bought my 07 TL-S auto with 170k miles, and noticed immediately that my heater never blew hot air. the previous owner said it was some heater core issue or fuse, something like that, and that the part would cost like $70. I never got around to replacing it because Southern California really doesn't have much use for a car heater. so anyway, I drive it another 2k miles all the way up to Portland and then to Hermiston. Before heading back, I decided to have a shop replace my thermostat as preventative maintenance (and wishfully thinking it'd fix my heater issue). after 45 minutes, my AC isn't blowing cold air anymore, and then I notice my heat gauge temp is maxed out! I pull over, see some steam coming from the radiator, and then I wait for 15 minutes. I drive to the next town over which is like 10 minutes away, and the heat gauge is all the way up again.

I ended up towing the car back to the shop where I had the thermostat replaced and after some analysis, they said they noticed some white dust or coating in the radiator (which seems to be some sort of stop leak). after a $2000 quote for a headgasket job, I tow it to a different shop that seemed to be busier and actually had experience working on some Japanese cars (this small town of Hermiston has about 10k population, so it's probably not common working on import cars). they take out the thermostat and saw it was stuck open. they also take off the head and notice the same white 'stop leak' is all over, and the mechanic said he'd never seen that much of the 'stop leak' before. he said it totally clogged up the radiator. so here is what they recommended and what I bought:

recommended:
radiator (I bought a Koyo)
head gasket
flushing
water pump and timing belt (they said my old timing belt was in bad shape, so I went with an Aisin kit)

I also bought:
upper and lower radiator hoses
heater core hose
oem radiator cap

is there anything else I should do to prevent another heating issue caused from this stop leak stuff? the mechanic said they'd flush it as much as they can, and then hope for the best. this option was cheaper than replacing the engine, which I was quoted around $4000 for labor and parts. so far, my bill is $2200 roughly... i'd like to drive the car as long as possible, so anything I can replace now, i'd rather get out of the way. what do you guys think though? scrap the car after it's all fixed, or it's as good as new?

 

That sucks man. I hate when people do dishonest 💩 like that. If it we're me I prob woulda gone with a new engine just becuz not knowing if any more might be in there. But both options suck. Not much to do now but wait til it's done and see how it is when they're done fixing it. Did they check the coolant temperature sensor to? If that's covered in Stop leak it's not gona be working great either.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe the Heater Control Valve (https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g.../#post11390744) since that seems to be a common TL issue, leak, causing the no heat problem.

Good luck & I hope it's all good when the get it back together for ya

 

Damn, that sucks. Some people are just shitty. The Aisin timing belt kit is the OEM parts, just without the OEM price. $2200 is a steep price to pay on repairs for a car you just purchased. However, if you paid outright, you can think of that money as being still far less than the cost of a car payment throughout the year. A $15k car will probably run you over $3k/year in payments, depending how much you put down. If I were you, I would have the repairs done and see how the car drives for a couple thousand miles. If it continues to have issues, assess the cost of repairs and decide if those repairs justify keeping the car or not. Not sure how much you will have into the car, but that will also be a big factor in the keep vs. sell argument.

I imagine the car has a blown head gasket and the previous owner used the stop leak to disguise the issue. Previous owner realized that they could quickly sell the car to someone before the headgasket issue would show itself and avoid paying to repair it themselves, while still getting good value for the car.

I have had bad luck with my TL since I purchased it 10 months ago, so I feel for you. Hasn't gone a month without a new problem or constant problem. It only has 113k miles.

 

After spending that much and living in a small town, you should become more DIY. Will save you big time. Those things are not hard to do except the timing belt (it's time consuming not all that difficult).

 

I am in the same predicament but this is my cousins car which I am in charge of taking care of. TL-S Auto with 93k miles, during lots of oil and also loosing coolant. For me, a $2000 labor and parts, might as well search CL and look for a mechanic that will swap the engine for you. Because you don't know how stop leak damaged the engine, most mechanics strongly advise not to use those as they most likely do more harm than good. Look into a junk shop with a running engine and weigh your options for an engine swap or repair.

I found one here in New Jersey, he has like 3-4 Type S engines for sale around $600-$800 , and then I found Paul , our Azine local mechanic from NJ who will charge for a very decent cost to replace the engine.

 

No, the stop leak didn't cause the blown head gasket. You have that backwards. The blown head gasket happened first and then the previous owner put the stop leak in to bandaid the engine.

The previous owner dump the car asap and that is where you came in the picture and bought the car not knowing the head gasket was blown. The signs were there you didn't connect the dots.

The last nail in the coffin was the shop that changed the thermostat. They didn't or the car couldn't have all the air bleed out of the cooling system and that's why your car over heated.

Think about that now. You drove the car for 2k miles and the car did not over heat until that shop touch it. What are the odds of a car not over heating for 2k miles unless it was cooling fine. The odds are basically zero. So the shop did something to change the odds of your car to cause the over heating.

You should change the thermostat again since the car over heated with the new thermostat.

A good used motor would be a better repair than a rebuild head and/or motor. The rebuild motor is only as good as the tech that's rebuilding it. As oppose to a factory built motor, which history have proven it to be consistently exceptionally well built.

 

Well darn. I had the shop already start the repairs and removing the head, plus I ordered the parts on Amazon already... too late to reconsider swapping now.

I actually live in SoCal, so plenty of shops here are capable and probably cheaper, but it's just that the car is stuck in little old Hermiston, Oregon. If I knew the engines were that affordable, I'd have went with that. I wonder if there are any affordable auto mechanics around here on azine.

But yah, I'll see how the car drives after I get it. I'll also look into the coolant sensor and heater control valve as well. As far as money, I bought the car outright. So yah, I'll be at about $10k for a 07 TL-S with 172k miles -_-