Blown Engine on the Box Store Tractor

[ToadHill]

MrJimi: Just a point of reference. About 2 weeks ago the battery on my wifes 04 Caddy just up and died. Delco batt and on it it says 6 year warranty. I call the service department, guess what, the batt warrenty is only as long as the car, not 6 years. Of course the warranty on the car expired on October.

 

[NoMo]

Caveat emptor.

I'm sure I'm rubbing salt in an open wound, but, I have a problem (and I know it's mine) with the idea that it is a manufacturer's responsibility for an item which is admittedly +/- 7 months out of warranty.

I agree with you. This thing is (maybe ??) over the warranty period by a significant amount and Deere still gave the warranty some thought. And depending on what the repair place said, Deere might have paid for it.

Could be that this repair shop is a little angry at the box store customers that didn't buy from him and told Deere that the mower was abused or who knows what. Or maybe the "friend" isn't as good a friend as one thinks.

 

[MrJimi]

MrJimi: Just a point of reference. About 2 weeks ago the battery on my wifes 04 Caddy just up and died. Delco batt and on it it says 6 year warranty. I call the service department, guess what, the batt warranty is only as long as the car, not 6 years. Of course the warranty on the car expired on October.

How come you didn't get separate warranty papers with battery?
We haven't bought a new car in a long time

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Caveat emptor.

I'm sure I'm rubbing salt in an open wound, but, I have a problem (and I know it's mine) with the idea that it is a manufacturer's responsibility for an item which is admittedly +/- 7 months out of warranty. Seven days, that would be a different story. A half year out, while it hurts and it hurts real bad, that's the breaks. On these types of deals, you tend to lose more than you ever win - at least I do and that's the #1 reason I refuse to support 2nd hand purchases of consumer electronics.

There is quite a bit of truth in the "you get what you pay for" mantra. Unfortunately, someone got bit by this one. We make the choice to vote for quality or price. I'm a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Big Lots junkie and I suffer for that choice - sometimes.

My recommendation on a Kohler, B&S and/or Tecumseh, find a local, reputable small engine shop for service. You want the support of your dealer, support them with the purchase of their retail product. Taking them the cut rate equipment from HD would be like taking a Ford Taurus to a Jaguar dealership and expecting the parent company (Ford Motor Company) to service a vehicle which is 5,000 miles out of warranty.

I agree, I have had issues with things breaking down after warranty and it is usually up to the dealer to decide how to proceed. In my case I have had two items repaired out of warranty and one was a design problem (kept failing until a fix was found (which failed again this summer Stupid Woods brush chopper )) the other a assembly issue that wasn't noticed till the warranty was up (pinched wire for a rear outlet).

In my case the dealer could tell it was a problem on the manufacturers side and they dealt with them to get it covered under a warranty. In the case of this motor on the John Deere, well, it happens. They are cheap motors and some times they blow up in a day, other times they last forever without ever touching them. Your tractor was over 6 months out of warranty. The fact John Deere even had the dealer look it over tells you that if it would have been something that could be tied to a manufacturing defect then they may have covered it. The fact the motor may have just ran its course and like people, not all of them live to the same age, Deere decided not to warranty an out of warranty motor. You can either suck it up and repair it or throw the tractor away and buy another one (which is what these tractors are really designed for). If you are lucky you can get 10+ years out of a cheap lawn mower but by the end of its life it looks very worn and well past its prime even with good care. They build them cheap and to do that they have to cheapen them up and you find where they cut cost over the years.

I had a old Ranch King (MTD) from Quality Farm and Fleet. It still cuts grass but the paint came off the deck immediately, you had to tighten the motor down once or twice a year, the hood supports broke so the front of the hood just sits there loose, the steering shaft broke 3 times, tires kept going flat because the paint on the rim flaked off allowing air to leak out. Fix one and the paint would flake off somewhere else. Finally just put tubes in them. Steering wheel broke also but still turned the wheels. We also had a 4'x8' sheet of plywood that is encased in stainless steel get caught by the wind and land on the rear of that mower. Crushed the fender down into the wheel but that was it. Bent it back up and she kept going. This was all for $1k.

It still runs but looks terrible so we bought a Cub Cadet GT1554 from TSC as we know the manager. It is a great tractor to operate, cut our mowing time in half and looks nice. It was a $3k tractor but I do not expect to get 30 years out of it. I will be happy if we get 10+ years out of it though as the time saved is worth the added cost.

