1996 Piece of Junk

My van has been sitting on the mechanics since Friday. He called me today to tell me my headgasket was blown. I had guessed because I had water in my air filter and blowing white smoke. My question is we had to take it to another mechanic because this guy was having family issues and it would be about a week and a half before he could get to it. The other mechanic was 3-4 minutes away. When we parked the van we smelt a burning smell. Did I just blow my whole engine driving it over there? We checked the radiator and it had water in it?

Thanks

Sherri

When you blow a head gasket water and oil gets into the system .As long as it was still running when you got it there and it cranks back up that burning smell may have been a little oil and water in the exhaust or from just running hot.

can you check for signs of water in the oil? if that happens, and you
drive for very long, i hear the bearings will get eaten up by the antifreeze. Also O2 sensors can be damage from water getting in the cylinders,

An oil change should be part of the repair job.
Make sure that they do it...or do it yourself.

An oil change should be part of the repair job.
Make sure that they do it...or do it yourself.

Is that part of the process of repairing the gasket? I will call tomorrow and make sure they do that also. So worried about what this price is going to be. Especially if others have been ruined because of this problem :(

Sherri

I have leaned to assume nothing.
But, the oil needs to be changed.
The replacement of the head gasket can create crud in the oil, including antifreeze.

For under $30, it is VERY cheap insurance.

Sometimes, they find that the failure was caused by the lower intake manifold gaskets failing (likely as you had the water in the air filter) and / or replace them along with / instead of the head gasket, depending upon what they find.
I would still change the oil and filter if they only do the lower intake manifold gasket.

I have leaned to assume nothing.
But, the oil needs to be changed.
The replacement of the head gasket can create crud in the oil, including antifreeze.

For under $30, it is VERY cheap insurance.

Sometimes, they find that the failure was caused by the lower intake manifold gaskets failing (likely as you had the water in the air filter) and / or replace them along with / instead of the head gasket, depending upon what they find.
I would still change the oil and filter if they only do the lower intake manifold gasket.


Should I ask them to replace the lower intake manifold gaskets? Will that be just as expensive as this one? They are charging 800-1200 for this?

Worth asking....
Should only cost you the cost of the gaskets.....if they are honest. They already have it apart to do it...so should not add any more time then to clean the surfaces.
It is possible that they are already doing it.