How much to fix a blown head gasket?
I have a 1994 VW Jetta, 2.0 4 cyl, and for the past 6 months or more, it's been running like crap. During the summertime it overheated bad because the fan wasn't working.. I got that fixed and it hasn't had a problem since. It's always though leaked coolant. Lately, like I said for the past 6 months It's been very jerky and chugging when I drive it. It also backfires slightly too, especially when going up hills. Since the weather has been colder, I noticed the heater wasn't working. I took it someplace and sure enough, the heater core needed to be replaced. I dropped $715 to fix that. Finally, the heater was working. I also replaced the air intake boot because there was a huge hole in that. Now my check engine light was gone because I got that part replaced. Unfortunately, the chugging and jerking still was there. I was hoping fixing the boot would have fixed that.
Now, tonight I was driving the car, and out of no where, the temp light came on. I haven't seen it do this since summer. I was on my way somewhere and couldn't pull over, so I figured I would just add some coolant to it once I got where I was going. Well, when I stopped and parked, smoke/steam was coming from the engine. That worried me, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't just due to cold weather and warm engine. I called the mechanics and they told me to bring it in.
They told me I had a blown head gasket, and that the coolant is leaking into the engine, causing it to only run on 3 cyl, not 4. Which is why it's chugging and running like crap.
So, finally, how much would it cost to fix something like this? The mechanic was quoting me $500 in labor alone for fixing just the head gasket..
Comment on TxGreaseMonkey's post
Thank you for your help. How long would you think I could drive it for until it dies on me? I don't have the money to even consider fixing this right now. I won't have the money until February..
