Might help if you told us what model / year you have.
As commonly stated here, engine starts on a combination of spark, fuel and
air. find which one is missing and go from there. If you can't get it at
least running poorly, you can't get a good diagnosis on anything else.


"kohlrabi_croce" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm about at my wit's end here. I'm currently on my 4th mechanic, and
> am very worried he's going to go through the $900 I still have left,
> and then some. Problem is: car doesn't start.
>
> The first mechanic is a guy who just fixes cars in his driveway,
> without a shop or proper tools.
> He said it wasn't the fuel filter or fuel pump, but he thought it was
> something electrical.
> I told him I expected the spark plugs were bad, and he didn't even
> look at that.
>
> next, I took it to Pep Boys. They said that cylinder number one was
> bad, that the engine had no compression, but they they don't know
> about fixing no engines so I'd have to go to a place that does fix
> engines. $100 please.
>
> Next, I took it to the Saturn Dealership. They said the compression is
> fine, the engine is still good, but it needs a valve cover gasket.
> Apparently they didn;t even try to figure why it won't start; they
> just took a look at the spark plugs and said: "oh they are covered in
> oil, that's got to be the reason." They also said it needed some other
> minor stuff that is not about getting it to start, like a coolant
> temperature sensor and a tuneup. $915.00. So I took it out of there
> to get
> another opinion. $95 Please.
>
> Now it's at mechanic number 4. At least he said: "let's get it to
> start first, then figure out what else is wrong." Ok so he's
> replacing the spark plugs and spark plug cables, putting one new tire
> on it (that went flat while the car was just sitting for a month), and
> doing his own diagnosis.
> $550. wow. I only have $350 left.
>
> So if I can't afford to pay this guy to do anything else, which I
> think is likely, I may have to take
> it somewhere to have somebody just open up the engine, slap a valve
> cover gasket on it and close it back up again without doing anything
> else. Shouldn't it be possible to get that for
> about $350?
>
> I've been reading the forum archives on here, and it looks to me like
> a lot of you guys have been able to do this yourselves in your own
> driveway in about an hour. It's just a valve cover gasket, not even a
> head gasket. I tried to get mechanic number one to do it, but he
> won't. I thin he's upset that his diagnosis got contradicted. he
> never returned my call.
>
> I understand it takes specialized tools and training to be able to do
> it, but shouldn;t I be able
> to find some place that would just change the gasket and get it done
> for about $350?
>