Hello, I own a 2004 Chevy Monte Carlo S that overheats. It has 119,000 miles. I obtained an estimate for: $300 one head, $300 one gasket, $100 misc, and $800 labor totaling $1500 WITH NO WARRANTY. Can someone advise me if this is the going rate with no warranty. Thanks

 

EDIT: Putting this edit at the beginning because I think its more important that the original response but get a second opinion. It could be as simple as intake gaskets.

They should have some kind of guarantee on their work regardless of price. If one side of the engine is going, I would be concerned about the other following soon after. Then youre stuck spending another 1500 OR having just wasted 1500...

Maybe consider having someone put in a used engine. Would probably be cheaper also.

Sry, another EDIT: A head gasket for that car is only like 10 dollars.

 

The whole thing sounds off to me:

• No warranty at all is a major red flag. All parts they're buying should have some kind of warranty included, and they should offer some warranty that the labor they perform is done right. By having you sign off that there's no warranty on the job at all, they have zero incentive to do it correctly.
• Secondly - what exactly are they doing with one head? Is that the price to replace or resurface? Ive never seen a 3800 head destroyed beyond repair outside of catastrophic engine failure. Its a very robust chunk of iron, you don't see 'warped heads' like you do on iron / aluminum combos. Just worried they may be guessing at the problem.
• Third, I'd never do just 1 head gasket. If things are torn down that far and 1 gasket is actually confirmed blown, then they both should be done.
• Edit to add one more - what did they do for diagnosis? Looked back and saw the relatively low mileage - Id suspect several other items before a head gasket. If they did some actual testing to prove it though, its certainly not 100% impossible.

 

Back in2020 I had to have new head gaskets put in a 3400 motor that was in my Pontiac Torrent SUV They installed the new gaskets had the Machine shop plan the heads to make sure they were flat and true ant then put it back together. Both head gaskets!! 1800.00 I also checked with the local Chevy dealer they were at 2400.00 one year warranty on it. it worked great up until I sold it. No information on it anymore.