I do wish you the best but don't get mad at Deere for not covering this. Just learn from this as just because it has green and yellow paint doesn't automatically make it top of the line. The same goes for the Cub Cadets as they are made by MTD and while they are not like the CC's from 30 years ago they still make some good ones and some throw aways also.

 

[mjncad]

Whenever I see someone looking at a Deere at Despot and Doh's I hand them a card to the dealer I bought my tractors from for a few reasons. Mind you I do not work for the dealer, I do not have friends there, I don't make any money from the referrals, and I feel they could do better on some things than they do; but Despot & Doh's piss me off as they have run the competition off.

First is that Despot and Doh's don't need any more money from people, so screw them.

Second, the dealer knows the equipment better than the pimple faced geek with more tattoos and piercings than brains.

Third, the dealer charges 2.9% sales tax while the D & D's near by charge anywhere from 8.6% to 9.63% sales tax depending on which greedy city they are in.

Fourth, going to the dealer keeps them in business and the dealer is a better resource for parts, etc than the Big Box Marts are. One nearby family owned Deere dealer that specialized more in small lawn tractors and landscaping equipment went belly up last year. I don't know if that was due to Despot & Doh's pinching his bottom line, or his health as the old boy never looked well when I saw him.


A buddy of mine bought a smaller Deere than my L130. Originally he was going to go to Despot; but I said let's go for a 20-mile drive and see what the dealer had. What he saved on sales tax allowed him to upgrade one model. It's still smaller than my L130 and it has the BS engine, which was fixed under warranty by the dealer when it wouldn't start due to a bad choke cable or some such thing.

 

[ToadHill]

MrJimi: I don't recall ever getting a separate warranty on the battery on any vehicle I ever bought. I just assumed the warranty was what was listed on the battery, I'd never have guessed the warranty ran out with the car.

 

[MrJimi]

MrJimi: I don't recall ever getting a separate warranty on the battery on any vehicle I ever bought. I just assumed the warranty was what was listed on the battery, I'd never have guessed the warranty ran out with the car.

Well, they could have done away with that. The last new car we bought was in 1983 but we did buy a new Harley recently and all we got were motorcycle papers.
getting old is not a good thing, times change and I'm not catching up with them.
Jim

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Whenever I see someone looking at a Deere at Despot and Doh's I hand them a card to the dealer I bought my tractors from for a few reasons. Mind you I do not work for the dealer, I do not have friends there, I don't make any money from the referrals, and I feel they could do better on some things than they do; but Despot & Doh's piss me off as they have run the competition off.

First is that Despot and Doh's don't need any more money from people, so screw them.

Second, the dealer knows the equipment better than the pimple faced geek with more tattoos and piercings than brains.

Third, the dealer charges 2.9% sales tax while the D & D's near by charge anywhere from 8.6% to 9.63% sales tax depending on which greedy city they are in.

Fourth, going to the dealer keeps them in business and the dealer is a better resource for parts, etc than the Big Box Marts are. One nearby family owned Deere dealer that specialized more in small lawn tractors and landscaping equipment went belly up last year. I don't know if that was due to Despot & Doh's pinching his bottom line, or his health as the old boy never looked well when I saw him.


A buddy of mine bought a smaller Deere than my L130. Originally he was going to go to Despot; but I said let's go for a 20-mile drive and see what the dealer had. What he saved on sales tax allowed him to upgrade one model. It's still smaller than my L130 and it has the BS engine, which was fixed under warranty by the dealer when it wouldn't start due to a bad choke cable or some such thing.

Chances are your small Deere dealer closed down because of Deere Corp telling them to. They have been trying to streamline their dealership network so that basically all the dealerships have lots of money and great service departments that meet Deere's expectations. They have put pressure on small independents to sell to larger outfits or close down if they were basically a lawn and garden Deere dealer. It wasn't Home Depot or Lowes, it is Deere corp.

 

[drkmstr]

connecting rods RAREY break after two years of use... If you have a bad rod they go within the first week of ownership.

Connecting rods break because of lack of lubrication. Thus you will never get a warranty. Especially if the dealer took the engine apart and saw medal transfer on the rod and or bearings. There are tell tale signs an engine has had poor lubrication...

Don't blame JD or Briggs, blame the person responsible for maintenance...

 

[montanaman]

7 months out of warranty AND the second owner? Sounds like a sorry we can't help you problem to me. I would also wonder if a tractor so cheap even has a warranty that will transfer to a second owner? A lot of products are for the first owner only and it sounds like the first owner wasn't brought into the picture till they refused to help the first time. That's sort of like slowing down after the radar gun has already clocked your speed, doesn't do much good!!