Here's the history of the car. 05 neon 2.0 from Virginia. The car has been driving with a burnt exhaust valve for 5 years. The entire ps of the engine was replaced two years ago, timing belt etc.The oem antifreeze was flushed and replaced. Everything else with the car looks and works great, nothings broken.
They want 300.00 to repair the head, they said the hard part is shaving the top of each valve. Since you can't adjust the valves. Should I pull one exhaust valve to replace from a pick and save, if they have some heads off already. Or do you think my best option is pull a used head from a pick and save for $ 33.00, which all have about 130,000 miles? You can buy a warranty. I do all the work on my cars, but I'm not an expert. I do a lot of research first. Time is not an issue. I think the converter may also be bad, it smells some but there's no code. I can't get a used converter.

 

They want $300 to fix a single valve on a head that is off the car?

 

I found another place for $75.00 an hour. He said maybe two hours if I put it together, once hes done testing. That's if I don't lap the valves with compound. He will spec the new exhaust valve plus the others and test for valve leaks. Does that make a little more sense?

 

Still sounds like they're performing some sort of complete valve job though. If that's the case, I'd just go find a good head from Pick N Pull and bolt it on.

 

Id just do the used head the extra $30 saves a lot of headache. However, I would take it to a machine shop and make sure it was flat before installing it on my car. Your looking at $33 for the head and (in my area) $100-125 to have it machined flat (if needed) so you save over $100 vs replacing the valve plus you don't have to fuss with replacing the valve just a simple swap of the head.