Holland said:
Hopefully they’ll replace the water pump and spark plugs too while they’re at it. You should only have to pay for the parts since the labor’s already being done.
Yeah, they’ll do the timing cover gasket, valve cover gasket, and timing chain (since it’s a 4-cylinder). I’ll handle the spark plugs myself later. I just didn’t want to take on the timing cover—it’s definitely more than I can manage after watching a few videos.
That’s a very reasonable deal.
With that many miles, you could try using Lucas Oil Stop Leak first. Timing cover jobs are expensive, and almost a grand sounds about right.
Teo said:
With that many miles, you could try using Lucas Oil Stop Leak first. Timing cover jobs are expensive, and almost a grand sounds about right.
I’ve heard those oil stoppers can cause more harm than good. Have you used it before?
@Kerry
If it were me, I’d just fix it properly. Patch jobs are risky, and with only 140k miles, your car’s got a lot of life left. Might as well do it right and keep it going.
RoadWarriorX said:
@Kerry
If it were me, I’d just fix it properly. Patch jobs are risky, and with only 140k miles, your car’s got a lot of life left. Might as well do it right and keep it going.
Exactly! I’ve got an 04 Lexus RX330 with 325k miles, and it starts up like a champ every time—unless we leave a light on or let it sit too long, but that’s just the battery, not the engine.
@Kerry
Lucas Oil has been good to me. I’ve used it in older cars for years and never had any trouble with it.
@Kerry
I used it on my F150 when it had 156k miles. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped a lot. I still had a tiny leak on the oil cooler (which is pretty normal for F150s), but the front seal and valve cover leak stopped completely. Big fan of Lucas.