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I think I guessed right!
So here was the deal with my car. The temperature gauge was spiking, there was white smoke coming out of the back, and it was shaking a lot when it was idling. I went to my usual mechanic, and they sent me somewhere else because it was too serious for them. You can imagine how worried my car and I were.
It turns out that this is indicative of either a busted engine head gasket, or a cracked engine head. Apparently this is really easy to diagnose, and relatively easy but very time-consuming (read: expensive) to fix.
So I essentially had three choices:
I held my breath, crossed my fingers, and called up the mechanic yesterday to choose option 2. I figure that even if more repairs are needed, this car is worth quite a bit more to me than it would be to someone else, since I don't care about the body damage and since I know what headaches it does and doesn't have.
I called him back today. The head is fine. They're going to poke around tomorrow to see if anything else is wrong with my engine, so I'm still holding my breath a bit, but it's really looking hopeful that I can get out of here with a bill of just $750. Even my 53,000-mile timing belt looks fine, he said.
And the best part? I had totally budgeted my tax return (about $500) for car repairs this summer, since if anything ever goes wrong with it, it's usually this time of year, and I didn't want to risk not being able to afford to fix the thing. So this will hopefully be just a couple hundred beyond that.
I'm still holding my breath, but it looks like I'm well on my way to being very, very relieved.
It turns out that this is indicative of either a busted engine head gasket, or a cracked engine head. Apparently this is really easy to diagnose, and relatively easy but very time-consuming (read: expensive) to fix.
So I essentially had three choices:
- Get a replacement (used) engine, for about $1300
- Have them take apart the engine and determine the problem. If the head isn't cracked, a new gasket would be about $750. If the head is cracked, a new head could be $1500, or even more if they can't find a cheap used one. Either of these prices could go up if there's anything else wrong with the engine
- Sell the car, which has a Blue Book value of about $2,150 with a working engine and less body damage than I have
I held my breath, crossed my fingers, and called up the mechanic yesterday to choose option 2. I figure that even if more repairs are needed, this car is worth quite a bit more to me than it would be to someone else, since I don't care about the body damage and since I know what headaches it does and doesn't have.
I called him back today. The head is fine. They're going to poke around tomorrow to see if anything else is wrong with my engine, so I'm still holding my breath a bit, but it's really looking hopeful that I can get out of here with a bill of just $750. Even my 53,000-mile timing belt looks fine, he said.
And the best part? I had totally budgeted my tax return (about $500) for car repairs this summer, since if anything ever goes wrong with it, it's usually this time of year, and I didn't want to risk not being able to afford to fix the thing. So this will hopefully be just a couple hundred beyond that.
I'm still holding my breath, but it looks like I'm well on my way to being very, very relieved.