|
On your way home, or after you are safely in the driveway (?), try getting the engine to rev over 3,000 rpm and hold it there for a few minutes. If dirt is keeping the exhaust valve from closing, that may help clean it off. If the head gasket is blown, who cares? If it is dirt, the engine should run a little smoother after the 3-5 minutes of high revs in Neutral. AND, if that seems to work, take the car out and drive it for 10-15 minutes in 2nd gear at 55-65mph to really clean it out.
Check the coolant level before and after, mark the level with a pen. If it goes down even a little, you need a new engine or head rebuilt which is expensive in either case.
An AWD Subaru is quite a good car, if you need AWD. I bought my daughter one to use at school. After Christmas break, 3 weeks, she got to the car and it started right up! It is a 2008, so it has all of the modern safety features and still gets 28mpg on the highway.
Honda and Toyota are both reliable, depending on the previous owner. Forget any car used by high school students! Or those that have a loud muffler on them. Get a 4 cyl base car, and look at Carfax to see if it was a rental.
Klaus
--
Proud owner of a 220S. If I had more room, I would have more Volvos.
|