The never-ending saga of car troubles has a new chapter today. Last night, we discovered that my car was once again leaking coolant. In fact, we discovered that the car was completely empty of coolant last night, possibly because it'd all ended up in a puddle on my father-in-law's driveway earlier that afternoon. So we dumped some more coolant into the car and drove it to the service station, where I left it to be worked on today. My father-in-law loaned me his van, which I proceeded to drive without any sort of iPod or CD accompaniment. This, I thought to myself, is what primitive man must have felt like, driving back and forth between his home and work with nothing but the strains of Bad Company drifting across the AM/FM waves to comfort him. It was a sobering thought.
Today we discovered that the likely culprit in the coolant leak is probably the head gasket. In theory, this is a relatively straightforward part to replace. In theory. Unfortunately, due to some bizarre way the engine is designed and set up in a GMC Jimmy, the head gasket replacement is an involved, difficult procedure that takes about 18 hours of labor to accomplish (or so claims the dealership service department guy. I still have my doubts that it could take longer than a few hours to do). At about $100 per hour of labor, this is not a cheap part to replace.
So I face a dilemma: do I pay the large short-term cost and get my car repaired, that it might continue to serve me for another year or so? Or do I say "to hell with this," trade in the car for what little I can get, and purchase a new vehicle? Admittedly, I won't be able to get much for my car if it is a head gasket. The overall cost of the new car will be a strain. But the one-time cost of the head gasket replacement is rather steep. It'll put a much more immediate strain on finances.
I honestly don't know what the right answer here is (aside from, possibly, "learn how to replace a head gasket yourself"). This whole affair is frustrating as all hell, I can tell you that much.
~chuck
Song of the Moment: The Beatles, "Drive My Car"
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2 comments:
Take your car to a different shop - not the dealership. Call around and find a reasonable priced shop for head gasket replacement on your specific car. (They almost all have estimating software that will show them how to do it and how much time it will take.) I highly doubt that someone that's done it before would take 18 hours to do it again. A trained monkey could finish it in 18 hours.
agree...
take a second opinion from the expert mechanics..that's what i actually do to before tweaking the car. It is better to be sure of what is causing the problem than just plain estimates. Fortunately, i got a mechanic friend who is always honest and handy during repairs and installing parts (radiator, nissan tie rod end, timing belt)
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