they also put in a new coolant level sensor/thermostat/valve cover gaskets/upper and lower intake.plenium gaskets b/g flush. every thing listed above.a had two quotes for just the upper and lower intake .flush and gaskets were close to 1000 .the mechanic that works on are cars /trucks.for over years.we trust him.the total was 770 plus tax 828 that is not to bad of a deal around here anyway.did some reserch on the prices for this work to be done.they were atleast 150 higher.plus the new gasketst were the new and improved as you mentioned.plus he guaranties his work

 

hey dom, should I have all that replaced like you did just to be sure??? im waiting now for this guy I really trust to tell me where to go will get a response in a couple days.

 

Hey can all this plus bad wheel alignment lead to poor gas mileage? My sensor im assuming doesnt work any more in my car, but my fuel pump works so no need in dropping the tank.

Im just getting poor gas distance.

 

Sounds like a head gasket to me......

It certainly is not helping your gas milage....

 

When I had the LIM gasket problem on my Grand Am, they found oil in the radiator, and coolant in the engine.

So if you're getting coolant in the engine (mixed with the oil), I would think that would affect your engine performance and gas mileage.

When I had the work done on my GA, it cost me $1200. They had to completely drain the coolant system and engine oil. Replace the bad gasket. Then completely flush the coolant system and the engine to make sure there was no contamination to the new fluids by the old fluids.

I'm with the others though. Probably your head gasket.

A bad wheel alignment would be obvious with uneven tire wear. It certainly wouldn't help your gas mileage if your wheels were out of alignment.

 

What engine is it? I'm a mechanic and we ran into a similar problem with a 3.1L in a 99 Buick Century. We were kinda scratching our heads. We talked to our machine shop to see if they've seen this problem and they said that they've seen a lot of these with cracked heads or blocks as well as bad head gaskets that would cause this problem. We ended up putting a used engine in because it was actually cheaper then doing a head gasket and/or heads and it eliminated guessing or wasted time if the block was indeed cracked. I think the engine was $100 from the bone yard our cost and took me less then 10 hrs to do.

 

Sorry so late in the reply but its a 1999 monte carlo with the 3.1L. Yeah im getting a hookup for $400 including parts. Im getting the head gasket, intake gasket, and timing cover gasket replaced. He is also gonna drain oil and coolant. That will all happen 2 weeks from thursday.

This thursday im gonna get my tranny flushed and my wheels aligned. And get 2 new/used tires for the front.


While the engine is this far apart are there any other common parts that go wrong with this engine that I can go ahead and replace??