blew the head gasket, damnit!

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GSRCRXsi

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driving to the mall last night, i start smelling coolant. i thought it was one of the cars around me then i look down and my temp guage and see it in the red. shit, i pull over pop the hood and lok under to see coolant pouring out. i dont see any busted hoses so i tried to fill it up with some more coolant and i can see it comming out of the junction of the head and block. im at school with no tools and no garage, otherwise i could do this myself. and i REALLY dont want to pay a shop to do this either, labor on HG replacement is nuts (but understandable, ive done it). this sucks.

pay ~800 for a shop to fix
or try to find a friend with tools so i can do it myself?

ill have to get it towed either way...
 
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See if anyone you know has AAA. Have it towed back to your place, or someone's place where you can work on it and do it yourself. At least that way it will save you some money.
 
i do have AAA forgot about that. freee towing, woot. anyway, i think im going to do it myself. i think my friend is going to let me borrow his garage for a bit to do it.

figured while i have it apart i might as well replace the timing belt and water pump while im at it. probably replace spark plugs and wires too since i havent done that in a while. doing some quick shopping looks like ill be dropping ~3-400 total on this to get it fixed. ill have to get a ride home and grab some tools while im there too.
 
tore it all down. HG isnt blown afterall. it was a small water hose right by the HG. so i took the HG/WP/TB back. and ill just replace the hose. ill do a tune up though. plugs/wires/cap/rotor. save me some time and money.
 
If you already have all the parts, why not just replace them? Or at least the TB? I know you wanna save time, but since it's off, why not replace it since it's already accessible?
 
Good news about the HG, its still my biggest fear. Ill make sure to look for that hose if i ever suspect, however i do check my oil and coolant a couple times a week. Might as well replace those things since you got em like George said.
 
i never took the head off, thats why i took everything back. i got down to taking the IM off, tyhats about it, and i really didnt want to go any further if i didnt have to. i would have to take off the power steering, and the AC, and if i did that id have to recharge the AC again, and refill/bleed the PS. i didnt want to go through all that.
 
you don't have to drain/refill the ac when you change a headgasket. just use some string or some thick wire to tie the compressor up to the radiator support once it's unbolted from the engine. the powersteering pump is even easier, the hoses are pretty robust, they'll hold it in place without much assistance. once those are removed, you can unplug the wiring harness everywhere it attaches to the head, same with the coolant hoses, then remove the head. i know you didn't "need" to remove the gasket this time, but i'm just pointing out that the two reasons you gave for not wanting to do it are wrong. just be honest and say it's too much of a pain in the ass to do if you don't have to ^^
 
regardless, i didnt have to do any of that either. saved me 150 bucks in parts and a lot of time that i really dont have.

its all back together, but its running a little rough. its either in need of a tune up, or due to a vac leak somewhere.
 
regardless, i didnt have to do any of that either. saved me 150 bucks in parts and a lot of time that i really dont have.

its all back together, but its running a little rough. its either in need of a tune up, or due to a vac leak somewhere.
 
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