Hi all,
I'm about at my wit's end here. I'm currently on my 4th mechanic, and am very worried he's going to go through the $900 I still have left, and then some. Problem is: car doesn't start.
The first mechanic is a guy who just fixes cars in his driveway, without a shop or proper tools. He said it wasn't the fuel filter or fuel pump, but he thought it was something electrical. I told him I expected the spark plugs were bad, and he didn't even look at that.
next, I took it to Pep Boys. They said that cylinder number one was bad, that the engine had no compression, but they they don't know about fixing no engines so I'd have to go to a place that does fix engines. $100 please.
Next, I took it to the Saturn Dealership. They said the compression is fine, the engine is still good, but it needs a valve cover gasket. Apparently they didn;t even try to figure why it won't start; they just took a look at the spark plugs and said: "oh they are covered in oil, that's got to be the reason." They also said it needed some other minor stuff that is not about getting it to start, like a coolant temperature sensor and a tuneup. $915.00. So I took it out of there to get another opinion. $95 Please.
Now it's at mechanic number 4. At least he said: "let's get it to start first, then figure out what else is wrong." Ok so he's replacing the spark plugs and spark plug cables, putting one new tire on it (that went flat while the car was just sitting for a month), and doing his own diagnosis. $550. wow. I only have $350 left.
So if I can't afford to pay this guy to do anything else, which I think is likely, I may have to take it somewhere to have somebody just open up the engine, slap a valve cover gasket on it and close it back up again without doing anything else. Shouldn't it be possible to get that for about $350?
I understand it takes specialized tools and training to be able to do it, but shouldn;t I be able to find some place that would just change the gasket and get it done for about $350?