I drive a 94 Buick Century. I already knew it had a anti freeze leak, but we didn't know if it was just a small one that you could fix with some stopleak, or if it was something that I needed to have the whole intake manafold replaced.
I put the stopleak in the radiator, and the car drove fine for several weeks.
About 2 weeks ago though, the temperature gauge started climbing every time I drove. This last week, it was always past the "H" and out past the red zone. I noticed I was due for an oil change, so I got the oil changed. The guy told me that anti freeze was mixing with my oil, and that the head gasket was prolly blown.
I asked him how much to fix it, and he told me the part would be $200, and the labor $800 since it was gonna be an 11 hour job.
Well After the oil was chnaged the temperature dropped back down to the normal halfway mark, and was steady for a day or 2. NOw the temperature starts climbign back up again, but then after awhile, it will drop drastically back down.
I work at bestbuy and was talking the autotechs, and they said that the part should only be like $20, and the job should only take like 1-2 hours. They were amazed that the guy told me it would be $1000 to fix it.
WHat I was wondering is, how long can I drive this thing without getting the problem fixed, and also if I put water instead of anti freeze in the coolant tank and radiator, will that help solve the problem, since water has no harmful chemicals in it
I put the stopleak in the radiator, and the car drove fine for several weeks.
About 2 weeks ago though, the temperature gauge started climbing every time I drove. This last week, it was always past the "H" and out past the red zone. I noticed I was due for an oil change, so I got the oil changed. The guy told me that anti freeze was mixing with my oil, and that the head gasket was prolly blown.
I asked him how much to fix it, and he told me the part would be $200, and the labor $800 since it was gonna be an 11 hour job.
Well After the oil was chnaged the temperature dropped back down to the normal halfway mark, and was steady for a day or 2. NOw the temperature starts climbign back up again, but then after awhile, it will drop drastically back down.
I work at bestbuy and was talking the autotechs, and they said that the part should only be like $20, and the job should only take like 1-2 hours. They were amazed that the guy told me it would be $1000 to fix it.
WHat I was wondering is, how long can I drive this thing without getting the problem fixed, and also if I put water instead of anti freeze in the coolant tank and radiator, will that help solve the problem, since water has no harmful chemicals in it