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car issues - 12/2/2011 12:48:20 PM   
defiantbadgirl


Posts: 2988
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline 		About a month ago, Sir's Honda Civic overheated. There was no water leaking under the car to indicate a water pump issue so we replaced the thermostat. The car was fine for the next 3 weeks, then suddenly overheated again. A mechanic told us the water pump was the cause and we now need a new head gasket. Apparently, there was a problem inside the water pump? I thought water pumps leaked everywhere when they quit working. Also, if the water pump was the problem, why did the car stop overheating for 3 weeks? It doesn't make sense. Now we are being told the head gasket and water pump need replacing. The mechanic offered to replace the head gasket, water pump, and belts for $550. I've heard that once a head gasket goes, cars become a money pit. Is the car even worth fixing?


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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:08:51 PM   
ashjor911


Posts: 7793
Joined: 9/7/2010
From: balcony, having a Smoke
Status: offline 		simple,
1- Fix It.
2- Sell It.
3- Buy new one.


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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:19:39 PM   
agirl


Posts: 4530
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

About a month ago, Sir's Honda Civic overheated. There was no water leaking under the car to indicate a water pump issue so we replaced the thermostat. The car was fine for the next 3 weeks, then suddenly overheated again. A mechanic told us the water pump was the cause and we now need a new head gasket. Apparently, there was a problem inside the water pump? I thought water pumps leaked everywhere when they quit working. Also, if the water pump was the problem, why did the car stop overheating for 3 weeks? It doesn't make sense. Now we are being told the head gasket and water pump need replacing. The mechanic offered to replace the head gasket, water pump, and belts for $550. I've heard that once a head gasket goes, cars become a money pit. Is the car even worth fixing?



Depends on the car.  Have the car looked at by other garages unless you have one you trust implicitely.


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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:21:18 PM   
Muttling


Posts: 1612
Joined: 9/30/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

About a month ago, Sir's Honda Civic overheated. There was no water leaking under the car to indicate a water pump issue so we replaced the thermostat. The car was fine for the next 3 weeks, then suddenly overheated again. A mechanic told us the water pump was the cause and we now need a new head gasket. Apparently, there was a problem inside the water pump? I thought water pumps leaked everywhere when they quit working. Also, if the water pump was the problem, why did the car stop overheating for 3 weeks? It doesn't make sense. Now we are being told the head gasket and water pump need replacing. The mechanic offered to replace the head gasket, water pump, and belts for $550. I've heard that once a head gasket goes, cars become a money pit. Is the car even worth fixing?



It's not that simple and your mechanic's answers seem quite reasonable as does his price.  In truth, I would be worried that the overheating may have also cracked the heads which would bump that price closer to $2,000.   Unfortunately, it's hard to tell the difference between a blown head gasket and a cracked head until you take the heads off of the block.

Get ready for some BIG expenses or dump the car.

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:23:42 PM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		If that civic has aluminum heads and they are warped beyond planing....double or triple the bill. 

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:25:46 PM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ashjor911

simple,
1- Fix It.
2- Sell It.
3- Buy new one.



I like this plan. Or do what I did with my last car. Get a lightly used engine and swap it out. Much less mooolllllaaaaaa.

Unfortunately a year later, a deer totaled it...


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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 1:31:28 PM   
RexDarcy


Posts: 597
Joined: 6/23/2010
From: Arizona
Status: offline 		I had the same problem back in 2003 with the car I had then. The car started to overheat. I replaced the thermostat, thermostat housing, both radiator hoses, as well as flushing out the radiator.

About a week and a half went by. The car seemed to be running well. I decided to go out of town for a couple of days. On My way back, I blew the head gasket. I hafd the car towed to My mechanic here in town. The head was warped because of the overheating.

Total would have been close to $2300 to fix everything, which was more than the car was worth if in good running condition.

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 7:03:44 PM   
ashjor911


Posts: 7793
Joined: 9/7/2010
From: balcony, having a Smoke
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

quote:

ORIGINAL: ashjor911

simple,
1- Fix It.
2- Sell It.
3- Buy new one.



I like this plan. Or do what I did with my last car. Get a lightly used engine and swap it out. Much less mooolllllaaaaaa.

Unfortunately a year later, a deer totaled it...


