I love that color, it must be saved! Might as well do the inline thermostat while you are in there. You are buying hoses, thermostat anyway. Might as well do it right. Those three items are all basically on top of each other, so if you are doing the pump, might as well do the others. I would consider the idle pulleys, tensioner, belt, anything that you are taking off, may as well repalce with new. Parts are cheaper than your time.

Unles you want to sell it to me.

 

I 5th the flowkooler. I just finished replacing that and the the inline mod and the temps are night and day.

 

The technician is correct in saying they have to have the leak fixed first.

because he will attempt a leak down test which requires pressurization. Imo THIS IS NOT AN ACCURATE TEST. I’ve only seen leak down test successful when the head gasket leaks are visually obvious anyway.


personally, I’d replace pump myself and even the oil pump since I know it’s going out.

then drive it and watch temps.

If temps stay good, then drive it for a week while checking the back of the heads for leaks and the oil for milkshake

 

Do the hoses, do the inline thermostat (see Extinct posts for info) Flowcooler definitely. Oil pump as well.
Run it, monitor it. Go from there.

I had a hose blow (the funky one with the stock thermostat) in 2010 (yeah I've had it a long time) on the interstate in New York City. Part of a 3 week long camping trip up and down the east coast, from Boston to Maine. Local shop had me by the *****, and wanted the same $$ for the part and hoses. Needless to say the nightmare was finally over when I towed it to NJ, found a AAA shop and had it done. Had I been home with my garage and tools, not a problem. So yeah, the prices they quoted are a "stick it to you because we can" for prices. Do it yourself and you'll be fine.

 

If it passes the leakdown, I'd get it back on the road as economically as possible and drive it for a week or so before doing the oil pump. I say to give it a week because overaheating events are often followed by a slipped liner and it'd be good to know that before spending money on an oil pump. The symptom of a slipped liner is a thunking at idle that goes away at about 2k rpm and comes back at idle. If it has a slipped liner (or multiple), you'll have to pull the engine and can do the oil pump then - or LS swap it :-) Replace the coolant reservoir cap because when they get old they don't hold enough pressure and you can boil out the coolant without the gauge saying it's hot until it's way too late.

You can also get the oil light at idle from a worn engine. Worn internals (like cam bearings) don't let the engine build enough oil pressure. I've had a few high-mileage engines in different cars with an oil light at idle and moving to a thicker oil (like 10-40) stopped the light and quieted the top end.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!