APerk

My daughter's 94 SC400 overheated last week and she had it towed to a local garage and they replaced the thermostat. After the repair she went about 25 miles and the car lunged and went dead. Now it won't start. When she tried to restart it, it made a loud shrill metal to metal sound. She turned the AC off and the noise quit, but the car still won’t start. When the tow truck got there the driver got the car started, but it was running real rough. The engine turns over and it sounds like it is about to start, but it never does. (Sounds like the timing is off just enough to keep it from starting.) I had a local mechanic look at it and he said he thought it was a timing belt issue, but he was not comfortable working on a four cam V8. I have no idea how long she drove it hot. I’m afraid it may have blown a head gasket. Any idea how much I should expect to pay if it is the head gaskets and if one needs replacing, should I replace both? The car has 155K on it. She has only had it about 9 months and we don’t have much history on the maintenance, but it seems to have been well cared for.

Inabj2

Really difficult for us to diagnose the problem withouth looking at the car.

As for the timing belt issue it should be really easy to see if thats the case or not, just remove both valve covers and take a look for yourself, Hand crank it it to see the entire belt. (i have a inline 6 variant in the SC300 removing the front timing belt cover is very easy.)

Also you might wanna check your coolant and oil, if the headgasket blew, those 2 would be mixed. You might want to also ask how long did your daughter drive the car with above normal operating temperature. Overheating is the number 1 enemy of a engine and it could lead to the motor blowing.

Also if you do get it to start keep an ear out for any internal ticking or clacking. Hopefully she didn't blow her motor.