A friend that owns a towing company in another city a few hours away, is being offered this 98k mile, one owner car for nearly scrap value as it has been diagnosed with a failed head gasket. The original owner states the car began to idle rough and have a misfire causing the engine light to flash. It has never overheated or been low on coolant to his knowledge. He pulled over and had it towed as soon as the engine light started to flash.
However the repair shop he took it to, for some reason, determined it was misfiring on one cylinder and that they needed to do some sort of '"exhaust test", and found traces of coolant in the exhaust and determined the "head gaskets must have failed" and charged him $100 for the diag. Does this even sound reasonable to any resident experts here? I would think ignition or a clogged cat is more likely the culprit...? A trace of coolant in the exhaust is somewhat normal in a Northstar, isn't it? Lol!
The owner has decided to give up on the car and buy a new one. This is a low mileage, one owner car in great condition in that rare "Graphite" color with all the options, and I'm tempted to pick it up.
Though I know it's tough to trouble shoot something like this with such limited info, I'm curious before going all the way there to check it out, to see if anyone agrees that it sounds like a rather poor diagnosis?
However the repair shop he took it to, for some reason, determined it was misfiring on one cylinder and that they needed to do some sort of '"exhaust test", and found traces of coolant in the exhaust and determined the "head gaskets must have failed" and charged him $100 for the diag. Does this even sound reasonable to any resident experts here? I would think ignition or a clogged cat is more likely the culprit...? A trace of coolant in the exhaust is somewhat normal in a Northstar, isn't it? Lol!
The owner has decided to give up on the car and buy a new one. This is a low mileage, one owner car in great condition in that rare "Graphite" color with all the options, and I'm tempted to pick it up.
Though I know it's tough to trouble shoot something like this with such limited info, I'm curious before going all the way there to check it out, to see if anyone agrees that it sounds like a rather poor diagnosis?