Opinions? Fix or replace car?

[Smoothie]

dont sell it to a junkyard sell it to @letusbuyyourcar lol
(just joshin ya man)

Only if it's a 4 door Wrangler or 4 door Porsche, he loves those.

 

[drewga11]

Whats the coolant consumption rate? Run rough on startup?

I put a little less than half a bottle in and drove 18 miles to get home. Put a little over a half bottle in next day and ran car for roughly 20 minutes. After letting it cool back down, I checked coolant reservior and it was almost empty again, however there was no evidence under the car that any of it had leaked out. Runs fine on startup.

 

[jeffdt]

Head gasket. not worth fixing.

 

[harrycalahan]

Scrap it. Sounds like a blown head gasket/cracked head.

 

[Shads]

I put a little less than half a bottle in and drove 18 miles to get home. Put a little over a half bottle in next day and ran car for roughly 20 minutes. After letting it cool back down, I checked coolant reservior and it was almost empty again, however there was no evidence under the car that any of it had leaked out. Runs fine on startup.

Sounds like a head gasket. Buy some "bar's stop leak liquid aluminum". It has saved me a few times

 

[drewga11]

Ok. But if the head gasket is the cause of the coolant loss, why am I still getting cold air from the heater even when there is coolant?

 

[Shads]

Head gaskets can be funny. It can be blowing bubbles in the coolant lines so you don't feel any heat

 

[AR-Trvlr]

Do you like the car? If so, repair it. If not, scrap it.

There's no guarantee that the next vehicle you buy for $4k to $6k won't need major repair soon as well. That's why it's only $4k to $6k....

 

[drewga11]

I'm a little skeptical about it being a blown head gasket. I'm not really seeing any other signs to indicate that could be the issue. After talking to another friend today, his opinion was the thermostat is the issue and there would be more indications which arent there if it was the head gasket.

Also said I should have coolant system pressure checked before doing anything else. Any one know of a good, reputable mechanic in the Sandy Springs/Roswell area?

 

[harrycalahan]

Thermostats dont eat coolant. They only regulate the temp. So either you have an external leak that you havent seen or its eating/drinking it. Get some KW block sealer and run it theough. Ive used it several times to keep junkers running for years. Dont bother with Bars or other sawdust junk.