I'm not sure that I'll remember all the facts since the car has been at the mechanic's since late 2006. We have a 1996 Hyundai Elantra station wagon. Last year we replaced the radiator - used a new mechanic because the one we'd used for years shut down & we didn't know where he went. This mechanic couldn't find a radiator so I called places like Advanced Auto Parts, O'Reilly's, & Autozone. One of the places he called but the other 2 weren't on his list so he didn't call them, I did. I finally found a radiator & he put it in for me. I paid the mechanic on a Friday & told him I'd pick it up the next day when I'd have my husband there to drive it home. The next day when we got there, the mechanic was there (he had told me he wouldn't because they were closed). Seems someone broke into the vehicles. Luckily, all they got from our car was a battery which the mechanic replaced. Not that this has anything to do with my problem! LOL! Anyway, I'm driving my sister's car & my husband is driving the Hyundai. We get about 40 miles away & my husband calls my cell phone to tell me the car's running hot. Remember, this is Saturday so not much is open. We get some water in it but it's going right through it. We finally get it home & park it. Monday I call the mechanic & we baby the car back to him (having to stop every so often to add a gallon of water, it took FOREVER!). He said it was a cracked head gasket & that it was too big a problem for him since he didn't have any help. Soooo, we took it to another mechanic & told him no rush because we were borrowing my sister's car. And we didn't have the $600 he said it would take to fix it.

Now, my husband says this is just ridiculous to have the car that long & he wants to get it away from this mechanic & see if someone else will (a) fix it, (b) fix it cheaper, (c)fix it sooner. The car goes through water (we don't bother with antifreeze because it goes straight out) so it will have to probably be towed. I say leave it & have it towed to whoever he gets to work on it, not tow it home & then tow it to whereever.

My husband is not a mechanic (he didn't know what was wrong with our truck, turns out I paid $20 to have a fuse put in) so I don't have any hope that he'll fix the car on his own. But he has heard if you put liquid glass in the radiator or where the crack is & sawdust somewhere that he'll be able to drive the car until it falls completely apart. We've known the transmission is slipping but we were still driving it when all this happened. The car is paid for. Right now my truck is our only transportation & I'm desperate for him to have his own ride. We don't have the money right now for another car loan.

Anyone know or have experience with the liquid glass and the sawdust? I'm thinking the sawdust is for the transmission but I don't remember. He needs a reliable ride, not something that's going to fall apart...