* another ****ty udpate*Blown Head gasket

[Magnus]

I really bet you just had a leaky water pump. Its very common on 3.8's.. if you pressure test teh coolant system you will see its bleading down, he probably just diagnosed it as head gasket..

I would demand to see the cracked head before you pay any $$$.

I highly doubt you cracked the cast iron 3.8 cylinder head.

[camaroincal]

Well here's the scoop on my car. I bought it in 2001, it's a 1997, and it had 73,xxx. Also the car had been a lease/fleet because I carfaxed it. The guy lived in Southern Cali (HOT there) and since it was a lease I think he didn't take care of it for ****. The car had several dings and I made the dealer change the coolant when I bought it because it was REALLY mucky and low. At the time I was like 18 and just broke up with my gf and I wasn't thinking straight. All I saw was this nice white Camaro with t-tops and chrome rims. Thinking back I should've waited and got a better deal.

So anyway, who knows how long the car went without a coolant change. I wouldn't doubt the guy mixed some green coolant in with the Death-Cool. He probably drove it hard to. It's a 5 speed and all. Now since I've had the car, the coolant has been flushed and changed twice in about 3 years, except I never got around to removing the drain plug on the engine. So I never got all the crap out of there. The dealer did a half-assed job of flushing it when I bought the car.

I have only put about 13,xxx in the past 3 years on the car, but when I do drive, I drive it pretty hard. So, a cracked head is possible. I'm gonna ask about the cracked head though when I go to get the car. Hopefully he'll show it to me without my asking but I doubt it. He seems pretty busy lately. In the end, if I would have known it was gonna be this much, I wouldn't have done it. I probably would have looked around for a used 3800 or learned how to do the head gasket fix myself.

The problem with doing it myself is that I would still have to take the heads to a machinist, so it still would have cost an arm and a leg to do it myself, and I wouldn't have the assurance that I did it correctly since I am no mechanic. This way, even though it's gonna cost a couple arm's, legs, and other stuff..It will be good to go.

Now here's what I'm really worrying about. My catylitic converter has been making rattling noises for about 6 months. It's possible that is clogged or not good. I've heard when cats go bad they make other things go bad. So that is another thing that could've contributed to the motor problem. How long are the stock cats good for anyway?

[Magnus]

I still doubt it was a bad head gasket or cracked head.

For anyone reading this who comes into a similar situation, you can pick up used engines from junkyards with warranty for about $550 shipped. Labor to install it is much less than any type of engine work.

[camaroincal]

How much is the labor to install the engine?

[camaroincal]

How long did it take for you to take out the 3.8 in your car Magnus?

[Magnus]

it takes maybe 3 hours to remove the engine, probably another 3 to put it back in..

its really straight forward.

My girl had an engine replaced in her truck through a mechanic.. the labor AND engine cost about $1500.

[wantmorepower]

I agree with magnus. You may have been taken on this one. Sounds like you are in up too your elbows though now. Sorry to here that you are going to be out half to a third of what a fair condition 97 is worth.

Regardless of if someone feels salty or if it makes sour grapes you really should get the old head and take a look for yourself. This "craked" head is junk and shouldn't have much use as a core so get it from him.

This guy may truly be on the up and up. $200 take his word. $2000 see for yourself.

Anyway good luck with it.

[MegaHertz]

Personally i'd say that I don't wanna have it fixed for that much, drive/tow it home, buy a service manual and fix it. I'd buy a beater car for $500 to hold me over while i rebuilt the engine if i had to. I can't stand paying people for labor that I know i would enjoy doing myself.

[camaroincal]

Originally posted by MegaHertz:
Personally i'd say that I don't wanna have it fixed for that much, drive/tow it home, buy a service manual and fix it. I'd buy a beater car for $500 to hold me over while i rebuilt the engine if i had to. I can't stand paying people for labor that I know i would enjoy doing myself.

Ya so your going to machine your own heads and do your own valve job? lmao I'd like to see that. I mean, all you act like I'm doing the wrong thing, but what else can I friggen do? It's not just as simple as taking off the top end and replacing the gaskets, everything has to be done properly or else your just gonna have more problems down the road. If the heads aren't torqued just so etc it can happened all over again.

And for the people saying to buy a junkyard engine. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be to comfortable about spending $1500 (engine+ install) on an engine that's been sitting for who knows how long in a junk yard. I mean, what if it has problems once you get it in the car. Oops, that wold suck lol.

And about buying a beater. We already have a beater. A 1984 Prelude with about 170,000 miles. Still runs pretty good too.

[AZ3.8Camaro]

Originally posted by Magnus:
I really bet you just had a leaky water pump. Its very common on 3.8's.. if you pressure test teh coolant system you will see its bleading down, he probably just diagnosed it as head gasket..

I would demand to see the cracked head before you pay any $$$.

I highly doubt you cracked the cast iron 3.8 cylinder head.

I totally agree here. My water pump went bad and was dripping out coolant.

I bet you anything he saw the coolant leaking, then popped the radiator cap, saw the murky dex-cool sledge (there is actually a class action suit against them) from not changing it often and put 2 and 2 together without really knowing what was going on. Dexcool starts to look EXACTLY like oil in coolant after it ages.

Unless you run a lot of boost or got the car REALLY hot, your not going to just crack a head.

[camaroincal]

The car has gotten very hot before. When we changed my coolant a year ago, it went up to 250+ for a little bit. And like I said, the guy that owned the car before me didn't take care of it and he lived in Los Angeles, which is a very hot place so it's a good chance he overheated it.

Also like I said, I take car of my car. The Dexcool was not sludged, it's just I never unplugged the drain plug on the block, so there was some chunks down there causiong havoc with the water pump no doubt.

[Magnus]

chunks wont' kill the head gasket.

Yea, I've run my V6 up there too in the winters from trying to get unstuck..

3.8 is a beast man. It will take the abuse.

[jc Kyle]

not to steal the thread, but I am curious.. I just flushed my coolant system and I used Dex cool, previously there was green coolant in there.. so what should i use, dex cool, or green coolant?

[wantmorepower]

stay away from dex cool that stuff is junk no matter what gm says.

[jc Kyle]

my car has run great since i put it in.. i plan on flushing every 6 months anyway.. so i guess it doesn't have tooo long to become bad.. so what's the real reason that nobody likes dexcool? I hear people say it's junk, yet no scientific or observational data to back it up.. thx