Listers,
sorry about this off-topic posting. A friend needs help from a good soul in the
Des Moines, Iowa area to troubleshoot/ help repairing his overheated '87
Pontiac 6000.
Here is what happened: Dennis, a good friend of mine from Germany who is doing
an internship in Washington, visited some friends in Iowa over Christmas.
On the way there, one of his radiator hoses broke and his car overheated (he
didn't know that the failure of the heating system is a REALLY BAD symptom
...). He took it to a local shop to diagnose/repair it. They fixed the hose for
$160 and estimated $1200 for a head gasket/head repair.
Since the car is barely worth that much and he is on a very tight budget
(non-paid internship), he decided to fix it himself. However, he had to be back
in DC on December 27th. His problem now is that he has a return ticket to Des
Moines for January 7th, but has never replaced a head gasket himself before and
does not know if he will need only the gasket or if the head is cracked, too.
Now, here comes the part he needs help for: To decide whether to repair or junk
the car, he will need to know whether the head is cracked or not, before he
flies back to Iowa.
Is there anyone out there who could pull the head for him (2.5L, 4cyl) and see
what needs to be done sometime during the next week? Also, if he decides to
repair it, assistance from someone who has done a head gasket before would be
helpful. The car is located in Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines. Of course,
Dennis will reimburse you for the time you spend helping him.
BTW, the Pontiac is his Triumph Support vehicle for a '76 Spit he just acquired.
Cheers,
Marcus
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