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Question: 1988 Dodge 600 mileage: 128,000. Hi, My name is Leslie and I'm seventeen years old. On June 26th, my car overheated. I took it to a mechanic. After keeping it over night, they called and said it was the water pump. They estimated the cost to be $300.00. I told them to go ahead and change it. I then asked them to check and see if there had been any damage to the engine. When they called back to tell me the car was ready they told me that there hadn't been any damage to the engine and even if there had been, it would have been smoking, which it had not been. Later that day I went to pick up my car. They told me that it wasn't overheating anymore and I could take it home. I didn't even get a mile down the road and it got extremely hot. I turned right around and took it back. A mechanic got in my car even after I told him it was extremely hot and didn't return for about 20 minutes. When he came back, I noticed my car was smoking really badly. Well, they then took it in the shop for about 30 minutes. They told me that it was just an air pocket and now it was just fine. Well it overheated on my way home. We took it back the following day and they said it was now a blown head gasket. I then wrote a note to the Better Business Bureau telling them what had happened. About a week later, the owner called and said that he would give us the $300.00 back for the water pump. But nothing else could be done. He said it was the head gasket the whole time and they're just sorry they didn't catch it. My question is did they have to change the water pump to know if it was the head gasket? And could they have told right away by checking if there was water in the oil? And also do you guys think I have a good case to take to small claims court? Please answer as soon as possible.

Answer: We have no way of telling from here if the head gasket was blown when you first noticed the car was over heating. If your car got very low on coolant, it would have caused the seal to fail in the water pump. This is one of those, which comes first, the chicken or the egg situations - one can cause the other to fail. They may have just misdiagnosed the head gasket and found just the leaking water pump. If the car is driven while still low on coolant, there is a reasonable chance you will blow the head gasket. The first time you picked your car up and drove one mile and it overheated, this would indicate that you probably had a blown head gasket at that time. Very rarely will you get water in the oil with your type of blown head gasket. More likely there will be exhaust gases in the cooling system and coolant going out the exhaust system. As far as small claims court is concerned, we are mechanics, not lawyers and we cannot help you with this type of decision.

Question: 1987 Dodge 600 mileage: 180,000; 4,000 miles on rebuilt engine. Block boiled out; all new guts including oil pump. If I change the oil and filter together, I loose the oil prime and engine does not pump oil. Lifters start to make noise. At that time I can take filter off car, squirt oil into engine, fill oil filter and screw back on and engine will prime and pump OK. Later I will start engine and the oil light will stay on for 2-3 minutes before going out. The engine on this type of start will not make noise, which leads me to believe that oil is getting to valves etc. but not to oil pressure sending unit gallery, which includes the line going to the turbo. If I shut down early in this type of start I can take out oil sending unit and start and run car without loosing oil through the open hole. If I prime the hole with oil and start the car oil will shoot out 3 feet before I can shut down I will have lost a pint. Then I put back the sender, on the next start the oil light goes out, and all is well. I thought it might be the oil filter so I tried brands other than FRAM, Hastings and AC, which I had been using. There is a mechanical ANTI-Drain back valve screwed into the filter housing which is supposed to keep the filter and oil galleries full when the car is shutdown. If this were bad, I would think that the valve train would make noise at some point while the oil light is on. (Pressure 2 lbs) The engine is quiet with no oil going to sending unit and turbo. I installed a new TRW oil pump with the rebuild, which is supposed to have a HIGH-pressure relief valve. If this was stuck in the open position I would not get the great pressure to shoot oil over 3 feet after priming. What do you think of my problem and is my LOGIC faulty?

Answer: If we were faced with your problem, we would remove the oil pan and compare the new oil pump and pick-up to the old ones. There may be a difference in length or possibly the new oil pick-up has a sealing problem with the pump itself.

Reply: Dear Bob and Ken, I got your answer to my question. I thought I would save an "Oil Pump" investigation for last because I like to look at the easy things first. I took off the oil filter, which gave me access to the "Mechanical Anti Drain Back Valve". It's actually the male thread assy. that the filter screws on to. Inside it, a spring-loaded disc is supposed to prevent the oil from draining out of all the oil galleries back to the sump. This very lightly spring loaded disc was stuck in the OPEN position so that after a 2 hour shutdown it would take 20 seconds or so to get oil pressure. Overnight it would take 2-3 minutes. I tapped the disc several times with a small screwdriver and it snapped shut. I cleaned it out with Gumout and exercised it with the screwdriver many times. You can make the disc twist sideways around the spring for a fully open position, so be careful exercising it with the screwdriver. Even if it twists it can be re-seated by playing around with it. I oiled it up and replaced it in the block. I installed a new filter and oil. I tested the car after various shutdown periods and it never takes longer than a second to shut the oil light off. As a matter of fact, the light sometimes goes out on the 2-second crank before the engine starts. Why the engine lifters etc. didn't make noise with the oil light on for 2 or so minutes of running, I don't know. I put a gage on engine and got 60 lbs. pressure at about 1500 rpm. I noticed a Ford with a similar problem on your web page. This info may help him. Thanks for your efforts, Hank

Question: 1988 Dodge 600 mileage: 95,000. I have a Dodge 600 - it would start. It will run for 2 seconds then quit. I had a few people check it out and they said it was the fuel pump. I replaced the fuel pump now it starts but will only run if I keep pumping the accelerator to the floor, any ideas.

Answer: Check the catalytic converter to make sure it is not “plugged” or restricted. Your car is equipped with a computer controlled engine management system. An independent auto service center can scan your computer for fault or error codes. The information should pinpoint the malfunctioning components.

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