01-09-2013, 10:04 AM
You are living on "borrowed time " with the car and I'm sure you realize that . It's like having a tooth ache one day and the next day it's gone ...you still have a dental problem 
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If it's a head gasket issue , it's labour intensive .....the gasket set is pretty inexpensive but you need to remove a lot of parts to get at the head bolts . Big messy job . I'd suggest that if you spend the big bucks to fix it , keep the car as long as it will run . When it gets to 300k it will be worth ZERO , anyhow . What is really bothersome is you spend $2000 to fix the immediate problem ( 1750 + tax +++ ) and then something else goes . It's not long before you are driving a 5-6 k Legacy that is worth $1000 . That's the point where I used to get people wanting to trade the car , AFTER they spent all the ( wasted ) money . Whatever you do , don't spend the money for repairs and then try to trade it . Do one or the other .
Personally I'm not a big fan of 4-bangers . They seemed to be wound really tight to get the horsepower , leading to expensive problems . Just my "old" opinion . I have had V-6's and V-8's all my life and have never done a gasket .
T
.If it's a head gasket issue , it's labour intensive .....the gasket set is pretty inexpensive but you need to remove a lot of parts to get at the head bolts . Big messy job . I'd suggest that if you spend the big bucks to fix it , keep the car as long as it will run . When it gets to 300k it will be worth ZERO , anyhow . What is really bothersome is you spend $2000 to fix the immediate problem ( 1750 + tax +++ ) and then something else goes . It's not long before you are driving a 5-6 k Legacy that is worth $1000 . That's the point where I used to get people wanting to trade the car , AFTER they spent all the ( wasted ) money . Whatever you do , don't spend the money for repairs and then try to trade it . Do one or the other .
Personally I'm not a big fan of 4-bangers . They seemed to be wound really tight to get the horsepower , leading to expensive problems . Just my "old" opinion . I have had V-6's and V-8's all my life and have never done a gasket .
T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.