Driving home from work the other day my car started to over heat (2008 2.4L, 128k miles) so I pulled right over and had it towed to the mechanic. Mechanic told me the water pump is bad so I had him replace that and the timing tension, belt etc at the same time after all the work is done he test drives it and tells me the head is bad as well and that would be 1500 on top of 1000 for the previous work... my question is is this something he should have noticed prior to replacing the water pump? Car is not worth 2500 to me as it's only a beater I use for work.

 

How hot did it get when you noticed it over heating?

Warped heads arent too common on these engines.

 

The light popped on the dash around 250 by the time I was able to safely pull over it was 291. I originally check the oil and there was no signs of water or coolant in it as it didnt have that milky substance and also no smoke coming from engine block or exhaust. Heat was blowing cool and no coolant in reservoir

 

Well....that is pretty toasty. I had my car up to 260 before and it drove fine after I fixed the issue that caused it. I would ask him for some proof/evidence(in a nice way) about why he thinks your head is "bad."

 

if it didn't have any coolant then he should have checked to find were it was going, have never seen a water pump leak on one of these engines during the last 5 years working at a dealer. Id be investigating why he replaced the water pump first and why he thinks the head needs to be replaced. At that temp though you may have warped the head but that doesn't really answer where the coolant went in the first place.

 

Yea I plan to do that as most of the time I do my own work but never dealt with a blown head so unsure of it's something he should of noticed or not. As I dont plan to replace the head and not looking to pay 1k for a broken car in regards to the other work. If anything the mechanic can keep it

 

Would a compression test prior to replacing the water pump shown a warped or cracked head or no if the water pump was truly bad.

 

should, a leakdown test would too if the head gasket isn't sealing anymore, also a coolant pressure test would show if its leaking into the case or into a cylinder.

 

Talked to mechanic he said everything was good with the car It ran great and everything until he took it for a test drive and started to warm up. That's when it started to dump water into the oil

 

I would want to see the coolant in the oil and it sounds like you need to be reimbursed for the water pump bc it sounds like he just rolled the dice on it.

 

That is about the same mileage when my son's 2008 2.4 overheated. Sadly it was a porous block. Block sealer sealed it up for a year until I changed out the block. You have a lost foam casted block and it could very well be cracked. I also hoped it was the water pump, head etc.

I would have the head checked for warpage which it is sure to have but it can be checked for leaks and vacuum tested first. If all you have is warpage and the mechanic cannot safely see where the head gasket let go your rolling the dice on that repair also.

 

I thought porous block usually showed up early in the engines life.

 

Not if it is overheated.