Are you sure it was a deer !!

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my name is : bonsh ... jamesh bonsh.
code name : 009.5
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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 8:18:13 PM   
LafayetteLady


Posts: 7683
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Northern New Jersey
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Muttling

It's not that simple and your mechanic's answers seem quite reasonable as does his price.  In truth, I would be worried that the overheating may have also cracked the heads which would bump that price closer to $2,000.   Unfortunately, it's hard to tell the difference between a blown head gasket and a cracked head until you take the heads off of the block.

Get ready for some BIG expenses or dump the car.



I was just going to say that. He gives a nice quote to replace the gasket, but once he gets the heads off, if they are cracked, the bill skyrockets, and you still have to pay him to put the damn thing back together.

SOOOOO not worth it. I hear head gasket problem and it is time to dump the car.

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 8:25:55 PM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ashjor911


quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

quote:

ORIGINAL: ashjor911

simple,
1- Fix It.
2- Sell It.
3- Buy new one.



I like this plan. Or do what I did with my last car. Get a lightly used engine and swap it out. Much less mooolllllaaaaaa.

Unfortunately a year later, a deer totaled it...


Are you sure it was a deer !!


The animal I saw fly up and over the car after it bashed in the front end of the car, land on the road.......that I drug off to the ditch.........yep, deer. Doe to be exact.

_____________________________

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Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 9:15:46 PM   
LookieNoNookie


Posts: 12216
Joined: 8/9/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

About a month ago, Sir's Honda Civic overheated. There was no water leaking under the car to indicate a water pump issue so we replaced the thermostat. The car was fine for the next 3 weeks, then suddenly overheated again. A mechanic told us the water pump was the cause and we now need a new head gasket. Apparently, there was a problem inside the water pump? I thought water pumps leaked everywhere when they quit working. Also, if the water pump was the problem, why did the car stop overheating for 3 weeks? It doesn't make sense. Now we are being told the head gasket and water pump need replacing. The mechanic offered to replace the head gasket, water pump, and belts for $550. I've heard that once a head gasket goes, cars become a money pit. Is the car even worth fixing?



Water pumps (exception: hoses related to same) leak where the water pump is.

Honda's/Toyota's and all small cars have less mass in the engine, ergo, a nominal heat problem can be 7 times worse in a smaller engine.

Simply put, if you had a 10 minute overheat in a (small car) engine....it could be toast (head gasket/warping), but you get 38 mpg.

On a Chevy V8 350/327 (more mass)....you can run for days with a (slight) overheating issue and it'll still run (once repaired) for another 23 years.

And it'll get 9 - 17 mpg.

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 9:52:48 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		When you overheat once it wrecks the thermostat in a way that makes it overheat again. If it damages the engine it wil happen again.

If you get bad head gaskets, I tellya, you have NO way of knowing if the heads are bad. You should have a separate price on teardown, and two different prices on the full repair, one in the event the heads are OK and one in the event they are not.

The $550 only covers gaskets, and while there is a decent possibility that it's done then, you never know without a pressure test of the heads, especially if they're OHC which a hell of alot of Hondas are.

If it's an aluminum head, either replace the head or get rid of it usually, welding it is a big PITA. Steel is different somewhat.

Also you need to know if coolant got into the crankcase, because if it did, it just put a million miles on your crank and cam bearings, which means it should have a total rebuild to really be right. How right do you want it ? Washed out bearings might only cause a little bit of noise at startup on a cold day, or they might cause stalling or lifter collapse in the dead summer heat.

The $64 question here is whther the oil level ever went above normal. If it did, that's very bad if it has been run since.

T^T

< Message edited by Termyn8or -- 12/2/2011 9:56:11 PM >

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RE: car issues - 12/2/2011 10:21:50 PM   
popeye1250


Posts: 18104
Joined: 1/27/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline 		Light a match.

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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 6:38:43 AM   
ilearn


Posts: 23
Joined: 12/5/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

About a month ago, Sir's Honda Civic overheated. There was no water leaking under the car to indicate a water pump issue so we replaced the thermostat. The car was fine for the next 3 weeks, then suddenly overheated again. A mechanic told us the water pump was the cause and we now need a new head gasket. Apparently, there was a problem inside the water pump? I thought water pumps leaked everywhere when they quit working. Also, if the water pump was the problem, why did the car stop overheating for 3 weeks? It doesn't make sense. Now we are being told the head gasket and water pump need replacing. The mechanic offered to replace the head gasket, water pump, and belts for $550. I've heard that once a head gasket goes, cars become a money pit. Is the car even worth fixing?




