First part of this epic tragic saga is at here.

Basically the story up to now is that since last September I've sunk about $3100 into this pile of crap ('99 Blazer 4x4 2door, 138k miles) and every time I fix one thing, the next thing breaks, and they're getting more and more improbable as they go on. (Not counting $600 to get the frame straightened, that was collision damage that should have been repaired two years ago but wasn't because my body guy is a freaking jackass. No I didn't take it back to him, I went elsewhere.) Also needs motor mounts which my mechanic doesn't want to deal with, dealer wants $600 just for labor, I figure that can wait.

After all this the manifold gasket burns out and dumps all the antifreeze onto the road. I parked the damned thing and drove my '88, which is twice as old and has almost twice the mileage, but runs at least well enough to get me the 69 miles to work and back home again (but not well enough to pass emissions, but that's another story). I finally decided this week to fix the manifold so I don't have to worry about getting a ticket for expired inspection on the other car. Bought the part (by Fel-Pro, thank you very much, I'm not putting another damn plastic gasket in there. AC Delco can bite me.) and decided that at my skill level, this was going to be too complicated to do myself, so I had the AAA flatbed tow the car to the station.

This morning I get a call from my mechanic: he put the car up on the lift and found that the front differential housing is broken at the "ear" where it bolts on. Says it goes Bang when he put it in gear. Well it always did that, who knows how long that's been that way, but that's going to add on hwe thinks another $1500 or so to repair, and I'd have to have a transmission shop do it 'cus he won't. (I just found a wrecker on eBay who'll pull one for me for $290 shipped, with 6 month warranty.) I already owe the mechanic $160 for the labor invested thus far to tear it down; if he puts it all back together and leaves it as is that's all I'd owe, if he wants me to take the rest of it apart and put the new gasket in, it's another $200 or so. Do I want him to proceed? I pulled what's left of my hair for a while, finally decided to spend the extra $200 and put the damn gasket in already. Once I get it running, I'll trade it in for a Subaru or something that won't break every damn five minutes. Whatever.

Now I get yet another call this evening. He took off the manifold, cleaned out all the accumulated crud (lots and lots and lots of accumulated crud) and found that under all that crud there's a frickin' hole rotted through the aluminum of the manifold. (He blames the Dex-Cool, this is me Not Going There.) A new lower manifold half is about $350, more or less. If he takes that apart, though, he's likely to find a bad spider, which is about the same again. As he says, if I haven't replaced it yet, I'm going to have to in the near future.

He says he can try to patch the manifold using one of the varieties of JB Weld that allegedly works on aluminum; if that doesn't hold, I'll have to get a new one. I told him if that doesn't hold, tow the f'ing thing to the junkyard and leave it there, I don't want it anymore.

So let's recap.
September to now, $3100.
Manifold gasket, $360 (estimated) labor, about $32 for the gasket.
Lower manifold half, $396.79 at RockAuto.
Two (2) motormounts, $12 each, plus estimated $600 labor at the dealership.
Front diff, $290 for a used part, who knows how much labor.
That's at least five grand plus the labor on the front diff, plus the inevitable spider and the labor on that.
The whole truck isn't worth five grand.

It's just so damn frustrating. Every time I fix something, something more expensive breaks. (Check the prices on the repairs, they've been ramping up and up...) I feel like I'm fighting the Kobayashi Maru here, if I may be forgiven a Star Trek reference... you kill 10 aliens, 20 more show up. kill those 20 and 40 more show up, and so on. It's gotten to the point of absurdity by now, I swear I think the doors are gonna blow off next, except that we already replaced the hinges years back. I almost feel like there's some demon looking over my shoulder cackling gleefully and saying, OK, What can I €℅ℓ⅞!@#$ up next?



(I guess the immediate question, and the reason I put this in the Engine forum, is can the manifold even be patched, or is he wasting his time and my money. There's no longer a question as to whether it pays to continue sinking money into this mobile swamp, I just need it to hold together long enough to get rid of it.)

Mods please feel free to move this if it's not in the right place, I had to get it out of my system.

 

An experience I can second, sunk alot of money getting the engine rebuilt and cooling system fit, then yesterday I notice the transmission acting up, changing gears weirdly, I'm still paying the garage back for the roughly $4000 work Ive had done on it in the last 6 months!

 

Man, Somewhere you have to say I need to find another vehicle. Crap for a $1000 I can find many different vehicles if I need transportation. I have a 97 Blazer 4x4 that has had a few maintenance issues. A heater core, radiator, & distributor. Not to mention tires, & oil & filters. But I expect to have some cost. We have owned it two years & driven it almost 60,000 miles. But before I stick 3 or 4 grand into it I would be looking at buying another used Blazer or some vehicle. I mean Come on.

 

Yea totally agree with you, problem is I'm in a bit of a predicament, its a RHD that I bought in the UK and brought over to Munich where I'm currently working, problem is, I obviously can't sell it here, as no one is going to want a RHD in a LHD country, so to be able to sell it it has to be able to do the 800 mile journey home first

 

Just found out, the manifold is not only cracked and holed, but warped as well. There goes another $350.

(Oh, and the brand-new Alliance store that opened up around the corner from my house is apparently no smarter than the Strauss they replaced. I'd ordered the manifold (Dorman 615-301) from them, as they had the best price. Came in yesterday to pick it up, and instead of a Dorman lower manifold for a 4.3 V6 with fuel injection and EGR, they presented me with an Edelbrock upper manifold for a 400 V8 with a carburetor and no egr. Jeez, how wrong can you get -- not one point about it was correct, except that it was an intake manifold and not an exhaust manifold, or a spare tire or something. Thanks but no thanks. At least they had the Fel-Pro gasket in stock, and I got the manifold from that online bookstore. Let's hope the spider survives the transplantation, or I'm gonna be out yet more bux.)

On top of that, the passages in the head itself are all gunked up. No wonder the damn thing kept running hot. Here's hoping that's cleanable without pulling the head.