I brought my Ford 400 to Phoenix Engine in 2019 (Engine #93510). I worked directly with Randy…read morethrough the build process and trusted his recommendations. I was paying professional prices for his professional expertise.
At first, everything seemed great. I paid for the fast-track service, got a video of my engine running, and couldn't wait to get it in the truck.
I'm not a mechanic by trade, but I've spent years working on cars. This was our (my son and I) first complete truck build, so it took us a while to get everything together. Once we got it running, it quickly became obvious we had a heating problem.
We spent months trying to figure it out. New water pumps. Different radiators. Different fan setups. Clutch fans, electric fans, shrouds, coolant additives--you name it. Nothing fixed it.
As the warranty period was coming to an end, I brought the engine back to Randy and explained what was happening.
The second I mentioned overheating, Randy accused me of doing something that ruined the engine. I tried explaining that I never let it get hot enough to damage it. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Instead of looking at the engine, he spent the next 45 minutes explaining why the problem was my fault and why he wouldn't honor his warranty.
Randy never even inspected the engine.
I left there crushed and disgusted.
I kept trying to solve the problem. Eventually my ambition dwindled and the truck just sat for years. Every time I walked past it, it was a reminder of the money, time, and effort that had turned into a failure--as my wife was always happy to point out.
Finally, my son, who helped me rebuild the truck, put a boot in my ass and convinced me to bite the bullet. We had to do the only thing we hadn't done yet--we had to rebuild the Phoenix Engine engine that had less than 2,000 miles on it. All of those miles were put on while trying to troubleshoot the issue.
This time we used a different shop to rebuild the engine
The first thing the new shop told me was that the block had been bored to 4.060 and that the cylinder walls were extremely thin. I have the Phoenix Engine spec sheet showing the 4.060 bore. I also have wall-thickness measurements from the teardown showing readings as low as .078", .082", and .087" in some locations (see attachments).
I wish I had known to ask about cylinder wall thickness and boring limits back then, but that's exactly why I hired Randy a professional engine builder.
The shop told me the thin cylinder walls were the cause of the overheating problems I had been fighting since day one. They let me know that the block was unusable except as a boat anchor.
What really bothers me is that none of this was discovered by Phoenix Engine. I brought the engine back to Randy during the warranty period. I told him exactly what it was doing. Instead of investigating the problem, Randy blamed me for it.
Years later, after tearing the Phoenix Engine engine apart, we finally found the reason it wouldn't stay cool.
This experience with Randy and Phoenix Engine cost me thousands of dollars and, honestly, something even more valuable--years. Years of looking at a broken truck that my son and I worked so hard on. Years of wondering what I had done wrong. Years of chasing a problem that, according to the second machine shop, was built into the engine from the start.
I've got the Phoenix Engine spec sheets. I've got the cylinder wall measurements. I've got the receipts.
People can draw their own conclusions.
Mine is that trusting Phoenix Engine was one of the most expensive, time-consuming and heartbreaking mistakes I've ever made.
