My wife's van has been losing radiator fluid for some time. We've been adding coolant pretty regularly, but the problem has to be dealt with. She took it in today and was told that it has a bad radiator, a bad hose, a bad water pump and a bad intake valve. Estimated cost? $2,000.
Yikes.
We looked up the parts and they only come to about $400, so the rest is labor. This sounds fishy to me.
For one thing, I only see one apparent drip, and it's toward the front next to the radiator. I don't see the actual leak, only the drip, so I don't know for sure. But I was figuring on it probably being the hose, but MAYBE the radiator.
For another, the radiator was replaced three... maybe two... years ago. It's bad AGAIN?
Then, throw in the water pump and intake valve and this is stretching credulity.
We're going to get another quote. I have a feeling my wife's mechanic is running up the bill. I'll grant them one thing: My wife saw the engine running hot when she was coming home from work in October. Instead of pulling over, she pressed on. The van was bone dry when she got home. (It never actually boiled over.) I'm sure that's hard on a vehicle. What started out as one problem may have turned into four as a result of overheating.
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