Originally Posted by Rage_of_Inferno
I've seen a video of a guy showing how to spot if you have a blown intake manifold gasket and he showed his radiator cap. It looked like mine except I have a thicker wall of sludge. It supposed to turn white apparently but I havent seen anything like that.
Determining intake manifold gasket leaks - YouTube
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This is just if you have a leak between the coolant and oil passages...not if you just have a coolant leak.
Originally Posted by Sawatis
i wouldent doubt it one bit.. i worked at a garage and found out alot. for instance they would take 2 hours to fix your car and charge you for 4-5 hours... its 68$ an hour
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It is called book rate...the computer tells them how long the job should take. If the mechanic is skilled, he can do the job faster...that is just how the industry works. He did the job you would have paid a beginner mechanic 4 hours for, so why do you fault him for charging the same amount for the same job? Should be make less money because he has more skills and better tools? On the flip side, if there are bolts that snap off, stripped threads, or other problems it might take him 6 hours...but he will still only charge 4. BTW...$68 an hour is a very low rate. The last place I was working before I hurt my back and had to leave charged $110 an hour...and people were happy to pay it because the work was done correctly the first time.
Originally Posted by mack19318
its more than likely some type of stop leak. does any of the areas of your engine have a slight sparkle to it? i know alot of stop leak stuff looks like it has metal flakes in it, stuff like bars leak does. most of the time stop leak will turn your engine to sh!t quick. Before you go doing stuff get the rad flushed. Easy at home way is pull off upper tube and lower tube. stick garden hose in upper and let run till you see pure water coming out lower hose. The other guys are right about letting a pro do it if it is gaskets. a lot of times if it is a gasket leak it can create an overflow problem with the coolant tank, the coolant lid should have a release built in so if its under to much pressure it will blow it out to prevent damage, but it would also release a lot of coolant right away.
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They make garden hose adapter valves for the heater hoses...you just put the valve in, turn on the hose, and take off the radiator cap. Do all this while the engine is off and cold, then start the engine and let it run like this. Once the stuff coming out of the radiator is nice and clean the system is flushed...the whole system, not just the radiator.