Now hold on, there.......

[AleroB888]

So I was sitting at the house back in Kentucky last month, with 2 weeks left till I was to fly back to Colorado.......

I got a call from my son in Denver saying he's having bad trouble with his GrandAm (1999 2.4L auto), which was also bad for me since he's supposed to be watching my house......

Got an SES light, coolant leaking, (overheating, of course), running rough. He took it to a "Tires Plus" place, where they changed the oil and gave him an estimate:

Head gasket leak - $1800
Water pump / timing chain leak - $1400
Thermostat gasket / water outlet housing gasket leak - $450
Coolant flush - $100
^ I called them back and wrote down what they said this time.
He said he can also call some manufacturer tomorrow and get an estimate on how much it would be to replace the whole engine... and he wasn't joking apparently.

Damn, I'm thinking, she went south kinda quick there.....Well, just bum a ride till I get back, and meanwhile start looking to buy another car....

[AleroB888]

A few days after I get back to Denver, I tell my son to fill it with water and drive it over. After all, just a couple years ago I had the water pump replaced by the best mechanic in town (for these cars).

I find out a burned-out headlight bulb was what triggered the SES. With the air filter box on, you couldn't see where the coolant leak was, but remove it and obviously there's a leak at the water outlet.....

Since that's only a $15.00 part, we'll just put that in, see how it goes....

Well, 2 weeks so far, no loss of coolant, nothing to indicate a head gasket issue, and the water pump obviously works.

It probably does need a coolant flush, because when sitting in stop-and-go traffic for several minutes, the temp goes high enough to kick on the fans. The temps drop quickly to normal, but still, it's Winter time now, should run cooler

[JLw7123]

ya mechanics try to rip you off it is very sad that you can not trust anybody giving you correct prices. glad you fixed.

[Gr1m]

this is why i would rather do the work myself, or at the very least, diagnose it myself, research and compare prices and then present that to the mechanic so you dont get hosed.

[robalero]

should of taken it to a real place instead of the tire place lol

[Malibu369258]

Well it's the Denver area for one, don't like dealing with MOST of the mechanics down there. Not saying all, just most...

Example: Even the guys at the Foreign Used Auto Parts in Denver where trying to rip me off on some parts for my Miata on Saturday.

Told them they can eff off, and they decided to lower the prices before letting me leave...

[Redog]

Most people wouldn't spend $3750 on a 12 year old car to be repaired. Maybe somebody there wanted the car.

I trust my mech very much. The guy that did my LIMG before effed it up big time because it only lasted a year. He was pissed that I knew the "book time" on the job. After ripping one apart at the junk yard a few months ago, IDK why I wasn't doing this myself

A guy here are work jsut had the same issue. He took his Caravan to a shop and they said all kinds of things where wrong with it because he was getting no heat and the temp gauge was "floating" I told him that the first things to check was air in the system and the thermostat. A line mech and I fixed in the parking lot after work. The Thermostat was just stuck!!

[AleroB888]

I think somebody there just didn't really want to work on it

One thing to watch when you buy the water outlet is it comes with the large o-ring on the housing flange, but not with the small one needed for the metal overflow tube that is a push-in fit to the housing. The original ones disintegrated.

I had to buy an assortment of o-rings, one of which fit on the tube, then it had to be filed down to fit. I put the o-ring on a drill bit, spun it with the drill, and filed it to size with fine sandpaper.

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted by JLw7123

ya mechanics try to rip you off it is very sad that you can not trust anybody giving you correct prices. glad you fixed.