Long story, valve job nightmare.

Took a set of heads to a machine shop for resurfacing and a valve job. ( I’m not a mechanic, have mechanic restoring and rebuilding my 98 tacoma 3.4L)

1.guy checked the heads and said they were flat so did not mill them.
2. Did complete valve job but did not have the cams when he did it.
3. Hot tanked the heads and they are now oxidized black, inside and the buckets no longer slide into the holes.
4. I picked up heads and brought them to my mechanic who said the machinist did the job wrong because he didn’t have the cams and couldn’t adjust valves without them.
5. Called the machinist and he agreed and agreed to fix his work if I brought them back.
6. He waited 11 days then called me and told me he didn’t want to do it and that he would reimburse me to have someone else finish the job. I have a recording of him saying so.
7. I picked up the completely disassembled heads and two bags of valves, springs ect and have taken them to several shops and no one wants anything to do with the job. The two shops that actually agreed to work on it would offer no warranty, only do it by the hour and estimated $800-1200.00 to reduce his work since it’s all in bags in parts now.
A few questions as this whole thing is new to me:
A. Did hot tanking the aluminum heads which oxidized them harm them? I’ve been told by three people it did.
B. Should I just buy completely rebuilt heads someplace that will come with a warranty at this point? Looks like they will be around $14-1600.00. Send him the bill?
C. Should I sue the guy? I took a professional that has an actual shop specializing in head work ,a perfectly good heads in need of a simple valve job, now I have two zip lock backs of parts and two heads I don’t have any idea what to do with.
Not to mention my job has been delayed a month at this point so far.
Am I missing something here?

 

Hot tanking is corrosive to aluminum.

 

There's a different process used if they're cleaning alum parts. It's not the typical hot tank process that's been used forever on steel.

 

My $.02....if you can get a reman head for $1200-1600... do it. If for nothing else but peace of mind.

Sounds like he botched the job, so whatever amount he refunds (which should be 100% IMO) is a gift. Suing is just adding aggravation to the situation. Call it a lesson learned and move on.

 

Monkey Wrench Racing. Call them.