So I had enough money saved up to get my drop, rims, and headers. I'm all giddy like a little school girl and everything, right? Wrong. I go to my local mechanic, have him change the oil in my car and ask him to check the radiator. Turns out I need a new radiator, thermostat, temp guage or something, and my timing belt is near breaking (I think thats what he said.. there are no other belts in the engine right?). Now I don't want to waste a ton of money fixing this, was wondering if there are any sites that sell these parts for cheap, or cheaper than my mechanic.

I also have a warrenty for my car, up to 75000 miles, I'm hoping my warrenty coveres all this but I think I misplaced it.. I sent an email to my dealer asking them if they can check it to see or something. Hopefully my intake and exhaust don't void my warrenty.

 

Your car does not use timing belts. How did he determine the radiator is bad?

 

Oh.. then I guess it was some other belt. He said that there was too much gunk, or "sticky ****" as he put it, and a radiator flush wouldn't help get it all out. It sounds kind of fishy though.. and I haven't noticed any change at all in my cars driving habits or anything.

 

Was it the Serpentine belt?

 

Yes! How important is it to fix it? He said it was near cracking point.

EDIT: So I googled it and its pretty important to fix.. lol. They told me $100 with labor, I found the belt for $20 online. Is my mechanic trying to rip me off? I've been going to him for about three years now How can I check to see if my radiator is really messed up?

 

I joined this forum just because I was pissed someone was getting ripped off. Im a regular over at f-body.com but frequent this site quite often.

You are getting ripped off, big time. This is all you need to know:
http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthre...ght=serpentine

The serp. belt is 20 dollars and takes literally under five minutes and a wrench to change.

As for your radiator, unless it is dented or damaged, a good flush will clear it out.

Never go back to that mechanic, EVER.

 

You, good sir, just saved me about $800. Thanks a lot man!

 

You all giddy like a school girl again? There are a lot of mechanics who are shady like that. Just gotta shop around, or learn a little at a time and do it yourself (fun way, sometimes).

 

the gunky crap in your radiator is somewhat of a common problem.. I've heard it was from using the Dex cool coolant that it says to use, but i dont really remember. A really good flush should get the job done, hopefully..

 

Yeah I had the same gunk in my radiator a few months back, it still ran fine but they noticed it when they were checking out the car. The mechanic said that they might have to do an acid bath to clean everything out which would run several hundred dollars, and I said just do the flush and I noticed the car ran even smoother after it. He showed me a sample and it looked pretty bad so i'm assuming your car would be fine with just a coolant flush.