2004 Chevy Blazer help?

ITREASUREHIM

MEMBER
2004 CHEVROLET BLAZER

2004 Chevy Blazer 6 cyl

my grandmother took her car to a local shop to get the gaskets and valves checked, (the check engine light was on ). $750. Later the engine light is still on and they told her that it must be a glitch with the reset button or something. It suddenly starting thowing a bad leak with the antifreeze, when we took it to another person they said that there is a bolt broke on the themosat housing and there was lock tight poured in to hold it for awhile, they refused to touch it after that. Afraid to mess with the head or manifold to drill it out. The dealer says they can look at it, and gave her a estimate of $300-$500 to fix it, if there was no problems. What should we do? Very agrivated!

1 Reply

KERENSELF

MEMBER
54 POSTS

Wow. Okay, first I would recommend having the computer troublecodes read. Typically your local parts store will do this for free.
As far as the thermostat housing goes, it depends on if it was repaired WELL.A helicoil tends to work alot better than loctite but it's hard to speculate without seeing it.(Helicoils basically replace the damaged threads, but as you noticed, some drilling is required)
You did say that there's an antifreeze leak, but did not mention if the engine is overheating. If it IS, I would ADAMANTLY recommend not driving it as high temps can cause MAJOR engine damage = big $$$. If it isn't overheating, or only does it when the coolant gets low, KEEP COOLANT IN IT, or else - see above. ;)
Dealers tend to be more expensive than other independent shops - but they typically use factory parts, have technicians that get more specialized training, and, as a rule, take customer satisfaction very seriously. So if Grandma is in a hurry or worried about further incidents, it may be worth it to her to have the dealer repair it.