hugh9209

Hello - My fiance has a 2003 JGC Laredo with 143K miles on it. Today she was driving on the highway and noticed steam and white smoke coming from the hood. She looked under the hood and saw radiator fluid. As she was in the middle of the highway, she drove it about 2 more miles to get it off the highway. The car continued to barrel white smoke from it. We took it to the mechanic and the diagnosis was:
1. cracked radiator
2. damaged belt
3. blown head gaskets.
wants to charge $1,400
4. Not sure if head valve is damaged. If so he wants to charge $2,400.

Can this be??? I was thinking about doing the radiator and belt myslef. How would i know if the gasket is blown?
Any thoughts?

dave1123

Do a compression check. First, take out all the spark plugs and whirl it over. You may see coolant blow out the plug holes. What motor is it? What is this head valve he's talking about? Does he mean intake or exhaust valves and what makes him think that? It could be the water pump failed and it massively overheated. Is the belt still on? Get it home and look it over yourself. Let us know what you find out and we'll help all we can.

Welcome to CF!