D&J Precision Head cracked in under 500 miles

S

Sudia247

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Mar 2, 2012
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Bought an HP Re-man 12v head from D&J, purchasing one of their cores for this.

Block was checked for flatness and it checked out perfect.
Installed with ARP 625 studs.
Engine still has factory injectors that came on 180hp pumps.
I was planning on doing a cold re-torque about 500 miles after intall if the studs settled.

Upon changing oil, i found there was coolant mix only under the valve covers. Rocker assembly looked fine. Oil drain looked normal, oil in the filter looked normal. but lots of sludge under each valve cover.

Cleaned the valve covers, drove for 5 miles warming up engine.
More sludge within that time.

Called D&J and they wanted me to pressure check the head for cracks under the spring pocket. I pressurized the cooling system and it does in fact leak from a crack under one of the valve springs. No oil in the coolant and only assuming little coolant in the oil as I found one crack but every valve cover was caked.

Yesturday D&J replied to my issue and said they can warranty this out since its so new but I need to pay shipping there and back.

Does this sound fair?

Maybe I'm just bitter since I already paid them $2,753 to have this head. I don't feel I did anything to sacrifice the integrity of the head at all. Thermostats work great, not a ton of fuel. I didn't even spin up high RPM waiting for the studs to settle.

They said they pressure checked this but i feel their system is faulty if this crack happened with the little stress i would have even applied to the head. I feel ripped off.
 
Last edited:
regcanfan said:
What was the warranty terms and conditions when you bought it?
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I never saw any on their website, and when I asked about that on the phone when I was ordering (Im paraphrasing since I dont have a script of the call) Josh stated that I shouldn't worry about anything as the only thing that will crack the head is too much heat, and that they'll make it right if something did come up.

Again Im paraphrasing from what I recall (as I could be biased) but that's how it went.

in the last email about the crack, Josh said "It definitley looks like it is cracked in a very common spot 12v heads crack at. Unfortunately, there's no way to prevent that from happening from what Drew was describing to me. We pressure-check every head before it leaves so it checked out good before it left the shop. I spoke with Drew about this issue and he is willing to get another one for you under warranty since you bought the head not very long ago. We could switch everything out if you pay the shipping both ways for the old head to get back to us and the new one to get to you. Does that sound fair to you?"
 
They're right that it is very common for the factory 12 valve heads crack to the point where they leak. The 24v heads semm to usually not leak even when cracked. I'm surprised they had a core head with no cracks. Just sounds like pure bad luck.
 
That sucks man, that's a lot to get it shipped both ways for sure. I think they should cover atleast one way, but seeing how low of miles on it I think I'd feel the same way and think they should cover both ways.
 
I was thinking about buying a head from them, but the majority of 24v heads crack whether they are remans or not. I really don't want to drop over 2k on a head just to go through this.
 
Typical warranty clause if you ask me. Sucks for you only because it’s a big heavy product.
 
If it is just bad luck, I wish they would assure me that this wouldn't happen again..
 
Sudia247 said:
If it is just bad luck, I wish they would assure me that this wouldn't happen again..
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If vendors could promise things would never go wrong, we'd need no warranty. Take it up a notch to performance level, and usually, there is zero warranty.
 
Snedge said:
If vendors could promise things would never go wrong, we'd need no warranty. Take it up a notch to performance level, and usually, there is zero warranty.
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Exactly. These heads are known to crack. I doubt it has anything at all to do with D&J’s workmanship and just luck of the draw. Send it back and get another one. You’ll be fine.
 
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