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A cautionary tale


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I bought a new 300TDi cylinder head from Turner Engineering. It's the gas flowed version so it cost £595+VAT. It arrived on Wednesday in a plastic bag inside a cardboard box with mostly recycled paper padding.. There was a great big orange sticker on the outside of the box which said to check the packaging for damage before signing but there was what only appeared to be superficial damage to the box so the staff member who took delivery signed the paperwork and accepted the package.

I unpacked it later and found it's slightly damaged on the mating surface. Close examination of the packaging shows a cut about an inch long in the bottom of the box consistent with the location of the damage and a slit in the plastic bag, so it looks like the carrier has dropped the box on something small and hard.

The damage is a small dent which extends about 5mm into the mating face of the head and creates a ridge about 0.35mm proud of the machined surface. It will be relatively easy to file out, although care will need to be taken not to scratch the rest of the machined surface. The engine uses a 1.5mm thick head gasket.

I contacted Turners who replied to say "... the damage is so insignificant from a fit, function and purpose point of view it can be disregarded as it will be embedded in the head gasket or you can file the corner of the cylinder head if you so wish." The message goes on to say "Damage of this nature is always irritating both for the customer and ourselves as we take great care with the packaging. In this case there would be no reason to replace the product."

Part of me thinks that it's a trivial issue and I ought to just ignore it and move on. After all, sh*t happens, and on the basis of Turner's advice the part is still fit for purpose.. However another part of me is annoyed that I have just spent £700 on a part which should have arrived in perfect condition, didn't, and the supplier has just washed their hands of the problem. I very much doubt this is the first time it's happened (Turner's reply basically says as much) and even if it hasn't it seems I'm still being expected to accept the consequences of Turner's inability/unwillingness to adequately package their shipments.

It may also be pertinent to note that as well as the head I ordered a new turbo (also from Turner's). That arrived in its original Garret shipping carton which was in a similar external state to the one the head was in but the padding inside the box is expanded PU foam and the contents are undamaged.

What do others think? Should I make a fuss or just be British about it? More importantly, is what Turner's says correct and the damage will be fully absorbed by the head gasket or am I lining myself up for long term problems by following that advice?

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A picture or two might help to assess the damage . I would have thought the mating face would have been protected by something substantial enough to withstand the vagaries of the courier chain - the surface finish spec is pretty tight . That said , from your description it doesn't sound like it's in a critical area , but equally a new head is a new head ... 

cheers

Steve b

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9 minutes ago, lo-fi said:

Irritating, but not in a critical place thankfully! If it were me, I'd take a fine file and carefully dress it flat to the rest, fit and forget. 

Me too.

It’s what your comfortable with though in the end, and what kind of relationship you have and / or need with Turners.

A middle way might be to say that it’s deeply disappointing, but you’ll accept it if they could make some gesture of good will?

 

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I to would file down the damage but it does raise a question of packaging. With my recent issues with my motor I actually was on their homepage yesterday looking at this very head. It is concerning that the packaging is not really up to the task of protecting the contents. If the item is shipped locally and it's damaged, how the hell is it going to look for an international buyer? 

Have you done a side by side comparison of the 2 heads, are the differences (visually) enough to justify the extra cash? 

 

Todd.

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2 hours ago, lo-fi said:

Irritating, but not in a critical place thankfully! If it were me, I'd take a fine file and carefully dress it flat to the rest, fit and forget. 

 

likewise.

 

It's a shame they don't use a piece of ply to protect the face in the packaging.

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2 hours ago, lo-fi said:

Irritating, but not in a critical place thankfully! If it were me, I'd take a fine file and carefully dress it flat to the rest, fit and forget. 

Me too - being on the outside like that it's not doing anything much as long as it's not stopping the head sitting flat.

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doesn't look critical and Turners have a good reputation from what I've seen over the years. I'd send them the pictures, hopefully they'll revisit their packaging methods and/or hand out a clip round the lug'ole for the yoof that wrapped it up.

Will 🙂

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If it was me I'd constantly be worried that it would cause gasket failure at some point (even though it's in a non-critical position) and I'd have to get it swapped out. It's entirely their fault, not yours and they can be as shirty as they like but unless the parts description alluded to possible damage then they have to replace it.

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2 hours ago, paime said:

If it was me I'd constantly be worried

But why? The edge of the head gasket is doing nothing other than keeping the mating faces apart. You can see a typical failure in @tuko's thread here:

The places it will fail are from the bores or water/oilways outwards, not from a tiny dimple on the outside edge.

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1 hour ago, FridgeFreezer said:

But why? The edge of the head gasket is doing nothing other than keeping the mating faces apart. You can see a typical failure in @tuko's thread here:

The places it will fail are from the bores or water/oilways outwards, not from a tiny dimple on the outside edge.

I know and i agree....but personally i'm a bit neurotic about those sorts of things. I've been burned by thinking it'll be fine in the past (quite literally on some occasions!) so i would want it properly sorted. That's just me though and this one is really personal choice.

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  • 11 months later...

Just to follow up on this thread, I eventually fitted the head having carefully filed the raised dent back to as close as I could get it to the machined surface around it without causing any more damage. The engine went back in the vehicle at Christmas last year and, so far at least, seems to be working perfectly. It's done about 500 miles now. 

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If you compare it with the asthmatic ex-disco 300 TDi I had in the vehicle as an interim then they are like night and day. More pertinently, the engine which I took out originally and re-built with the Turner head used to go pretty well but was quite smoky - I think someone had fiddled with the FIP.

I put the same FIP back on the rebuilt engine without making any adjustments (other than ensuring the timing was dead on). The vehicle smokes a lot less than before, and it pulls like a train.

Notwithstanding my annoyance with Turner's customer service, it would appear they know what they are doing with the engine parts even if they are incompetent at packaging them for shipping. 

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I sent a 2 1/4 3mb head in a sturdy plywood crate with the head bolted to the crate . the crate had two webbing handles for easy pick up .

 

...........It came back in a cardboard box with a single layer of corrugated board under the gasket face . Undamaged , so all good ,but bloody hard to pick up - it was left on end against the wall on the front doorstep ( distancing in effect ) . My only niggle with the whole job , everything else was good - service and turn around .

I suspect it is about package weight , but to be honest another tenner on carriage to have it packed properly wouldn't put me off

cheers

Steve b

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