2013 Chrysler 200 S
3.6 Pentastar V-6
Just over 90,000 Miles
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I've been dealing with this issue for 7 months now and still nothing seems to work and no one seems to understand what's happening.
So last December my car was having overheating issues after my waterpump failed (or so we think). Soon there after I started showing signs of a warped head gasket/warped engine block. I figured I'd just shell out the $3k for the job since that would be cheaper than getting a new car in the current car market, plus I babied that Chrysler and it still looks brand new.
A few days after getting it back the water pump failed again and almost caused the engine to overheat again, so I took it back to my mechanic, and he replaced it with an OEM waterpump. About a month later coolant is still leaking all over the place. I took it to my other mechanic and they told me that the water pump didn't go out this time, instead that my family mechanic who did the head gasket job didn't do it properly and the extra pressure in the engine is causing the coolant to find a weak spot to explode from.
After talking to my family mechanic, he swears the job was done properly: Decked the block, heads, and everything.
At this point I'm confused, both my mechanics are confused, and all my car buddies are confused.
Only drive the thing once a week now around the block to keep the battery from dying.
Any thoughts? More information? Any ideas help!~
It is relatively common that when replacing the head gasket, the mechanic will buy the cheapest top end gasket kit they can find. They also will go ahead a reuse the head bolts which are never supposed to be used. I suspect your "mechanic" used a cheap gasket set, reused the old head bolts and didn't torque the bolts down in the proper order or to the proper torque. Even if he did use the proper torque and sequence, the old bolts take a stretch and do not torque down correctly. The consequence is another blown head gasket. I have seen and have had to correct this situation many times.
Is that something that can reasonably be fixed or am I better off swapping the engine/selling 'as is'?
Of course it can be fixed. The job just has to be done correctly.
use a leak tracing dye
