blown head gasket on gf's Sable

[89stangWhiz]

Title says it all. I feel really bad. She doesnt have much of a job and her dads helping her out where he can. She can barely afford rent let alone car problems. Just put 250 on new tires.
Its sad to me also because its a 95 Sable, I think its a really nice car (3.8L) and under 80k on it. I think her dad is leaning towards wanting her to get a new car. I dont know what in the world she would get! So, I think tomorrow we are going to go car shopping, I dont know how much her dad is willing to help her, so once she finds that out I guess I will see if we are going to go to dealerships or used car lots...
Personally I wouldnt mind seeing the Sable just get a new engine and keep it. They said 1300 for the work, but her and her father are afraid what else might go in the future as a result from the blown gasket. I dont know what to say to her.
Hope we can figure it out soon. What would you do?

 

[Daggar]

If your girlfriend is not mechanically inclined, I'd get rid of it. My x-wife and I used to have a Taurus. It was a great car but as soon as we split and I wasn't there to do the preventive maintenance on it, it just started falling apart.

Look for something cheap and reliable.

 

[Rick 91GT]

The 3.8L is a PIA to work on, I did the heads on an old co-workers Taurus not a fun job but it can be fixed and run fine as long as the water didn't hurt any bearings, etc...

 

[89stangWhiz]

Exactly, thanks Rick, I, and her Dad, are afraid of the other damages from the water. Further, the car has a random trouble starting, I thought it was a bad tooth on the starter, but the guy said its because water is filling the injector causing it not to start right away sometimes.

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

The 3.8L is a PIA to work on, I did the heads on an old co-workers Taurus not a fun job but it can be fixed and run fine as long as the water didn't hurt any bearings, etc...

+1...I've done plenty of head jobs on the 3.8's. They just love blowin head gaskets. I may get flamed for this but tell her to look around for a toyota or honda. They are uber reliable and fairly cheap for a later model one. My sister and brother-in-law have a 96 camry with the 4 banger-may not go that fast but is has been nothin but reliable for the 6 yrs they've had it. Brakes and tires are about it besides gas and oil changes. I wish her luck either way.

Nick

p.s. my first car was an 88 camry 4 cyl, you don't wanna know what that went thru and kept on tickin

 

[carbed87]

lol, merkur xr4ti FTW?

 

[Bolt on 5.0]

check with the dealer, I thing there is a recall for the headgasket on the 3.8L. They def have an updated headgasket for the engine. If you are going to get rid of it, try to do it yourself if you are mechanically inclined.

 

[Nutzy19]

It doesnt matter with the headgasket recall... Had a taurus with a bad head gasket and after replacing it twice this is the only thing it was good for...

 

[Ozz]

The 3.8L is a PIA to work on, I did the heads on an old co-workers Taurus not a fun job but it can be fixed and run fine as long as the water didn't hurt any bearings, etc...

I was going to say this. I loved my ol 'Taurus but it was the biggest ani in the pass to work with!!! Then I replaced it with a 3.1 Grand Am GT, and have to rock the engine forward to change friggin' plugs

As I always say, "I need a 5.0 DD!" Then it's FUN to work with, on top of easy!

 

[Mike92GT]

Maybe I'm the only one, but I didn't mind working on the 3.8. I did dozens of head gasket jobs on Taurus, Sable, Windstar, T-Bird, V6 stang, etc back when I worked at Ford. I could knock them out in just a few hours start to finish. They were a heck of a lot easier to work on than some of the other Fords. As stated, the 3.8 was notorious for head gasket failures. You might try to get some more estimates, you should be able to find someone to do it for less than $1300

 

[Rick 91GT]

The 3.8 is better to work on then the 3.0.....both can be a PIA at times...

 

[89stangWhiz]

thanks guys, i think i should be able to get it done for less than 1300, maybe we can try that route. At any rate it would be a cheap way to keep her with transportation until she can afford a downpayment on something else!