BlacknRedGT

Well my head gasket is blown but my compression is good. I thought I had blown a coolant hose on the highway but it makes sense now. I now know where the hell my coolant is goin...

Anyways, I got a local shop to look at it and they are quoting me about 1k(in labor) to change out the head gasket and also reseal the front cam tower and possibly replace the timing belt/rollers. Is this a good deal or about what it cost??

I would do it myself but Im going to be in dallas for the next week and I really dont have time with buisness picking up.

I know I have an aftermarket head gasket on it now.. is there anyway to tell what brand/thickness?

Reimu

Judging by what I hear of other mechanics, that would be a good deal with all the stuff you listed.

bscpanther

Careful with the local shops if they don't usually work on our cars. You're 1K quote could very quickly double if they don't know what they're doing.. not to mention you won't be much better off. By the way IMO (1K labor)sounds like a lot to me just to do the head gasket.. but i've never paid to have one done so someone else will correct me if i'm wrong. If you don't have previous head gasket specs the only way to know what you have in there is to measure it when it's out.. good luck

black944 turbo

Extremely good deal, I have hear of $3k plus. BTW, how do you know it is the h/g that failed, what are your symptoms? The reason I ask I just went through a similar situation and my problem was my cooler seals.

Spidey944

book time is 10.4 hours for head gasket alone. At my shop would be:

875.00 labor
177.00 head gasket set
200.00 belts/rollers etc. (estimated those a lil high)
plus machine shop work, valve seals, bead blasting the intake/exhaust ports clean, valve/seat grinding.
fluids, oil, shop supplies

prob looking at 1500 parts and labor after tax just guessing.
but I can buy all the parts to do the job for $250.00 my cost, and have it done in a day assuming no issues pop up and all goes smoothly.

It just depends on if the convienience outweighs the need to save money.

BlacknRedGT

Just talked to him a little more in depth. Making sure the machine shop can handle this kind of head and he said no problem. They mostly do independent work for different race companies. He estimated 1100-1200 for everything.

Would this be a good time to put a wideband a/r ratio guage/sensor on???

BlacknRedGT

Well I was doing run after run on the highway and I started to see some smoke come through the dash. I wasnt thinking anything of it until all of the sudden the cab filled up with smoke and I couldnt see anything. Pulled over and looked underneath and alot of liquid was seeping underneath. Since that took place I have been trying to track down why my coolant wont stay at mid level.

Tom M'Guinn

Unless you just changed them all, I wouldn't pay someone to change the head gasket without at least changing the timing and balance shaft belts. And, probably false economy not to change rollers and water pump too. Before getting it done, might be worth giving thought to why it blew in the first place. Do you know what caused it to go?

BlacknRedGT

I honestly don't know what caused the HG to blow....(Although I ran for about 1-2 min for a short distance with little coolant, Car didnt overheat all the way but was very close) Thats why I wanted to get the wideband a/f gauge installed to make sure my A/F ratios look ok. I was thinking it was running lean under high boost? any other ideas? Do you have to take the headers off the get the head out?

90s2

Well I was doing run after run on the highway and I started to see some smoke come through the dash.


This sounds like a blown heater core to me...
how could a blown head gasket blow into the dash?

BlacknRedGT

well there was a huge rip in the hose going to the heater core so that makes sense. I just deleted the heater core all together.

jerome951

I'm in the middle of replacing my headgasket now due to a burnt valve. I guess a good mechanic could do it in about 6-8 hours assuming everything goes right so the 10 hours quoted sounds more than reasonable.

90s2

So what is the problem now? wont keep coolant? overheats?
So far i've not hear anything that says blown headgasket!!! have you pulled your plugs? if your leaking coolant into the cyl..that corresponding plug will be steam cleaned but you would also have bad compression.
white smoke out the tailpipe?

BlacknRedGT

It wont keep coolant for one. And the spark plugs are fouled with coolant from what the shop says. I have been trying to track down where the hell my coolant is going for sometime now (it would drip onto the floor of my garage sometimes but all the coolant hoses were not leaking)

I only see white smoke out the tailpipe on startup (my car has also been really hard to get started in the morning, maybe from fouled spark plugs)

Other then that nothing really, should I not trust the shop?

hosrom_951

Trust me when i say this, if this is the factory head, then rebuild it WITH new springs (valves can stay or be upgraded or whatever). Night and day difference with new springs, if the cylinder head was tackled before, then ignore my post.

PS: A head gasket kit/set INCLUDES the front cam seals and sleeves/spacers.