My mechanic says that it is about 4 hours labor and cost of gasket to fix this leaking anti-freeze problem. Does this sound right? Cost around $400.00?
What is the labor rate? i.e., if the labor rate is $90 an hour, that's $360. $40 for the gasket, shop supplies and environmental fees/taxes. Sounds about right.
That's not Cali prices, that's city prices. Anywhere. Cali actually has a LOT of good things about it. Emissions laws are not one of them... will not get into anything else and violate ToS lol.
But... if its a gasket leak... its actually pretty easy to DIY if you have a good set of tools but if you are not comfortable with it... yeah that's a fair price at a $90 or so per hour labor rate which is actually pretty standard now.
Pushrods are notorious for gaskets going bad... one reason I love the modular so much is all rubber gaskets and better tolerances. No paper freaking gaskets anywhere on the motor... But the pushrod is so easy to work on...
Of course he is going to "suggest" and up-sell you and then a $350 job turns into a $700 job. It really comes down to are you in love with the car and do you see it in your future? If so then it might be time to show it some love but do not be afraid to speak with the mechanic for a better price "since he is going to be in there anyways".
That train of thought bites me in the arse almost every time. On my old daily driver pickup, I have begun to replace every gasket (Within reason) when one fails. I don't know how many times that I replaced the water pump before I figured out that it was easier to replace the timing cover gasket at the same time, rather than tearing it all back apart again a few months later. And then I may as well just replace the timing chain while the cover is removed...
One thing I always tell people about the fox body is that you WILL have to do a little maintenance and work on them a bit. It is a fun little car, relatively affordable (cheap) and can be made quick with a little money. It is an older car so things will need to be done to them to keep you happy. Tough choices are ahead of you but the new coyote motor is very nice, responds well to mods and is pretty smooth.
Better is very subjective. If you want something that can go forever with minor maintenance and is stupid easy to work on/maintain and extremely simple to deal with as far as the electronics and platform is concerned then the 5.0 pushrod is great. But... its not in the same universe as the Coyote. I mean they are completely different animals.
That said... I get a little extra money to throw around in a few years when I make Master Sergeant I am GOING to go find someone's garage queen 94/95 Cobra with a 5.0 pushrod.
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