Blown Head Gasket.. how much crap am I in?

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LaBounti

LaBounti

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Labounti
Well its a done deal, my head gasket went and I have oil in my engine coolant. How much crap am I in and how much is normally to fix. I have an 97' Eclipse GST. poor car. My first major car problem in 3 years of owning it.
 
How much can you do yourself? Anything? The GST is turbocharged, right? Is there much plumbing crossing over the head?

Having the head gasket done is going to run between $600-$900 on a regular NA 4 cyl. There's nothing inherently worse about fixing a turbo car, unless there is a lot more disassembly needed to get the head off the block. You may be in for $1000-$1100 at a guess.

Make sure you get the head decked .020" to privide a good clean mating surface.
 
I have no idea about the compression but I do know there is power loss at higher rpms. I was quoted at $600 today but thats only if the head isn't cracked.

dealer price was in the $1300 range. Could oil in the coolant be from anything other than a headgasket? Oh and my check engine light came on for the first time.

I was on my way to have some new rims put on with this happend. How bout that luck.
 
I'd stop driving it, I think a blown headgasket can make the engine overheat, which could lead to that cracked head the mechanic was talking about.

Other sources of oil in coolant... I think an automatic transmission could start leaking transmission fluid into the coolant. If somebody somehow poured oil into the radiator that could do it too, although I'm not sure why anybody would do that :p
 
Originally posted by retsmah
Other sources of oil in coolant... I think an automatic transmission could start leaking transmission fluid into the coolant.
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ATF cant make its way it to coolant, unless somebody puts it there.
 
MY temp gauge has not moved above middle ever. I only have 2 more days of work and no second car. so I'm gambling my way to work for that time. i'm taking it in Thursday afternoon.
 
My brothers blown head gasket cost £90 including fitting. But thats on a 125cc motorbike.:lol:

No, seriously you have got serious problems. Best chance is a crashed one with a decent gasket.
 
Originally posted by Party for GT4
My brothers blown head gasket cost £90 including fitting. But thats on a 125cc motorbike.:lol:

No, seriously you have got serious problems. Best chance is a crashed one with a decent gasket.
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Not really. Most times it's much easier to replace the headgasket than it is to swap the engine. One exception was my old Supra with the 6ME engine - there was so much plumbing and badly-engineered fuel injection crap across the head of that engine, it was easier to pull the whole moter.
 
Once the head gasket is stuck to the head, I dont think its coming off too easily (or in one peice). You know the temperatures/pressures exerted on that thing?

While you have the head off, see if you need your timing belt changed. (Especially if the Eclipse is an intereference engine, which I think it is.) They will have to set your timing again anyway, so it'll be a little cheaper.
 
Originally posted by Party for GT4
Maybe, but what I was suggesting was to just transfer the head gasket instead of buying a new one.
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You're never supposed to re-use gaskets. Ever. Especially so if the gasket came from a different engine.
 
Originally posted by Party for GT4
Maybe, but what I was suggesting was to just transfer the head gasket instead of buying a new one.
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The actual physical head gasket is about $40. The labor to replace it is about $760. You do the math...
;)
 
Right, the labor is the kicker. I won't dare put a used gasket back on there. MY temp gauge hasn't moved above half. I have not notice any power loss right now since I wont drive it above 4k rpms. Thats when the engine gets fussy. I will request a new timeing belt(im guessing its a belt).

Well its goin in tomarrow. No cracked head and its going to cost me $550. Cracked head errr no clue how much more.
 
While this might be a stupid question considering you felt the need to get it done professionally in the first place, why not do it yourself?

I've seen a few backyard mechanics replace head gaskets, it's not really the toughest job in the world.
 
If you dont set the timing right, youre ****ed. That, and you ahev to have a torque wrench, and maybe an angle gauge. Other than that, its not too bad.
 
total lack of mechanical skill and tools. plus no garage. Plus I have the cash for it. It was the money i was going to use to buy tires for some 18" rims I just baught. This happend on my way to get them so i turned around and went back home.
 
