And to answer the other question, yes the car has been running hot. The temp gauge is buried when I drive it. It runs and drives fine. However, if I continue to drive it as is it'll kill my engine from running so hot. It usually runs at 180 degrees. Now its running 250-260.

 

Expenses...

Water pump-$55
Timing Cover Gasket-$20
Timing chain-$45
Coolant-$30
Labor-$500

The only reason I'm having a new timing chain put in is because I might as well now before it breaks later. I mean after all, the car DOES have 178xxx. And if it breaks later it'll be this cost in labor all over. So it's being changed this time around

 

Do your mechanic buddies feel confident that you didn't do any harm running it that hot? Still, adding up all you have invested in the car (maybe 2500 max?), what else can you buy for that kind of money? Not much. Your car looks like it's in good condition otherwise.
Hey, I know where you can get a real nice 98 Z28 for around $5k!

 

They said the engine wasn't hurt. However, if I kept driving it like that it WOULD be hurt. I only drove it about a mile after this all happened. And yes I have around $2500 in the whole car including the purchase price of the car. And I would like to get a z28 but insurance for a 18 year old with a z28 isn't pretty. And right now I have like $12 in my wallet lol. So the car repairs have to wait til I get a couple pay checks saved up

 

if its been overheated i am thinking a blown head gasket is in this cars future. save when you can for a valve job with new head gaskets.

 

its never been hot enough to shut down. it just runs unusually hot.

 

Well you haven't spent that much $ on it total yet, so I say dig in.

 

I bought the car for $1250 and I've put about $1100 into it so far... We'll see if I can't find someone to put the parts in it for less than $500. If so I'll be good but I cant afford to spend $650 like the shop said. I think my neighbor (15 year mechanic) can do it. Hopefully for $250 or $300.

 

Your mechanic can not be sure you did not hurt the motor. He would need to pressure test your cooling system and since your cooling system can not hold pressure it can not be tested. There are ways to test to see if you blew a head gaskets with a leaking coolant system but I doubt he would do any of them for 20 bucks. You would want to make sure you still have good oil pressure after it warn.

At best your mechainc can tell you did not have a major blow out of the head gasket. He will need to pressure test the system after it is fixed to find any other damage.

If you are going to own older cars you might want to learn how to work on them. This would be a good time to start. Pick up a manual of $20 and put all that labor money in your pocket. Heck Autozone has a free step by step repair guide online.

 

I have a Haynes Repair Manual. And if the head gasket is blown I'll be royally screwed because I don't have the money to have that fixed. I honestly don't have the money to have the Timing Cover Gasket replaced. I gotta wait a couple weeks to do that much. And I'm getting ready to go to college. So money is really tight.