How many miles on the car? If the head-gasket is gone, the wisest course of action is to buy a second hand engine and fit that one in the car. The second hand engine can be purchased from a junk-yard. That will be around 400 - 500 dollars.
The fitting is going to be expensive though. Labor will go up to a 1000. I have done this on my old Camry and that fixed the problem.

Otherwise you're looking at a big coolant hungry monster.

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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 11:20:23 AM   
areallivehuman


Posts: 277
Joined: 1/16/2010
Status: offline 		I'm a professional mechanic. It doesn't make sense, although I have seen water pumps stop leaking for a while and start again. Was the coolant low the first time, before you replaced the thermostat? If it wasn't you still have to find the cause of the overheating. What kind of shape is the radiator in, fins all rotted away? Does the electric cooling fan work? It's a moot point now, because the engine has overheated enough to blow the head gasket, or worse. Is it worth fixing? Hard to say, what kind of shape is the rest of the car in? Has it been well maintained, or has it been beat, neglected, run low on oil etc. If it has a lot of miles and has been thrashed, very possible you'll have further engine problems down the line. If you do fix it, make sure the radiator and fan are working properly, or it will overheat again.

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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 1:27:13 PM   
popeye1250


Posts: 18104
Joined: 1/27/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline 		I've always thought about buying an older car ( a Cadillac say) and putting a brandnew engine in it provided that the rest of the car was in good condition.
I wouldn't even need to put a Caddy engine in it, just a new Chevy 350 engine for ($4,600?)
If I were in your situation that's what I'd do, drop in a new replacement engine, then check out the radiator, hoses, thermostat, water pump etc and replace any of them that needed it.
Or, you could just buy a Ford F-150 and get 700,000 miles out of it with regular maintainence.

< Message edited by popeye1250 -- 12/3/2011 1:32:44 PM >

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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 6:02:19 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		You would put an Olds 350 into a Caddilac (with a BOP tranny). Look at a Hollander to find the correct engine mounts for that. They exist becasue some Caddies used deisels that were built in Olds 350 blocks, one of the few GM gas blocks that can handle being a deisel. Also, some Caddies actually used a gas 350 Olds in them. Most of the time you will have to have a driveshaft made for it, but you might get lucky sometimes.

But anytime an engine overheats I be very careful about it, especially dumping money into it. The thing might not just need a top end in gaskets, it might need a head, or both if it has two. That is more expensive, and if it's not tested by someone who knows what they're doing you could think it's gaskets, get it all put back together and have the same damn problem. It needs to be pressure tested and that ain't cheap.

I would run a compression check before disassembly to get an idea where to look for problems, in other words, sometimes it's better if one guy handles the whole job, rather than putting the head on a truck. Also if you know what you are doing you can guess pretty good if it needs a head or not. Heads can also be welded, but it is not cheap, especially on aluminum heads. (some think those can't be welded but that is not true)

T^T

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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 6:13:45 PM   
smartsub10


Posts: 865
Joined: 4/23/2010
Status: offline 		I had a 1994 Honda Civic and needed the head gasket replaced in 2000 for $900.  Drove the car another two years with routine maintenance - no problem.


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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 8:08:53 PM   
defiantbadgirl


Posts: 2988
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline 		We bought the car about six months ago from a mechanic who said he rebuilt the engine. We got the repair estimate from the same mechanic we bought the car from. I just told my father about the situation and he said he's suspicious of the mechanic because the belts need replacing. He said it's odd that a mechanic would rebuild an engine and not replace the belts and that new belts don't wear out in six months.


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Only in the United States is the health of the people secondary to making money. If this is what "capitalism" is about, I'll take socialism any day of the week.


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RE: car issues - 12/3/2011 9:20:16 PM   
LafayetteLady


Posts: 7683
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Northern New Jersey
Status: offline 		They can if the "mechanic" fucked up the rebuild.

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