First of all...I'm helping out a good friend of mine as he knows nothing about cars, and even less of how to maintain them. He came to me with this problem, and I didn't know how to correctly diagnose the problem. So, now I turn to you guys - the experts!

Ok so now heres the problem, he has a 00' TL w/ 147k miles. And a few month ago, he was having overheating problems. It was traced to a leaking pipe that leaked coolant. So being the procrastinator that he is, he put off fixing the overheating problem. Today, a mechanic looked at the car and told him that water somehow got into the engine. And he asked the mechanic how, so he pulls out the engine oil dipstick. And its this gooey olive green color paste thats kinda thick, and we pull dipstick in and out and same results.

So my question to you guys, what do you think the problem is? And furthermore, how can it be fixed? As always, thank you for your advice and suggestions as they're very much appreciated.

 

Thats called a blown head gasket
A mechanic can tell which side of the engine= hopefully only one
Its a bit of labor to get the head off and have it inspected for damage and
install the new gasket

KRIS= got any idea on labor time for this job?

 

I'm not sure, maybe fsttyms can chime in

 

thats who I meant

 

Now correct me if I'm wrong....but having a blown head gasket - wouldn't that produce some type of smoke? Whether it be through the exhaust or engine? Because I drove the car for a minute, and it doesn't give off any smoke at all from what I can see.

 

Its most likely based on your description
Perhaps if you held the modem next to it while revving engine,,,,

This same mechanic should have done a compression test or
the sniffer or dye that detects exhaust gas in the radiator-

What was his diagnosis?

Just because you dont see it doesnt mean its not happening
coolant low- oil high hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

I know. I kid, I kid.

 

LOL you crack me up sometimes 01tl4tl.

The thing was, as soon as the mechanic was gonna give his diagnosis, he got a damn call and had to go. So he said he'll call us later or we can come back sometime later. I guess we should be expecting a call tomorrow. And maybe take the car there for tests?

 

That would be the plan

If the car was running over the middle of the temp guage or needed coolant added to the bottle or radiator- or the fans runs 15 minutes after shut down
there is a real problem

 

I replied to another overheat thread today saying:

the Service Writer in me stands ~wringing hands evily~ and says, dont worry about the coolant mix being off- you are going to pop a head gasket at least!
let the fan run- the battery needs to be replaced anyway!

 

It seems that these days, motors will last forever as long as you don't overheat them.
Overheat = head or block warps, head gasket leaks, water in oil, $$$$ to fix.

 

Its that old story of aluminum and steel having different expansion and contraction rates, and when you heat that aluminum head up beyond its design spec...

Say goodbye to the gasket keeping them and the fluids seperate

 

So given that has happened, what do you think is the fix?? And is it worth it?

 

It all depends on what is actually wrong. If hes lucky its just a gasket. Thats just labor and a gasket. Kinda bad luck he needs a new head, thats not so cheap. Your looking at between just 500 for a bare head to 1200 for a complete assembly. Really bad news the damage is to the block now and he needs a new motor. Labor alone will probably be 1000-1700 at the dealer depending on what they find.

 

You have to remove the heads and check the block and heads to be sure they are not warped.
If they are not warped, put in new head gaskets and you are probably good to go.
If they are warped, you have to have the head and/or block milled before the new head gaskets. If the block has to be milled, it has to come out and apart.
Best case is 2/3 of the engine has to come apart.
Worst case is almost all of the engine has to come out and apart.
If you repair it, you should probably do a water pump and timing belt while you have it apart.
Even in the best case, it might be simpler and cheaper to replace the engine, maybe with a used one.

 

I probably costs you between 2000 to 3000 greenback. It depends how much you like your car.

 

Milling is old school, I'm not even sure that can be done on this motor, might have to replace as Kris says.

 

you can get the heads milled on our cars. I just recently had a head gasket blow out on me. My mechanic who is a friend of the family has been tearing through my engine this weekend. luckily my heads were not warped or cracked so he is replacing both gaskets and telling me my engine should run like there never was a problem. Weird thing was there was no visible water in the oil or smoke frome the exhaust. the pressure change from losing water was causing whatever water i had left in the radiator to overflow my resevior. thats when i first noticed i was losing fluid . so luckily i caught that there was something going on before i seriously overheated the engine and said . i should probably thank mobil1 as well. cost somewhere around $800 havent heard final bill yet

 

word to all TL Owners
Watch the temp guage- if it ever varies from the 1-2 lines below half that is has run since new- something is wrong!!!!
Learn to look at all the fluids under the hood at least once a month-

older members will remember the days of checking the oil level at every gas fillup-
and check tire pressure monthly- especially if your area had a big temp change- you could be 2-5 psi off, and its usually on the low side- killing gas mileage
We went from 50s to 88 this weekend- time to head out with the tire guage~

 

So the final bill is 900. Replaced both head gaskets, pulled oil pan and fixed a leak i had behind the oil pump. He has been up on the weekend working on his time off . He has had it since friday and I will pick it up tomorrow Sunday. What do ya'll think? I figured labor alone somewhere else would have been that much.