HEAD GASKET UPDATE!!!

[Mad Steady Eddie]

Ok, so, when we left off here , I had taken my car to a mechanic who had told me that my overheating problem was due to a problem with a head gasket which he quoted me would cost me 800 bucks to fix. I came home upset, but, figured "well, we need the car, so I gotta pay it."
Fast forward 2 days, we're at my in-laws for dinner, and my wife's uncle had heard about our problem, and said we should take the car to his mechanic that he's known for over 15 years, etc,.....took it to him, and he showed me where there was a slow leak in the hoses (green crusty stuff where the hose/clamp meet leading into the engine). So, he replaced the upper and lower hose(s) along with the clamps...Also, turns out that it was THE TEMPERATURE GAUGE!!!! After parts (71 bucks) and labor (150..ouch, but still..) our 2001 Galant is back in full force!!!

[ScottHoward]

i realize this forum is kinda slow, but do we really need a new thread for each update?

[n.s.]

I think some [censored] mechanics see any overheating (or oil in the coolant) and just go "head gasket job!" while seeing dollar signs.

I had a similar issue with my old Porsche ('87 924S). It started seriously overheating one day (the needle jumped up the way up as I got off the highway), so I pulled it over immediately and checked the coolant. The coolant was more brown than blue, meaning it was full of oil. I had it towed to a shop that I thought I could trust (my brother in law worked there), and the guy (not my brother in law) barely even looked at it before he declared that it had a blown head gasket and quoted me $1500 to fix it. And then he started to make offers to "take the car off my hands for me" (it was a little bit of a beater).

So told him to hold off, did some research, and found out that he was quoting me *way* too much and likely had no idea what he was talking about. I ended up getting it towed to a real porsche shop, where they figured out that it was only the oil cooler seals that had gone and the head gasket was just fine. (knucklehead at the first shop probably didn't even realize that the car had an oil cooler). Ended up still being pricey to fix, mostly because the porsche shop charges a lot for their expertise and there was so much oil in the coolant that the reservoir had to be taken out and cleaned - but it was still way less than the first guy quoted me to fix the wrong thing.

Needless to say, I no longer own an old porsche ([censored] moneypit), and my brother in law no longer works for this jackass.

['Chair]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, so, when we left off here , I had taken my car to a mechanic who had told me that my overheating problem was due to a problem with a head gasket which he quoted me would cost me 800 bucks to fix. I came home upset, but, figured "well, we need the car, so I gotta pay it."
Fast forward 2 days, we're at my in-laws for dinner, and my wife's uncle had heard about our problem, and said we should take the car to his mechanic that he's known for over 15 years, etc,.....took it to him, and he showed me where there was a slow leak in the hoses (green crusty stuff where the hose/clamp meet leading into the engine). So, he replaced the upper and lower hose(s) along with the clamps...Also, turns out that it was THE TEMPERATURE GAUGE!!!! After parts (71 bucks) and labor (150..ouch, but still..) our 2001 Galant is back in full force!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

how many hours of labor were you billed for...regardless...



congratulations...I bet you were thrilled.

['Chair]

[ QUOTE ]
i realize this forum is kinda slow, but do we really need a new thread for each update?

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed not necessary, but at least he linked the original.

[Mad Steady Eddie]

[ QUOTE ]
i realize this forum is kinda slow, but do we really need a new thread for each update?

[/ QUOTE ]

ur right...my apologies. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Mad Steady Eddie]

2 hrs, and YES, we were definitely thrilled.

[4 High]

Damn only 75 per hour? A place by me charges like 98.

[Osprey]

A place by me charges $55 an hour It's an old dude.

['Chair]

80/hr at the honda/acura place I go for stuff I can't do myself.