I got the low down on my Monte Carlo today.  They had the entire engine
apart and I went up to see it.  Two of the places where the antifreeze runs
through the head were actually rotted.  The aluminum was falling apart. 
This was probably from the original repair / Dexcool, since there was some
sealant in that area where the replaced gasket was.  It was questionable to
put the new gasket on that area, since it was falling apart.  New heads are
not cheap.  I was basically looking at $2500 to fix what I have / new
heads, gaskets, front cover gaskets, etc, throw in the towel with the car
and sell it, or get a new motor.  

I decided to go with a new Jasper motor witha 3 year / 100k warranty. 
Total bill will be $4800 installed with everything.  Still much cheaper
than a new car, but really not what I wanted to see or hear.  The mechanics
spent an hour showing me everything and talking to be at their shop.  

I don't know if it is a good thing that I like my car so much, but I do
hate new car payments more.  At least we now know the root cause of the
gasket leak - even though they said it is very rare for the heads to rot
like that.  They said it could be from an electrical charge/short getting
the antifreeze to eat at the heads.  Very strange, but I did see it.  Just
on one side on the motor, too.  I didn't want to spent $1200 to just rig it
and put the gasket on and hope for the best again knowing the heads have an
issue.

Looks like I will sort of have a new car soon in a round about way.

- Mark
  
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