Cost to replace Valve Cover Gasket?

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?

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?
>