related incident from last night
while at iftaar I was approached by a person who I know - he asks me that if I could check his car (somehow people know I repair cars) - he has an old 96 camry with the V6 engine (5vz).
its overheating.
after iftaar n namaaz and goofing around with other freinds I go out with him and pop the bonnet (hold up with wooden stick) - the gas springs are shot. squeeze pipes - no pressure on hot engine (very odd) - remove the rad cap and see rust loaded in there. I ask him about some history - comes out that he has always used tap water in the radiator because he used to do that in his FX in Pakistan. I said that its pretty impossible you bought the car like this.
he replies - that he blew one radiator pipe once and all coolant was lost - so he just bought the pipe, installed it and filled it up with water and also removed the thermostat valve because his mechanic in Pakistan removed it from his brand new FX in 1985. (he couldnt understand the radiator fan circuit otherwise Im pretty sure his fans would be "d'rect" too)
problems.
1 water pump = shot
2 welch plugs = holed and leaking (houston has hard water)
3 about 2 or 3mm thick scale deposits in the whole system
4 insane amount of rust and corrosion in cooling system
5 both headgaskets are probably shot too due to corrossion.
He was about to cry when I told him the approximate cost of repair parts. The labour to install the parts are about more than twice the cost of parts because its a HUGE engine in a tiny engine room.