Sons Z28 is in flag towed to shop. Two opinions are head gasket. They are pricing $2200-2400. I know this is labor intensive, are they spot on?

 

seems a bit high to me but in the range. can save 60% or more doing yourself. not easy to blow a head gasket on a lt1. any more info? did they do a compression test?

 

Car is out of state with son at college. Car was beginning to hard to start. Has several temp indicator lights which reset. Then it died on road. Towed to shop.on. On lift saw where coolant leak was. No oil/coolant mix.

 

theres a check gauge light and a check engine light. there a temp light for the trans. if it was ran hot till it seized up i would suspect more than just a head gasket. where is coolant coming from

 

Labor rates are all over the place depending on where you live. If a garage in my area quoted a 12 hour job that high I would assume they do not want to do it. Any garage that uses Mitchell/Chilton times can quote you the job over the phone. For saving money the best bet it to find a mechanic that moon lights, but this can be tuff to find and be sure he is good in a short time limit.

If you take it to another mechanic pay them to re-diagnose the issue. Might cost an extra $100 but you get them “on board” with what wrong. I have had customers come in and ask for a head gasket to be replaced and then afterward tell me, the car is not right, it still over heats. To which I say ok well we know it is not the head gasket do you want to pay me to figure it out now? If I had agreed it was the head gasket I would at least approach the additional problem as something I missed and I would not try to profit from it.

On another note, it is NOT normal to see coolant leaking from the head gaskets from under the car. Normally when the head gasket blows it blows between the coolant passage and the cylinder not to the outside of the motor. In every case I can remember where coolant could be seen coming from the “head gasket” it ended up coming from someplace else and ran to the head gasket. I am not saying your head gasket is not leaking externally; I am just saying the odds are against it. Now if they pulled a plug and coolant ran out that is completely different

The way to confirm a blown head gasket, is a coolant pressure test, test for hydrocarbons in the coolant, pull plugs and look for signs of coolant or a compression test. Most of the time on a car with head gasket so bad it makes the car hard to start you see it the second you pull the plug. In many cases you can see coolant staining on the tail pipe. Test for hydrocarbons is the most accurate way to test.
Good Luck

 

yah gorn first thing i thought of was a water pump and opti.

 

Ya that would suck, Can you imagine $2200 for the headgaskets and then $1200 for the Opti/water pump. That is more money then I have in my 93 and it still just a stock LT1.

 

Tough to extend trust 600 miles away. With a 22 yo son who ignores gauges, and has no moxie to deal with shop. Hate to say its a national chain who says no chance diagnosis is wrong. Will go with it until it's running. Will be in that city in April. Hope it is a pleasant trip. I am however, ready to go 8 rounds if honesty and integrity are not there.
Wish I were an auto mechanic not a plumber....I guess

 

No, no you don't. My son is five and I have been telling working on cars is fun as a hobby but not as a job

 

I did have the car towed and diagnosed with instructions of temp and died. They called it gasket from below and then on top. They saw where the coolant leaked from. Upon further they sent the heads to be machined and found valves were damaged. With tax $2864.
They will replace heat sensor with wires plugs and ancillary parts etc.