Faulty engine work begs a moral question

I’m getting my car back in a few days. Don’t know if I mentioned this, but I’ve been without it for about a month now due to an overheating problem. In the past, the overheating problem was caused by a warped block that was allowing pressurized exhaust gasses to be forced into the "water jacket" – the part of the engine where the coolant flows around the cylinders to cool them off. These exhaust gasses, forced into the cooling stream, would then collect and form “air bubbles” that would be pushed through the cooling stream until they hit the thermostat, which would then promptly close, because hot air is not enough to keep an automotive thermostat open (the thermostat is designed to be opened by hot liquid). The closed thermostat would halt the flow of coolant, and so the engine would overheat.

Months ago I blogged about this discovery and the resulting repair (and I thought the water bubbles were stopping the flow of coolant when they reached the water pump, but it turns out I was wrong about that - the flow of coolant stops when they hit the thermostat).

So the block and head needed to be replaced, and it turns out the replacement block was installed in, well, a sloppy manner. A friend of mine, who we will call tech #1, was ill and couldn't do it at the time it was done, so he referred me to a friend of his, who we will call tech #2. Tech #2 had fantastic qualifications -- in fact, he was overqualified for the job but willing to do it as a side job for some extra income.

I don’t fully understand the extent of what was done wrong, but I think it included some overtightened and broken bolts, and an excessive use of silicone in some places, possibly to compensate for some broken bolts. The overall result was that I had oil and coolant leaks and (once again) exhaust gasses being forced into the cooling stream.

So now I’m spending an extra $1500 – for tech #1 to drop the engine again, replace the head gasket and some other gaskets, and replace some broken bolts. The only good news in that is that (1) it may all work well now for a long time, and (2) he replaced a few worn bearings on the gear box while he had it out of the car, saving money by not doing that as a completely separate procedure.

I don’t really have $1500 to spend on that. In fact, I didn’t really have the $5000 I spent for parts and tech #2’s labor originally. I managed to scrape together the cash, but we all know how that goes – scraped together cash is like gravity - it comes from somewhere, and it usually has to go back where it came from.

This is one of those things I have to chew on for a while. Do I call or meet with tech #2? Do I ask him for some money back? Do I just not contact him at all? Do I make an effort to demonstrate forgiveness for the sloppy work with or without talking to him? I think it would be best for me to meet with him and let him know I know about the sloppy work, that is resulting in extra expense for me, but that I am going to forgive that and not hold that against him. But that’s not my inclination. My inclination at the moment is to take the easiest road available - not talk to him again unless I bump into him by accident, and then (if), pretend nothing happened.

Either way, I know for me, and my relationship with tech #2, I need to forgive him – that sloppy engine work - and the disrespect I perceive along with it – needs to be placed on the cross. Maybe that needs to happen first, before the details to guide the rest of my interaction with tech #2 become clear.

Gotta chew on that for a few days. Part of me is just so relieved, at the moment, to have the hope that the engine problems have been identified and fixed.