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Someone please help me...


My Mazda was running rough...And we started out thinking it was the fuel injectors...so we treated it with an additive... it ran better for a few months...til it started to sputter and misfire... so we replaced the plugs on it(they were fouled)... it ran strong after that for about a month...So I started to do some research.  Found that it was a common problem.. and that it might be my ignition coil...so we replaced that and put new plugs in it... this time we used the recommended plugs from the manual...and the car was running great for approx... 3 weeks...til it went the worst it had ever been one morning...so we took it up to the local car shop where they replaced my fuel filter and hooked it up to their computer... It was read a misfire in Cylinder 1...so they did a compression check on it because they thought it might be the valves... they said it was 2 quarts low on oil when they checked it, so that they guessed it was the valves and recommended getting rid of the car... I live 2 miles from the shop.. and when drivng home.. the car drove like a jem...but my husband behind me saw that smoke was coming out of the pipe.  He called a mechanic friend who then informed him that we have a cracked head. Oh yeah, for about 2 weeks I smelled Radiator Fluid everytime I got out of my car.  Here are my questions... Is it worth fixing if it is a cracked head?  (I still have a year of payments on it.)  Could it just be my Head Gasket? Approx how much will it cost me to fix?  Has anyone ever used Bar's Leak Fix? Could it be something besides my head?  Anyone's help would be very much appreciated.  I am desperate at this point.

Thanks in advance,

Elizabeth  

I forgot to mention.. it burned 2 quarts of oil in the 2 miles from the shop to my house.  

I would pull the head and have it checked for cracks and warpage. it could also be checked for bad valves too at this time.  

The cars value is equal to the cost of the repairs on it. Is it worth doing it?  

You mentioned that you still have a year of payments to make on the vehicle. You're not likely to sell the vehicle 'as is' for any significant amount. So, you're left with payments on a car you can't drive, and possibly a new payment on a car you can drive. If you can't afford to make two car payments, get the head replaced.