2000 Pontiac Grand Prix Repair problems

EZEKIELSON132

MEMBER
2000 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
123,000 MILES

Hi,
i have recently fix my valve cover gasket only because my dealer diagnose it when I went for an oil change, from a mechanic for about 700 dollars because my dealer will do it for about 900 dollars, but exactly 2 weeks after that I was on my way to milwaukee, 83 miles away, my car did something that I couldnt believe. I drove about 60 miles and I felt like when I press down the gas, my car wouldnt respond at the same time it will take about 3 sec follow with a loud acceleration noise, about 10 min after that, in the middle of a 4 lanes traffic, the gas pedal wouldnt respond at all anymore, and my car started slowing down, I managed to pull over and start braking but it shut off by itself before it came down to complete stop. I immediately open the hood, and I saw my coolant reservoir was boiling and the coolant was coming out from the top, and left a long trail behind it, I waited till it cooled down, and started my engine again, that when I heard some loud noises from the engine then it shut off by itself again. I had to towed it all the way back to the mechanic who fix my lower intake valve cover gasket which cost me about 300 dollars, and he took out the belt and the noise still persist, then the next day he said, I had some metal in my engine oil that it could be the camshaft or one or two bearing that are broken that he will fix it for 1700 dollars or I can buy an engine and it will be about the same price, or he can fix it for 700 dollars then it will only work for awhile, time for me to get rid of my car. Get rid of my car? 2 weeks ago this car was running fine, I have only done 2 oil changes so far since I bought it, and having heard this I just took my car from him and brought it home. I would like to know if any of this have anything to do with the lower intake valve cover gasket that I fix and what exactly went wrong with my car and if I should buy anything that the mechanic says, thanks

2 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

HI there,

Thank you for the donation,

This is all a bit complex as we are working with a third person(the mechanic who has quoted your repair) Now, what needs to be done first is to establish why the engine overheated on the free way, Can you get a cooling system pressure test done? Can you get a compression test done, that is if the engine still turns over, I am concerned about the loud noises that you have and I am at a disadvantage as I can't hear them, but needless to say it dose not sound good. I think that the best option at this stage is to try and get a second opinion as to the damage done, this may be a case of a coolant leak that has led on to this overheating damage, bearings can and will fail if the engine is severely overheat, as it is the engine oil that is actually the main carrier of heat away from vital components, I would try and get a second opinion as a starting point. This may give me some insight into what the best action is for you if we have an independent observation of this problem, start here.

Mark (mhpautos)