Alan4370

I have quite a situation going on.
I own a Chevy Blazer 1997, which has been fairly free of problems overall, and only has 85,000 (bought it new). However the service engine light came up and wouldn't go away so I decided to get it checked since I was leaving ten days later for a 2500 miles road trip.
I put the car at Teton Motors (Jackson, WY). They found no problem and simply reset the light. They also changed the transmission and transfer case fluids and replaced leaky oil lines. Then gave me thumbs up for my trip although one thing I noticed at once was the car leaking more oil than before, and being low on oil.
I drove the car 2 days, about 20 miles to town and back total and on the 3rd day, after 15 minutes, the temperature gauge suddenly started climbing steadily all the way into the red.
So I put the car back at the dealership the next day, they test drove it and were able to reproduce the problem, figured out that it was a stuck thermostat and replaced it; at that point they realized that the radiator cooling fluid was sludge-like. They flushed the radiator once and gave me AGAIN thumbs up for my trip.
I left the next day, drove 20 miles... and the temp gauge went into the red again. I got towed back to the dealership for $250 (they lent me a replacement car for my 10 day trip), and they wound up changing the radiator. That didn't help as apparently the cooling jacket was clogged up. They've now told me that I needed an engine replacement for $5700, or they would also give me $2500 as a trade-in.
So, 2 weeks ago I had a car with no problems, and now I own a more or less worthless piece of junk.

My questions are:
1. Is there a way to clean up the cooling system without having to replace the engine?
2. Wouldn't a competent mechanic know that if the coolant system was that bad, they should perform more than one flush?
3. Doesn't $5700 seem like a lot? I checked online and found out such engine costs about $1350.
4. Can I trust the dealership to do a good job considering what happened?
5. Do you have any suggestions or advice?

Thanks for any posts
Alan

old dog

you say it over heats ,are they saying the head's or block is cracked ? there are commershally avalible cooling system cleaner's and flush's avalible .try a second opinion before you replaxce the engine .

javelin350

how long did you drive it in the red? I doubt you craked the block or head if you payed attetion to the gauge and pulled over. I would buy the do it your self flush kit that hookes to a garden hose and flush the heck out of it.. If you blew anything I thing the head gaskets would go first.

Alan4370

they're not sure it's cracked, that was their answer. As far as I'm concerned, it seems unlikely as I only drove it about 2 miles with the gauge high in the red. My mistake was to listen to them when they asked me to bring the car back. So I blew a hole in the radiator. And apparently, nothing about the head gaskets.

hquick

Possibly intake manifold gaskets are shot. Have you noticed any discolouration in the engine oil?
$5700....Man...you are seriously getting screwed.
Go somewhere else.