Help Needed Guaranteed Auto Repairs

[Gen52SS]

Help needed ...I'm trying to help a single Mom with 2 kids. She has 2 jobs, goes to school and raising 2 babies. She doesn't have a lot of money. She has been taken for a ride lately from auto repair shops and dealerships trying to fix an overheating problem. She runs the car with the heater on all the time because if turned off blows the lower hose. They have replaced Thermostat, cooling fan motor, all the hoses now they tell her she might need a radiator and or water pump. Once that's done at cost of $700 she might have a blown head gasket issue. Shouldn't the cylinder head test be done first to make sure it's not in the heads? I know there has to be repair shops that can diagnosis a serious overheating problem before just start changing over parts. Since I myself have no experience with getting repairs done here in Knoxville area looking for some input where this young woman can get guaranteed repairs. She lives in Sevierville.... I will help her with the cost just want the car fixed right the first time or at least told she has a bad cylinder head or gasket. The car is a 2007 Saturn Aura V6 not sure on miles going to say on the high end. She has put $1000 in the bank she can use to fix the car but if doesn't fix it she's broke....any help appreciated.

[MARKP]

I can't help on who to send her to on repairs. I don't hardly trust anybody. Seems to me that the head gasket issue should have been caught before. I can see throwing a thermostat at it first but not any further than that without significant diagnosis time.

Here's my $.02 on where she is now. If the head gasket is blown or a head is cracked, the smart thing to do might be a new engine. If I am thinking correctly, that is not your typical pushrod engine and will be complicated to work on. Also, if it has been driven a lot with the overheating problem, it could have created other issues with water getting into places in the engine that it shouldn't be.

[lcoleman]

The coolant will 99.9% smell like combustion gases if the head gasket is bad enough to generate enough pressure to blow the hose off.

Does the car overheat? I would lean towards some sort of blockage. You obviously have flow if it's building pressure.

Parts store thermostats can be bad out of the box. Could be a simple fix, if that's the case.

[oldmuscle69]

I do not try to be a monger here,I read the first post then read again. Ouch saturn. I really do not have a comment on this issue. Heard too many saturn stories. Sorry I can not help here.

[72RatCamaro]

Take the oil cap off and see if there is water/froth on the bottom of the cap. Quick and easy first diagnoses step for head gasket. Or check if coolant has oil in it. Next step would be to take the hoses top and bottom off radiator and run water through it to verify its clear. Again, thats a quick and dirty check. Past that I don't know, sounds like water pump not flowing to me if its building that much pressure. Take the thermostat out and run without one and see if it still overheats.

[MARKP]

I speak from experience when I say dont run the car without a thermostat. Tried that, made the car overheat. Put one in and it was fine.

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