It sounds like you have taken care of the problem, so just FYI in the future.
You should always have the head checked for crack ans warp after a blown headgasket.Driving after the gasket is blown is risky because you can build up pressure in the cooling system and blow out all the coolant.Coolant in the oil takes away a lot of the lubercation princaples and can damage the lower end.You should also use new head bolts if they are torque to yeled.That means that they stretch once they are at the proper torque.If your car has a oil cooler that is inside your rad,and it startes to leak,this could make you think that you have a cracked or blown head gasket when you don't.This is also how you can get tranny fluid in your coolant if your car has a trans cooler built in the rad.
Did your car start to have white smoke come out of the tail pipe?This usally is the first signs of a blown head gasket.Is the turbo intrcooled? Also another sorce for oil to get into your coolant.I am assuming that the garage has checked for all of the above so you shouldn't have any more problems.I hope this info will help others in the future.
 
What kartracer said: definitely pay the cash to use new head bolts (any decent mechanic should anyway, but make sure). You're also doing the smart thing by replacing the timing belt but take it one step further and replace the water pump while it's apart as well. $75 for the part $0 for the labor now; more like $200 parts and labor later.
 
Eclipse seems to blow alot of HG's, had a friend who blew two in the span of a year. Getting it taken apart is easy but cleaning up the mess is not.
 
Sorry to dredge up an old thread (at least I searched this time), but this is relevant. What would people suggest I use to get the old gasket off of the head/block? Keeping mind that taking the car or head in to get things machined in completely out of the question as I need the car for work tomorrow. I'm off work today because the head gasket gave up and I have 5 out of 6 chambers full of a nice oil/water mix. 1982 RDR30 Hatch. L24E. Not 100% that it's not the head as well, but gaskets are cheap (AU$66 genuine) so I don't mind redoing it if need be later down the track.
 
I assume it's entirely too late at this point, but I'd use a single-edge razorblade. You can also use a putty knife or scraper, but you need to be very careful not to scratch the mating surface of the head or the deck of the block.

No matter what you use, you should also hone it a little with a whetstone - one of the big oblong ones used to sharpen kitchen knives.
 
Duke
Make sure you get the head decked .020" to privide a good clean mating surface.
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I quoted this mainly because this is so very important. Otherwise, if you have a professional shop do it it'll run anywhere between $1,200-1,600.
 
Change of plans, going to rip the head off, the machinist has been around and had a look, and seems to think the head is warped, but not cracked.

However... After a big effort by myself, my engine reconditioner mate and another R31 club member, we managed to snap 3 head bolts off, discover a rounded off manifold bolt, an inaccessable manifold bolt, remove the bottom shield with side cutters, get completely filthy, lose the throttle linkage split pin, lose several bolts and nuts (should be able to find them) bang innumerable fingers, make a huge mess, get wet, pull off a few hoses, become completely jealous of small Asian fingers, pull off a heat shield, and get a lot of crap in my eyes and mouth. AND THE HEAD IS STILL ON THE DAMN THING! Time to get a tow to have a professional rip the head off. I'll gladly pay for someone else to get crap in their face just for the pleasure of not having climb under it again. Also thinking of getting that same professional to install the head afterwards, as I'm going to run in to some of the same problems when re-assembling it, and they look to be a whole lot harder trying to put them back (hard to reach bolts and such, which could be undone in barbaric and strange ways, but will have to go back in in a much nicer manner).

It shouldn't be this hard!

Cheers for the advice though.
 
That's a Japanese car for you. Japanese engineers are very confident that their cars will never break, so they don't bother to make them fixable. As long as they can be assembled the first time, that's all that matters. My old early-'80s Supra was a complete beeyotch to fix. And it ate head gaskets like breath mints, too.
 
Obviously early 80s engineers and late 80s engineers had somewhat differing opinions on that matter though. R31s (late 80s) are relatively easy to work on, everything easy to access, and a breeze to fix, where the R30 (early 80s) seems like a bitch. Why can't all car makers think like Holden?

"Well, chances are this thing's gonna break, and chances are it'll be in the arsehole of nowhere, so why don't we design it so a 3y/o can work out how to fix it?" "
Hey, while we're at it, why don't we make it so that there can be dodgy 'get you home' fixes as well?"
"Haven't got a spare set of inlet bolts? No worries, just wrap some speaker cable round the whole lot (keeping it away from the zorst) and tighten it as tight as you can, you'll get home" (No kidding, it actually worked)
 

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