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Originally Posted by Chris_0908  I wish I knew where to begin, my holiday season started out REALLY messed up. I have a 1993 Ford Probe SE 4 Cylinder Automatic. Well I started out the Holiday season with a blown head gasket I paid $2,106.02 on December 22nd. Well December 23rd it was going back in for a water pump (the origonal problem with the car I bet), well I just had that changed out. Well now the best part the mechanic I'm dealing with now, says that whoever did the head gasket never did it correctly. The timing was WAY off he said it was retarded by about 4 teeth when he got it into the shop and now it's dead on, but because the timing was so retarded there is now roughly $3,000 worth of damage. He said at the bare minimum the head gasket has to be redone because he does not know if the pistons are cracked or the valves are bent. He did a compreshion test on it, and found that Cylinder 1 has 145 PSI, Cylinder 2 has 80 PSI, Cylinder 3 has 80 PSI, and Cylinder 4 has 130 PSI. He's putting money on the valves because he does not believe that the head gasket was done properly, and the place that did it has a very big name. THIS SHIT SUCKS!!! I start of the New Year with a heck of a kick. The question is what do I do now. |
I think you are being scammed by the second mechanic. Get the mechanic to document his diagnosis and repair estimate. Take this document to the shop that did your head gasket and request an explanation. I bet you will not get such a document, because it will be grounds for legal action against one or other shop. The compressions noted would make the car hard to start and have very poor performance with the engine misfiring badly under acceleration.
I presume the current mechanic is talking about the valve timing, which would have been set when the head gasket was replaced for an OHC engine. I am not familiar with your engine, but in many small OHC engines the water pump is driven by the valve timing belt and is usually changed at the same time the belt is changed. So the first shop may not have done a comprehensive job in providing you the required service. A valve job is quite expensive and may not be justified but should have been discussed for a 1993 car, as should the water pump and belt.
OHC engines are often interference type which means that the valves will contact the pistons if the engine is run seriously out of time or the belt breaks. This could account for poor compression on all cylinders, but not on just 2. So the problem with poor compression is the responsibility of the warranty of the first shop. You would argue a failed gasket because the low compression is on adjacent cylinders with a small amount of gasket separating them, while the shop would argue failed valves or something else which would not be covered by their warranty. Come to a settlement somewhere in between. For a head gasket failure you should pay nothing, if the head needs surfacing (probable) or the valves re-ground (possible) you should pay only for the extra work of machining the head or overhauling the head/valves.
Hope this helps.
Happy New Year For Some 
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