Will that be Vaseline or Astroglide?

[Professur]

Coz I'm about to get it up the ass. Damn GM POS. Some of you might recall me discussing a coolant leak in the Pontiac Transport's engine. Well it went from a leak, to a flood this past weekend, and half the coolant now resides in the oil pan. Estimates for the repairs are over $2000. Doesn't matter wether the BBQ is in Kansas or Ga this year. I won't be in attendance.

Fucker didn't even buy me drinks first. Damnit.

 

[tonksy]

Boo hiss!

 

[Uki Chick]

Ouch, that sucks!

 

[catocom]

gebus, you could get a whole good used engine ...installed...around here for it for $1000.

 

[unclehobart]

Repair an engine crack? Must not be in the block. $2000 should be an entire new engine. Replacing the heads and whatnot shouldn't top $1000. Are you doing it through CTire or a private shop?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Yep. Time to look into a rebuilt motor. And a Ford.

 

[Professur]

Private. And yeah, that's a realistic cost. Remember the engine bay? GM was looking at 5hrs work just for a spark plug swap. You have to drop the motor just to get at anything. It's $800 just to change the intake gaskets. The $2000 estimate includes $300 a piece for replacement heads. That may not be needed, but with 200K on the clock, there's a good chance (according to the mechanic) that the antifreeze may have corroded the heads more than can be safely machined flat. But (also according to the mechanic) there's little else that goes wrong with these motors. All the trouble stems from the intake. The bottom end is rock solid and once this job's done, it should be good for another 200k.

This is a shop I trust. And the price estimates are straight off an identical job they did last week. Same year van, with similar milage. That one needed the heads. The truth is that it's 80% that it's only the intake manifold, and that the $800 repair would solve it. But there's no way to tell if the heads aren't also leaking without going in. There's no test to separate the two.

 

[chcr]

3.8 long blocks average about $1500 US. I don't know anything about Canuckistani suppliers. Cat, you can get a used engine for a lot less than $1000 here if you have the wherewithal to pull it and transport it yourself. Problem is you don't know what you'll get.

 

[Professur]

Any rebuilt engine is gonna top 4 grand, and any used is gonna have exactly the same problems.

And BTW, the in-laws Taurus had a coolant leak a couple of years back. The $800 estimate for a replacement head gasket suddenly turned into a $4000 block replacement when it was found to be cracked. Tell me about how great Fords are again?

 

[Professur]

3.8 long blocks average about $1500 US. I don't know anything about Canuckistani suppliers. Cat, you can get a used engine for a lot less than $1000 here if you have the wherewithal to pull it and transport it yourself. Problem is you don't know what you'll get.

3.4l.

the big trouble with this is that you can't just rent a cherry picker and put the engine. It has to come out the bottom. Not too many folk I know with a rack at home.

 

[Leslie]

Jeebus.
Too bad you can`t do it at home.

 

[catocom]

3.8 long blocks average about $1500 US. I don't know anything about Canuckistani suppliers. Cat, you can get a used engine for a lot less than $1000 here if you have the wherewithal to pull it and transport it yourself. Problem is you don't know what you'll get.

Installed?

I WAS being cautious.
I really think there's a place here called Allison's that will put it in for $600 total,
and guarantee it for a certain time.
If it comes out of a wreck with less that 50k on it, it should be good, if it makes
it through the warranty. They check them pretty good.

 

[catocom]

3.4l.

the big trouble with this is that you can't just rent a cherry picker and put the engine. It has to come out the bottom. Not too many folk I know with a rack at home.

yep, finding a place in Your area is the thing.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

And BTW, the in-laws Taurus had a coolant leak a couple of years back. The $800 estimate for a replacement head gasket suddenly turned into a $4000 block replacement when it was found to be cracked. Tell me about how great Fords are again?

Y'all Canadians need to learn how to drive without screwing up yer cooling systems.

 

[Professur]

Y'all americans need to design an engine that doesn't have coolant problems. Of the 7 cars I've owned, the american mades have been ten times the trouble.

Les, it's gonna take a fully equipped, trained mechanic 8 hours to get this done. It's just not a DIY job.

How much to mechanics charge you guys an hour? Here it's ballpark $55 an hour.

 

[Luis G]

And why do their cars need a cooling system anyway? tis freaking cold already.

 

[Professur]

You'd laugh to know that more cars overheat here during winter than summer, Luis. We have to use a fairly high concentration of Glycol than most. Glycol and Aluminium don't get along well. Today's cars use aluminium heads.

 

[catocom]

My van is a Chevy, made in Canada, so I guess I'm covered.

 

[chcr]

You'd laugh to know that more cars overheat here during winter than summer, Luis. We have to use a fairly high concentration of Glycol than most. Glycol and Aluminium don't get along well. Today's cars use aluminium heads.

Switch to Dexcool when you get it fixed. That's why GM came out with it.

 

[Professur]

That's what's supposed to be in it already.