She got it REALLY hot, I guess, and ran it till it wouldn't run anymore. She paid to rent a truck and trailer ($600) to bring it home, and is paying by the mile to borrow a friend's car while her's is in the shop (another $500). Today the shop called and said there is coolant in all 4 cylinders and it looks like things got too hot to risk a re-build. What to do? I assume she already owes the mechanic for tearing it down and probably owes the machine shop too, as I think he sent the heads out...at least to be looked at.
This is a "limited" with leather seats. The interior is good. The outside has a few parking lot scratches and a couple of minor dents in the liftback, but no missing paint or rust anywhere. This is a California car, and the transmission (automatic) was rebuilt on the warrantee right after she bought it. Both front cv's have been replaced in the last 2 years.
Another mechanic says he can put in a rebuilt short block for $2,600. I think she could sell it as is for $1000, and then get an older subie for one or two thousand and start saving up her money for something newer. All this is even more of a bummer since she overpaid for the car at a dealer 3 years ago and just finished paying it off at a high interest rate. I think she gave the dealer close to $14,000 alltogether. It has 160,000 miles on it.
Of course, we are wondering what is the best option. I will be lending her the money, so I'm concerned that we make the best choice. Where do we go from here? I wish we could find a cheap beater so she could get back to work and start saving.