maddzz1 Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 My sister in law has a 200? grand am with 70,000k. She brought to a shop and had them flush the cooloing system and do an oil change. 2 days later the head gasket went; it had no problems prior. I'm not really familiar with those flush machines alot of shops use now, and I'm not even sure if they used one. Could something the shop have done have caused the problem? or is it just coincidence? I know nothing can be proven but with only 70k it seems premature for the head gasket to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garmj Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Flush machines don't cause blown head gaskets, poor cooling system maintenance and bad design do. Poor cooling system maintenance promotes gasket deterioration thus failure the flush MAY have expedited the problem but probably not. If her car has the Quad 4 motor they are famous for blown head gaskets. Also corrosion and crud in the cooling system insulates the temp sensors keeping cooling fans from working properly. If it was full of coolant when it left the shop there is nothing to talk to them about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I think the problem is mostly related to the gaskets GM used between the intake and heads. Wifes car 2001 olds with the 3.4 had the same problem. I have also seen this problem on several 4.3's. It is uder a grand to fix the problem. I think the bok calls for like 6 hrs labor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddzz1 Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share Posted January 24, 2009 I think the problem is mostly related to the gaskets GM used between the intake and heads. Wifes car 2001 olds with the 3.4 had the same problem. I have also seen this problem on several 4.3's. It is uder a grand to fix the problem. I think the bok calls for like 6 hrs labor I have also heard of alot of Intrepids having the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOMJ87 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 6 cylinder mustangs did because of the aluminum heads they used. Not that hard of a job. I used a Haynes and was 17 and did it on the Mustang and at 15 i did it on the MJ. Took longer then 6 hours cause of the age i was and not knowing half of what i was dealing with. Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garmj Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 3.8 Fords have head gasket problems due to inferior gaskets and bad design. They use torque-to-yield bolts that stretch, the gaskets don't last.I have a Thunderbird SC 3.8 that didnt get a chance to blow the head gaskets before I upgraded the gaskets,surfaced the block and heads and replaced the bolts with ARP head studs and nuts.Thats is a car you don't want to do twice. :fs1: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brdhntr Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 :agree: no reason to blame the shop that flushed it unless they left it low on coolant or with a babble in the system that caused it to overheat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhill Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 those are reverse flow and hte thermostat works backwards ithink. they @#$%ed it up, make them eat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 those are reverse flow and hte thermostat works backwards ithink. they @#$% it up, make them eat it. Never thought of them hooking stuff up wrong and causing other issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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