I AM SO HAPPY!!! OT

[Tori M.]

I could just cry! Apparently the only thing that may be wrong with my
Beautiful red Dodge Caravan may be a Head gasket! I looked it up online and
was shocked to see the prices of like 1000$ to have it fixed but I found the
part I need on its own and it is only like 20-100 bucks so I must have been
doing the search wrong. Anyway my FIL is going to do the work for us and
they guy that gave us the Van said he would help work on it since he feels
bad that it broke down just 3 months after we got it. I am SO happy. We
thought that something was toasted in the engine and we had been looking for
an affordable engine for this thing FOREVER.

I just thought after all the bad car stuff going on lately you all would
love a bit of good news;) I will hopefully have my very pretty caravan on
the road befor baby #2 is born!

Tori

Ps dont you love pregnancy hormones I was really gonna cry;)

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04

[Jennifer and Robert Howe]

well I'm glad things are working out for you...atleast your not in my
boat...a few weeks ago my car caught fire from oil that had been leaking.
well come to find out I blew the main seal in my engine and in the process
broke the rod and the valve so now I either need to find a new car or an
engine myself. I'm glad things are better for you then for me.

Jennifer
Ariana 8/17/03

"Tori M." > wrote in message
...
> I could just cry! Apparently the only thing that may be wrong with my
> Beautiful red Dodge Caravan may be a Head gasket! I looked it up online
and
> was shocked to see the prices of like 1000$ to have it fixed but I found
the
> part I need on its own and it is only like 20-100 bucks so I must have
been
> doing the search wrong. Anyway my FIL is going to do the work for us and
> they guy that gave us the Van said he would help work on it since he feels
> bad that it broke down just 3 months after we got it. I am SO happy. We
> thought that something was toasted in the engine and we had been looking
for
> an affordable engine for this thing FOREVER.
>
> I just thought after all the bad car stuff going on lately you all would
> love a bit of good news;) I will hopefully have my very pretty caravan on
> the road befor baby #2 is born!
>
> Tori
>
> Ps dont you love pregnancy hormones I was really gonna cry;)
>
> --
> Bonnie 3/20/02
> Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04
>
>

[Sophie]

"Jennifer and Robert Howe" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> well I'm glad things are working out for you...atleast your not in my
> boat...a few weeks ago my car caught fire from oil that had been leaking.
> well come to find out I blew the main seal in my engine and in the process
> broke the rod and the valve so now I either need to find a new car or an
> engine myself. I'm glad things are better for you then for me.
>
> Jennifer
> Ariana 8/17/03

We're more in your boat. After the accident, the van has since broken down,
needs a new engine. Fine that it's covered but I don't want to be nervous
driving that I'll brake down again. We think we're going to sell it. My
dad works for Enterprise (discount!) and they sell their vehciles. We're
seriously thinking of selling ours (a 2000 Chevy Astro) and buying a 2004
Chevy Astro for $15,000.

I could cry from all that's gone wrong. And I think I will when I finally
see my beloved van :(

[Vicky Bilaniuk]

Tori M. wrote:

> I could just cry! Apparently the only thing that may be wrong with my
> Beautiful red Dodge Caravan may be a Head gasket! I looked it up online and
> was shocked to see the prices of like 1000$ to have it fixed but I found the
> part I need on its own and it is only like 20-100 bucks so I must have been
> doing the search wrong. Anyway my FIL is going to do the work for us and
> they guy that gave us the Van said he would help work on it since he feels
> bad that it broke down just 3 months after we got it. I am SO happy. We
> thought that something was toasted in the engine and we had been looking for
> an affordable engine for this thing FOREVER.
>
> I just thought after all the bad car stuff going on lately you all would
> love a bit of good news;) I will hopefully have my very pretty caravan on
> the road befor baby #2 is born!
>
> Tori
>
> Ps dont you love pregnancy hormones I was really gonna cry;)
>

Your research may not have been completely wrong. Did it include
labour? IIRC head gaskets can be labour intensive. You have to take a
lot of stuff out of the way to get at the part. It's been a looooong
time since my HS auto mechanics course, though, so I might not be
remembering correctly. ;-)

[Tori M.]

"Vicky Bilaniuk" > wrote in message
. ..
> Tori M. wrote:
>
> > I could just cry! Apparently the only thing that may be wrong with my
> > Beautiful red Dodge Caravan may be a Head gasket! I looked it up online
and
> > was shocked to see the prices of like 1000$ to have it fixed but I found
the
> > part I need on its own and it is only like 20-100 bucks so I must have
been
> > doing the search wrong. Anyway my FIL is going to do the work for us
and
> > they guy that gave us the Van said he would help work on it since he
feels
> > bad that it broke down just 3 months after we got it. I am SO happy.
We
> > thought that something was toasted in the engine and we had been looking
for
> > an affordable engine for this thing FOREVER.
> >
> > I just thought after all the bad car stuff going on lately you all would
> > love a bit of good news;) I will hopefully have my very pretty caravan
on
> > the road befor baby #2 is born!
> >
> > Tori
> >
> > Ps dont you love pregnancy hormones I was really gonna cry;)
> >
>
> Your research may not have been completely wrong. Did it include
> labour? IIRC head gaskets can be labour intensive. You have to take a
> lot of stuff out of the way to get at the part. It's been a looooong
> time since my HS auto mechanics course, though, so I might not be
> remembering correctly. ;-)


My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head gasket
in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for a
mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour. Now if that
is the case I would like to become a mechanic I could get used to being
dirty all the time and smelling like motor oil ;) My husband said that
sometimes when people blow a head gasket they have a piston poking out of
the Head as well and so really the problem is more complicated then JUST a
bad head gasket... that is what we think we have and maybe a bad valve cover
thingy.

