Just got my car back from the mechanic. Dealer found in 3 hours what original mechanic didn't find in three months, but that's another story...
Turns out that I have zero compression in the number 5 cylinder. 1 & 2 are good, 3&4 are ok but 5 is not even registering. Car had been running very well, one day it was extremely hard to start, shaking, uneven. The mechanic, who I trusted at the time, claimed that my injectors were worn out, and replaced all 5 of them. The engine has ~175,000 miles on it. He also said that he replaced a broken engine mount. When I got the car back it was not shaking but was still running very unevenly. I'm trying to decide how much more to throw at this car. If it's just a head gasket, I'll probably try fixing it. If the cylinder is toasted, I'm not sure. I know that these older (1983) engines are pretty bulletproof. I seem to have seen a fair bit of discussion about blown head gaskets though. Is this a common problem with the 300 turbos? How likely is it that this is the culprit?
I hate to ditch the car since the body is in wonderful shape, but I'm just not ready to drop another couple of grand on it to rebuild the engine either since I just dropped it in about four years ago and only have about 15000 miles on it since then.
Any suggestions gratefully accepted.
Rochelle