these days. The site usually breaks it down easily enough for you though.
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