1995 GA SE - Opinions Needed!

[KymberB]

I have a 1995 GA SE Coupe with a 6 Cyl 3.1L(I think) engine. It has 80k miles and is a reliable car. Currently, it is at the garage and I feel like I am waiting for a baby to be born! I'm a single mom and love this car for the reliability it has always offered me. However, there is currently a problem that is worsening and since I have previously fallen prey to 'she is a car naive chick, she'll never know she is being scammed' scam, I am seeking further opinions. Issue is this: Low coolant light started to some on intermittently in the last few months but never affected performance. A friend checked n said the coolant was low as there was none in the resevoir, so he added some until it was visible in the resevoir and appeared to be at the fill to line (engine was completely cool). Every now and again I smell faint antifreeze odors in the cabin and while there appeared to be no visible signs of leakage, my antifreeze would seem to lose its level. Eventually the light stopped coming on and all was well. Now, the temp guage climbs to the red zone, hovers a few seconds and then drops like a rock to the normal range (Half way mark between 110 & 220) It stays like this a lil while and then repeats the process. Again, this never affects the performance of the car. It was suggested perhaps this was a thermostat prob, so I bought a new one and a friend was unable to open the one bolt. The garage is going to replace it, but when I took it there they said they hope thats it and that I could have a cracked head (? dunno what that is but sounds friggin expensive!!) The head gasket was replaced at the dealer 2 years ago and the same garage where it is at now inspected it 2 weeks ago, gave it an oil change and a coolant system pressure check. My concern is if they come back and say its a major repair, shouldnt they have noticed my oil being funky colored or it running rough or a coolant leak? I am trying to not let 3 or 4 bad mechanic experiences color my opinions of them all, but its hard to do when ur on ur own and may have to choose between rent and fixing ur car. Its fine... if its valid. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Hoags]

KymberB, There is always a second opinion, Don't be afraid to get one. I kind of know what your going through, there have been many times I have had to check things out for my mother, since she is a widow it seems that all of the scammers climb out of the woodwork to try to taake advantage of her. I'm not saying that your garage is going to do that but be careful. As for the car having a cracked head or even a bad head gasket it is possible especially if the engine got hot due to low coolant. With any luck it will only be the thermostat, but it is possible to have a head or head gasket problem and not have the coolant get into the oil, I'm having that problem on my other vehicle, I'm loosing coolant and cannot find the source of the leak but there are no signs that it is getting into the oil.

All I can offer is to tell you to go with your instincts about the mechanics, if you don't trust them ask other people to recomend a reliable mechanic and have the car towed if you have to.

Good luck,
And welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will get more input to your post with some more advice there are a lot of people on the forum that know alot.

[Getsum3kgtsl]

I cracked my heads on my 96 GA GT 3.1, but the temp never came down and I had the coolant in the oil. On my car now (3kGT), I was having a problem like you said, driving the temp goes up to redzone then shoots to normal. I replaced the thermostat 3 times, it kept happening. So when I replaced the timing belt, I had the water pump changed too. After driving 200 miles the temp shot up and never came down ( I immedialtely cut it off), so I had to have the therm changed again. No problems now and no coolant in the oil. I really don't think you cracked the heads though. If it even looks like it wants to get hot again, get the water pump replaced. You'll be fine.

[KymberB]

Garage says I have a leaking head gasket. I just replaced it 2 yrs ago....guess they dont last. They said they put a chemical in the antifreeze to detect exhaust and it did. Tell me its 600-800 and they may very well find the head is cracked. *sigh*

Thanks to those who responded, it is appreciated.

[KymberB]

So, $1300 later, I have a new head gasket. They said they had to plane the head and the last gasket job was incorrect because they reused the bolts. They said that the bolts are sort of a self torqueing bolt that requires replacement. Before I got the car back, they dinged the hood by going up too high on the lift with the hood open. After driving back and forth to work twice (180 miles round trip), they advised me to come back to the shop as they forgot to put my dipstick & tube in. I went, the put it in, topped off the oil. NOW...

The car intermittently rough idles. Yesterday it stalled out completely (automatic trans). It sometimes doesnt respond to accelerator pedal, like its choking, then will be fine. What scared me is that I was stopped at a light, with my foot on the brake and the car accelerated on its own and tried to lurch forward! If I put the car in park and push the accelerator down, it revs normally until it gets to a higher RPM n then it starts to kind of buck. My BF isnt a technician, but he pointed out to me that my throttle cables are run over the air cleaner and they were not like that before. The cables are slack and the ends seem to slide into a metal bracket housing which I assume holds them tightly, all u have to do is tap the cable end and it slides right out of the bracket. Could this be the problem? What other possibilities? I have to take it back to the garage again, but I feel a lil skeptical of the work quality at this point. I cant put my baby in this car until I have confidence in it again.

Help would be appreciated!

[GTP Dad]

If this were my car I would take it to another garage to get it checked out. Any mechanic worth his salt should know that the 2.8 and 3.1 along with most of the newer model engines use torque to yield bolts that must be replaced anytime they are removed. As for your current issue, find someone else to work on the car. The guys that are currently doing your repairs obviously don't know what they are doing based on your description. Finally, are they going to repair your hood for you? They damaged it and therefore are liable to repair it for you free of charge.

[KymberB]

I appreciate the response. I think I should clarify that there were 2 dif garages. The one who neglected to change the bolts was actually the dealership shop. Ihave written them twice for an explanation and get no response. Supposedly the garage will go over the car today. The hood issue will be resolved after the mechanical issue. They already got the auto body estimate. I'm beginning to wonder if the timing is coincidental and the not so hot reinstall of my throttle cables is working in conjunction with the catalytic converter going bad/blocked. The garage this car is at is one of the most reputable in the area.