When I called the parts stores arround the area one guy asked if I was doing
this myself and I laughed at him and assured him that I was just doing the
research and my FIL who owned his own garage forever was doing the dirty
work.

Tori
--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04

[Ericka Kammerer]

Tori M. wrote:


> My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head gasket
> in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for a
> mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if parts+labor
for a head gasket ran near $1000 in many cases. Remember,
in a lot of shops, they don't bill you for labor based on
how long it actually takes them to do the work. They look
the job up in a book, where it says N hours of labor for
the job, and that's what they charge. In my experience,
the number from the book is pretty darned generous.
Be wary of blown head gaskets. Sometimes it
becomes a chronic condition :-(

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Tori M.]

"Ericka Kammerer" > wrote in message
...
> Tori M. wrote:
>
>
> > My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head
gasket
> > in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for
a
> > mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour.
>
> Actually, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if parts+labor
> for a head gasket ran near $1000 in many cases. Remember,
> in a lot of shops, they don't bill you for labor based on
> how long it actually takes them to do the work. They look
> the job up in a book, where it says N hours of labor for
> the job, and that's what they charge. In my experience,
> the number from the book is pretty darned generous.
> Be wary of blown head gaskets. Sometimes it
> becomes a chronic condition :-(
>
> Best wishes,
> Ericka


It seems to be on the Dodge Caravan/ Trucks.. The sites I saw said they
where trying to get a bunch of years recalled because of it. I am hoping
that it is just because the Van sat for a year before we got it since the
guy who gave it to us said that it had never had any problems before we got
it. And he really gave it to us. It was a guy at church and at the time my
husband was having some major back problems and he gave it to us so hubby
did not have to get in and out of our tiny Honda Accord (Also dead now
waiting for a transmition and a cv joint) Less then 3 months later we
filled the tank for the last time.. we seem to gas up cars right before they
die.

Tori
--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04

[Daye]

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 22:34:18 -0500, "Tori M."
> wrote:

>My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head gasket
>in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for a
>mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour.

We blew a head gasket recently. It was about AUD200 for the head, and
about AUD1200 for the labour.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
Updated 28 Feb 2004

[Tori M.]

"Daye" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 22:34:18 -0500, "Tori M."
> > wrote:
>
> >My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head
gasket
> >in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for a
> >mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour.
>
> We blew a head gasket recently. It was about AUD200 for the head, and
> about AUD1200 for the labour.


Thats sort of what I mean. We do not need to replace the head just the head
gasket.

Tori
--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04

[Vicky Bilaniuk]

Tori M. wrote:
> My step father said that it takes him about 5 hours to change a head gasket
> in his dodge truck so with say 50$ worth of parts if it costs 1000$ for a
> mechanic to fix it that would make the mechanic 180$ an hour. Now if that
> is the case I would like to become a mechanic I could get used to being
> dirty all the time and smelling like motor oil ;) My husband said that
> sometimes when people blow a head gasket they have a piston poking out of
> the Head as well and so really the problem is more complicated then JUST a
> bad head gasket... that is what we think we have and maybe a bad valve cover
> thingy.
>
> When I called the parts stores arround the area one guy asked if I was doing
> this myself and I laughed at him and assured him that I was just doing the
> research and my FIL who owned his own garage forever was doing the dirty
> work.

I'm glad you're on top of things!!

[Vicky Bilaniuk]

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

> Be wary of blown head gaskets. Sometimes it
> becomes a chronic condition :-(

My mother had a car like that. They would get it fixed, and a few
months later, it would be cracked again. The oil would gradually leak
out and the thing stunk like you wouldn't believe. I didn't trust that
car. Well, her boyfriend eventually crashed it (I think - most of their
cars came to a crashing end, heh heh) so they got rid of it.

[Daye]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:48:44 -0500, "Tori M."
> wrote:

>Thats sort of what I mean. We do not need to replace the head just the head
>gasket.

We went ahead and replaced the head... family gave us the money to do
it, and my SIL wanted us to get a new head... I didn't argue because
they (SIL, MIL, FIL and Grandad) gave us the money to get our car
fixed.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
Updated 28 Feb 2004

[Tori M.]

"Daye" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:48:44 -0500, "Tori M."
> > wrote:
>
> >Thats sort of what I mean. We do not need to replace the head just the
head
> >gasket.
>
> We went ahead and replaced the head... family gave us the money to do
> it, and my SIL wanted us to get a new head... I didn't argue because
> they (SIL, MIL, FIL and Grandad) gave us the money to get our car
> fixed.
>
> --
> Daye
> Momma to Jayan and Leopold
> See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
> Updated 28 Feb 2004

That would be handy!

Tori
--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04

[Daye]

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:08:49 -0500, "Tori M."
> wrote:

>That would be handy!

We are blessed that we have family who have the means and the
willingness to help us in any way that they can.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
Updated 28 Feb 2004