Leonard’s Automotive

My vehicle had a check engine light so we took it in to be checked. I described to the receptionist what kind of problems I’d been having (tachometer was fluttering occasionally, needed to add coolant several times, check engine light came on on the highway with accompanying loss of power). She immediately said «sounds like a blown head gasket.» I got a call the next day and they said it was the head gasket and estimated $ 2200 for the repair. We thought this sounded high so called around and found a mechanic with a lower estimate ($ 1500 to $ 1700), so we paid up the $ 85 plus tax to Leonard’s for the diagnostic (they said they hooked it up to the computer to determine this) and took it to the other mechanic. Mechanic 2 ran multiple tests, drove the vehicle almost 40 miles, and pulled the computer codes, and found no indication that the head gasket was blown. He found other problems (loose spark plugs, bad ignition coils, etc) that fully explain the symptoms I described…
It would have been an expensive mistake to leave it at Leonard’s.