So my mom's venture over heated and now the head gaskets are fried. the mechanic says it will be $1200 to replace the gaskets, and water pump(they think that is the cause of the issue), the thermostat and flush the system. also possibly another $400 to machine / replace the heads. now the van has 128,000 miles on it and also the transmission shifts hard from time to time. do you guys think we should fix it or get a new car and sell / get rid of the van?

 

whats the van worth to you? can you afford to buy a new vehicle VS fixing the old vehicle??
If you getthe tranny done at the same time it may cost another $1000 but you know that the motor and tranny are good. If you buy another used van...you are getting someone else's used stuff and you don't know what state the new mototr and tranny are in adn when they are about to go

 

Update, we are selling the van as is. she will be buying a new car soon, and in the meantime she is driving my dodge neon.