Changing the head gasket of a 2001 Cadillac Catera?

Question

I have just bought this car 3 weeks ago and maybe it wasn't the best deals of all times. I took it today to the mechanic to check for a coolant leak and he called me back with three problems: radiodor needs to be replaced, water pump needs to be replaced and the head gasket is blown.
Water pump ~ $210
Radiator ~ unkown yet (makes me wonder if I could use the sealing stuff you can get at wal-mart.)
Head Gasket ~ $1300 (labor + parts)
This is not cheap - specially for a recent graduate college student.

My questions are:
-- Does that seem to be reasonable prices?
-- How hard is to fix the head gasket?
-- Head gasket problem is a pretty big deal?
-- Anyone wants a Cadillac Catera?

Note that my experience with cars is limited. I should have gotten a degree in mechanical engineering; not electrical. That would have certainly helped. But I am pretty handy and got some common sense for the most part.

Thanks in advance!

The car has 134k miles. I finally had gotten the money to buy a car after 8 months saving. I shopped all over and I found this car on eBay. I checked it out and everything seemed to be in place. I would have never guessed it had a head gasket problem. It seemed it was a super car for a good price ($4,500). They said the car should last me a few years and now I got this huge problem. I don't have the money to fix it and now I have a troubled car to go look for a job. It bummed me out.

Anyway, thank you for your answer Nathan. It helped very much. The car is yet at the mechanic and I will be checking out what you explained and I'll let you know.

Could I enforce the dealership to pay for any of this if it comes down to it? Is there anything, by law, that can be done?

Thank you again!

Answer 1

Those prices are certainly reasonable IFF they are genuine problems. I would question why a 2001 model has a bad radiator or a bad water pump. How many miles??

The head gasket should not have blown unless someone overheated it, which could happen if it was abused.

My advice: Take it to another mechanic. You can stomach the radiator and water pump....the head gasket is a MAJOR deal, $$ wise and also potential for ruining the engine. There are 3 ways you can tell if the head gasket is blown. You may get coolant in your motor oil. Pull the dipstick and see if the oil looks milky or cloudy. OR you are getting combustion gases in your coolant (heater core fills with air and won't heat or gases bypass the radiator cap) OR after you let it sit overnight, start it and see if there is water coming out of the tailpipe. (Note: water is a by-product of normal combustion and I am not talking about a few drips after a long time running........I am talking about water coming out IMMEDIATELY after you start it.

If any of these 3 things are happening, you have a blown head gasket. If it has over 150K, I would salvage the car and NOT fix it. Let me know.

Answer 2

Take this car bach to who you bought it from.