For your information- this car ran great until this incident- everything is completely documented at the dealership. Actually just a few weeks before all of this I had car checked on the computer when I got my oil changed and they said that I would need brakes soon. Since the service is over an hour and half away - I had the brakes changed. Remember this is all documented- therefore your statement that it probably didn't run right is not true- what happened was a cat was in my motor and belt came off and I washed engine. I thought everything was associated with washing the engine- but if you really know what you are talking about. Please answer one question for me- What would cause a prefect car to immediately miss-up w/ no warning? Also, the head was checked and it was fine ($600 to pull it off and $150 at the head job- does that sound funny?) thanks again- Also, just a side note- I didn't know why the stearing was different- it wasn't until I got help that everything made sense. I just was not sure- I wish I could go back in time and know what was going on but that is life...[/QUOTE]

it didn't mess up with no warning, it has a temp gage, that's the one with the little picture of the termometer in the water, and numbers indicating degrees of water temperature. you should look at this gage on occasion, they usually place them where they are easily viewed. as the car started to get warm, you should have shut it down.

in all honesty, this was all caused by the cat breaking the belt. it overheated and caused the damage. the burned valve was already burned. overheating will not burn valves. the head was obviously not fine, as they did a head job on it. the burned valve may not have been severe enough to cause a poor running condition, or maybe you didn't notice it, who knows. the real damage was caused by a cat. your insurance should pay in my opinion. and take the cat remains to the local chinese restaurant, they might trade you an egg roll for it.