I have a 2013 Plug-in that needs a head gasket replacement. I've already gone through all the troubleshooting and verified the head gasket as the culprit. Looking for a decent mechanic that's reasonably priced; shop, mobile, or even home shop/garage . So far, all the "labor" quotes I've been receiving are around 50-80% of the car's value. Please share suggestions for someone within 50 miles radius of zip code 94544 (Bay Area, Northern CA)
The value of a 12 year old car that needs at least a head gasket is around $2500. If the labor is $1250 to $1500, that's a fair price to be paying. You just have to be extra cautious on hiring a person that knows how to fix it so you don't have to do it again later
Sorry, don't know anyone - because that would be a project I would tackle on my own. I wouldn't like it, but I'd have to do it - if I couldn't afford the repair. Your 50 mile radius is one of the most expensive cost of living environments in the USA. The other bit of your question is, do you stick with the devil you know or jump into another used car that may also have a long list of unknown problems that needs repair. The car market right now isn't cheap - new or used..... Good Luck.....
Does Hybrid Pit Stop do head gaskets? They do offer Gen 3 rebuilt engines. @RightOnTime works for them no, msy comment.
Ah, I was thinking Oakland was an LA suburb. Still, closer than BC. Doing that drive, it'd be good to bring along a bottle of Toyota Super Long Life coolant.
It's going to be pretty tough to find another used car with like same similar problems as a generation 3 in the throes of the madness You can do it but probably not with a Toyota you'd have to go looking for cars and that sort of thing Suzuki SVX's stuff like that you know the bottom of the barrel stuff that's just turned out for people to get a bank loan to make a few payments on in the car blow up there's there are some of those but you wouldn't be drawn to those more than likely you'd go looking for a Corolla or a Yaris because they generally do what they're supposed to. And if you're really astute and you don't want to pay any money and so on and so forth round you up a 2002 Corolla with the 1zz In my area for like $600 driving working and all one color No kidding I'm looking at two right now there's nobody to pick them up to drive them and they'll drive for $500,000 mi the ones I'm looking at are just broken in 160
Yep, that or a 2000 or older Rav4 w/o rust or accidents. I believe those old 4 banger are non-interference engines, you just reset the timing and throw a new belt on it. You just need to make sure it's been properly serviced regularly. You'll also need to install a CAT shield and alarm. Those cars tend to get targeted for spare parts (chop shops) and easy to steal.
Yes indeed! But before we start on any Headgasket project, we pressurize the coolant system overnight and check if the gauge drops. If so we borescope the cylinders to verify a coolant leak. As a Honest Shop we can’t tell you how many times it has been a bad fuel injector, coil pack or clogged up egr system causing a misfire
Because there's other engine weaknesses in Gen3 you might want to find a mechanic to just do a straight up engine swap via one of Drew's custom rebuilt engines that start at $2K including shipping: https://www.instagram.com/skimmilkhybrid/
Thanks! I've considered doing the repair myself, as I've done most of the work on it so far. I'm just a bit apprehensive about working within the engine block. I can do everything pre-engine block, and then put everything back together after the engine block. I floated this idea to the mechanics I've spoken to but none cared to take on a partial project, not enough money in it for them.
I wish it wasn't the headgasket! I went through the troubleshooting steps...ignition coils, egr valve, etc. I think I pushed it a little too much as well in the first few days that now if I step on accelerator hard I get a grinding metal noise, so the heads need to be machined regardless.
I don't blame them. I used to work in my dad's independent shop and would on occasions get basket cases like that. We always refuse, the few we did do, had missing part(s) & screw(s), stripped threads and/or rounded-off bolt heads. Then they get pissed about the bill, because we would have to use additional parts and pieces that were missing, broken, mishandled; flat spots or gouges on machined surfaces. It was usually easier the rebuild a junk-yard core; which is the price we would quote. That was usually a third higher than if they didn't touch it to begin with. I'm not saying your a bad mechanic, because it sounds like you know your limitations - but there's all sorts of people out there that bring in literal 'basket cases' and expect a professionals to fix their mistakes for cheaper than if they just brought it in. A good honest mechanic needs to warranty their work, so putting in a questionable part back in isn't going to fly. They don't want to do the job again on their own dime....
