I think I'm about to get a screweding.

[TButtrick]

I'll try to keep this short. My daughters 2002 Mazda tribute with 90K miles had a catastrophic engine failure. I suspect a bent valve that took out the drive trane and bent a piston rod. The engine is toast. Got it towed to a Mazda dealer. A new engine just isn't worth the expense as I bought the car for $7000 and new engine is north of $5K. The dealer said they could find a low mileage used engine and do the job for $3K so that's the direction I went. The dealer called me and said they had found an engine with 49K miles so I gave them the go ahead. They called me and told me I could pick it up. When I arrived, the service manager walked me out tot he car. He said he had to replace a crank seal. He started the engine and it had a notable tick in the valve trane until it warmed. One of the 6 coil packs had a broken retainer and there was a oil patch on the ground below the engine. There was aslo a pretty heavy mist of oil on the lower part of the upper intake plenum and I found a large bolt simply sitting on top of the valve cover. It was a frame type or motor mount looking bolt. I asked if the machanic who worked on it was there but they said he left the dealer.

When I asked for proof of the engine mileage, he said they didn't get that information from the engine supplier. ??really?? I asked him to replace the cracked coil mount and he said that he'd have to charge me. When I insisted, he said he would replace and call me later to come back. I never got a call.

So now I'm left to simply trust that the engine has 49K miles and completely suspect of everything I'm seeing. As it stands, I will be insisting that I get a VIN of the car it came out of. I can match this to the engine, correct? should have match last digits to engine numbers? What's to stop them from throwing in some stop-leak or some thick-as-paste oil to quiet down the valves? Is there anything I can do to protect myself? No payment has been made but I did authorize the work. Looking for advice from my fellow members here.