So , I picked up this 2008 Chevy Cobalt from a friend of the family for cheap ($500) .. has like 197k miles on it .. I guess they just did the shocks maybe struts too? all the way around as well as brakes. Also they put tires on it. So almost worth it for the tires alone , Anyways there is obviously something going on with the top end of the motor (my mechanic friend) says just likely need a new head (or junkyard one?) not sure which way i'd go on that.. and not certain whats all going on inside there .. know smart thing to do would be to open it up and see whats goin on.

We drove it 40 miles to my house and it made it sounding rough and not a lot of power (was rattleing pretty bad but then smoothed out a lot after acceleration) .. Also there were no apparent leaks . and no visible signs of anyrhing in the oil or coolant, however they said it lost coolant (not sure if that's initially caused the problem or what) but it didn't seem to lose much or any on that trip. So im in a predicament, need to pay some bills .. was thinking I could just sell it quick for maybe $700 and be done with it ? Not familiar with these cars , and know be able to tell more once the valve cover is off or whatnot.

And obviously I can get cheap labor cuz my buddy will do the replacement, so any opinions which way I should go ? be out of my hair,.. or should I Stick it out replace head and gaskets and whanot then try to resell it ? And if I fix it will a junk yard head suffce ? Ant help all greatly appreciated !!

 

I'd donate it to charity and use a tax write off. The Cobalt had lots of problems that the Cavalier did not. In particular was the then new electric power steering, as well as many other issues like the ignition key getting stuck. Sure you can fix it, but at 200k is it really worth installing just a new head?