Head Gasket

[OneLastBreath]

Hi There:

I have a 2001 Sunfire and my mechanic told me that I have a slow leak in my head gasket...I have been told by a few people that they have gotten this fixed at the dealership under the "good will" program. I am having no luck with getting the dealership that I baught the car from to do this for me (probably because im a woman who doesn't know a lot about cars ) does anyone have any tips on getting them to fix this problem?

Thanks

[Ryan066]

a 2001 with a HG problem? that's rough...
I got an 88 Kcar with orginal HG..

Did they do a compression test?
Do you blow white smoke out on a really nice day?
Are you loosing coolant?
Is your oil milkly/chocolate color?
Can u see and physical dmg to the head gasket?
Does your car overheat?
Bubbles coming from your resovior for the coolant?
Does the car run like crap?

A head gasket problem is a serious and costly problem if your not going to do it yourself... with a 2001 a HG repair would be fairly easy for someone who is a pretty good backyard mechanic with proper tools... because barly anything would be rusty..

I know the saturn guys told my father his HG was leaking and so far hes been driving it for a long time and it still hasn't shown any signs..

GL

[OneLastBreath]

Hey Ryan

The only physical signs that I have is that the check engine light is on and the fact that the mechanic told me that it was a problem other then that the car runs fine.
It started out that one day I noticed that the check engine light went on so I checked the normal things out..was the gas cap on tight and did I need any windsheld washer fluid toped up (sometimes the sunfire does that when it needs to be toped up why I dont know) but I couldn't see anything wrong so I kept driving it (I have been told that sometimes lights just come on for no reason). The next day the low coolent light came on so I put 2 ltrs in and grabbed one just in case it came back on. The light went off and the level seemed ok so I drove to work the next day and then the light came on again so I pulled over and put another in. I was almost to work when the temp started to rise and rise till it went over the red and then I pulled over and shut it off. I was almost to work so I started it back up after about 15 mins and had to pull over a 2nd time cuz it shot right back up. I ended up taking it to a mechanic that morning and he told me it was either the temp gage or the rad. I ended up with a new temp gage that he riged so the fan runs all the time and a new rad. After all the tests and parts it cost $640.00. Then when I picked it up he told me that my bad news didnt stop there cuz I had a slow leak in the head gasket which if I brought back to him would cost $1200.00. Now I dont know much about cars but I thought that was a bit high so I got another quote from an X of mine (you gotta love the x's who just dont go away sometimes) whos father knows a lot about cars and he came back with around 600.00-650.00.
So it's much better then the orriganal 1200.00 but for a 2001 im not impressed to say the least. You wont see this woman back at the Pontiac dealership when its time to buy another car!!!

[Ryan066]

Originally Posted by OneLastBreath

Hey Ryan

The only physical signs that I have is that the check engine light is on and the fact that the mechanic told me that it was a problem other then that the car runs fine.
It started out that one day I noticed that the check engine light went on so I checked the normal things out..was the gas cap on tight and did I need any windsheld washer fluid toped up (sometimes the sunfire does that when it needs to be toped up why I dont know) but I couldn't see anything wrong so I kept driving it (I have been told that sometimes lights just come on for no reason). The next day the low coolent light came on so I put 2 ltrs in and grabbed one just in case it came back on. The light went off and the level seemed ok so I drove to work the next day and then the light came on again so I pulled over and put another in. I was almost to work when the temp started to rise and rise till it went over the red and then I pulled over and shut it off. I was almost to work so I started it back up after about 15 mins and had to pull over a 2nd time cuz it shot right back up. I ended up taking it to a mechanic that morning and he told me it was either the temp gage or the rad. I ended up with a new temp gage that he riged so the fan runs all the time and a new rad. After all the tests and parts it cost $640.00. Then when I picked it up he told me that my bad news didnt stop there cuz I had a slow leak in the head gasket which if I brought back to him would cost $1200.00. Now I dont know much about cars but I thought that was a bit high so I got another quote from an X of mine (you gotta love the x's who just dont go away sometimes) whos father knows a lot about cars and he came back with around 600.00-650.00.
So it's much better then the orriganal 1200.00 but for a 2001 im not impressed to say the least. You wont see this woman back at the Pontiac dealership when its time to buy another car!!!

Heh.. yeah.....

By the sounds of it the HG is leaking. if the temp is still rising now just open the hood and just wave ur hand around and if the guage is anywhere near the top underneath the hood should be really hot. if its not too hot then ur guage is messed.

did they mention why they replaced the rad?

I dont know why a tech would ever rig it up so the fan is allways on.. thats just rediculous.. if the manufator needed to do, they would, and they would save alot of hastle by doing so too.

600 bucks for a HG replacement is a good deal I supose. if ur not doing it yourself

how many miles/km is on it? driven hard??

[OneLastBreath]

Because the fan is going all the time the temp doesn't even go close to overheating...infact it's around the 40 mark most of the time unless I leave it idleing for a while.
The way he told me was that I needed a new rad anyways and that what was the problem of why it overheadted on me in the first place but becuase I didnt pull over right away and turn the car off I pretty much buggered it up and thats why I got the slow leak in the head gasket.
I wouldn't even begin to know how to replace the headgasket so it's a good thing that I am having someone else do it for me....I really need to stop being such a typical chick about cars and learn about what's going on underneither that hood of mine! LOL
My car is almost at 114.000 km and yes I do like to drive fast a lot.

[Ryan066]

heheh yeeeaa lol, head gasket job is pretty involved tho. I wanna replace it on my car but im lacking funds,

that is quite a bit of km and if u do drive it hard then I can see it going... still out of the ordinary ..

but yeah, cars are meant to run at a certain temperature.... if its any different then its all down-hill from there.

and if the car overheats the best thing to do is to pull over and leave the car Running and blast the heat... because shutting it off isnt really doing anything cause everything is still really hot but now its not moving.

or u can stick the car in Neutral and blast the heat while coasting down the road... id say thats the quickest way.

also make sure the fan is working

[backyardman]

The car is overheating so you pull over and leave it running??? Please explain, it doesn't sound right to me.

[Ryan066]

well would you rather leave boiling hot water sitting still in your engine with (the fan only cooling fluid that is pyhsically in the rad, rather then flowing through)
im not saying that it will fix the problem.. but it sure is better then shutting it off and leaving it, wouldnt ya say?.
but if it still is climbing then clearly soemthing is really wrong and should prolyl shut er off till it hits the red