I want to cry... is this reasonable??????

[martopg]

Well I found out today for sure that my head gasket is blown :tears: I had been suspecting it for a while, but I didn't know for sure, and now I do... I took it to my usual mechanic (who is usually pretty reasonable) and he gave me an estimate of $1093!!!!! :angry:

Is this reasonable??? It seems like it's ridiculously high! It's more than half of my purchase price for god's sake. Anyone had their head gasket replaced? How much was it? Thanks.

[Travis]

Thats about standard from a mechanic for a headgasket. If you got brave enough I bet you could do it yourself with a little bit of help for a whole lot less $$$. Good luck with your decision :cool:

[XtremeGrandAm]

Sounds like a pretty average price to me.....Unfortunently :(

[4kQuad]

If he/she is good. That really is a going price. You might find some one who would do it for less, but if they have never done a 2.4 before the savings my not be worth it 5 months later.

In most car repairs Labor is the biggest cost. If you can try on your own, you'll save A Lot!!!

[Maniac]

My dad just replaced the head gaskets on his wife's '94 GA with a 3100 engine. He did it himself and the gasket set ran him about $120 plus cost of misc extras (vaccuum line here or there, a temperature sensor, and so on).

And due to a spark plug problem on my 3100, him and I tonight will be ripping the back head off my GA....

Keep in mind, the materials may not be a lot of $$, but a head gasket is VERY labor intensive (your ripping apart the entire top half of the engine). Took my dad a day or two to properly do this on his wife's 3100.... Of course, my dad's never been a professional mechanic....

[mom2mac]

that's a very reasonable price....HUGE HUGS man I know your pain :(

[Night Wolf]

Maybe you know someone that does mechanic work and could help you with that.... If you can do it yourself, or with some help, you would save alot of money.... and while the head is off, it would probally be smart to bring it to a machine shop and have them do a valve job, clean it up and maybe shave it down alittle.... if you did it by yourself, you should come about even or maybe alittle less doing all that then having a shop replace the gaskest.

[02GARacer]

THAT BLOWS

[martopg]

Ok yeah i guess $1100 really is a "deal" if you can call it that... I called around a few other places and got anything from $1300-$2000+, so I guess I'll stick with this guy.

I would do it myself but I have not the time, the equipment, nor the expertise... not to mention, I'm not all that great with tools... :P Anyhow, thanks for letting me know and offering to help, I think I'll let the mechanic handle this one. And sorry about ranting and raving but I just feel crappy cuz I've already spent $3000 on repairs for this thing since I bought it for $2000 in December... Looks like it'll be $4k soon :(

[4kQuad]

So, you'll soon be 4kTwin???

Sorry, Had to. Good luck, I've put a few dollars in mine also.

[parker57]

Okay, I have to say this. The dealership here quoted me 775 dollars to fix my blown head gasket on my 93. Of course then there was the .......we dont know what we will find when we get in there, it might be more line. Found a local mechanic who had done work for me before who would do it for 550 and that included sending the head out. They were going to inject it with dye or something to make sure there are no cracks. Or he told me he could completely swap out the motor for 1200 total. I found this new 99 and fell in love with it so I opted to buy a new car. But if that's the going rate in your area you are stuck. I just hope you have not run the car too hot or you may be in for more trouble. Just my 2 cents.

[logicman49]

The question is why did this happen? I'm always hearing about leaking manifolds and blown head gaskets. I just bought a 2003 black GT. What the he-- is the problem with these cars? My last 3 cars were towed from in fornt of my house after 13,15, and 17 years of ownership. Thought I'd keep this one until it became a classic! That's why I bought Black and the GT...

[Spoonya]

Damn! too bad you are past the warranty period.
I urge anyone to buy the top-of-the-line extended warranty - IF it wasn't for mine, would have costed me $1012 plus taxes last month too...... I just had all my gaskets replaced under WARRANTY a month ago.

[parker57]

My mechanic told me that the single cam Quad was a "bad experiment" the first few years they put it in the car. He said GM was testing them to see if they could give the 4 cyl some pep. Sure they had good power, but they didnt last. Mine was a 93 and I was warned that sooner or later the head gasket would go. It did at 94K. Now I am sure that's probably more opinion than fact......

My 93 ran 220 degrees all the time. ( that was normal op temperature ) My 99 runs at 200. Hopefully this car will last, but I have seen sooooooooo many complaints on the 99.

[gagt98driver]

Originally posted by Spoonya
Damn! too bad you are past the warranty period.
I urge anyone to buy the top-of-the-line extended warranty - IF it wasn't for mine, would have costed me $1012 plus taxes last month too...... I just had all my gaskets replaced under WARRANTY a month ago.

I second the recommendation to buy a good extended warranty for anyone who has purchased a new GA and plans on keeping it any extended period of time (i.e. beyond the factory warranty period). My extended warranty which is good for 72mo./100K mi is nearly bumper to bumper (about the only thing not covered is the typical parts that always need to be replaced on any car with high mileage- i.e. CV joints). The extended warranty cost me $1300. So far it has paid for:
*New strut mounts and control arm bushings = About $1000 total cost for these
*New ignition switch = $95
*New intake manifold gasket = $650
*labor on front end to find clunking noise (turned out to be loose tranny mount) = $100

Total cost to me for everything done under warranty = $50 deductible because some of the work was done at a dealership that I didn't buy the warranty from. Anytime I get work done at the dealership the warranty was purchased through there is no deductible to meet.

As you can see the warranty has already paid for itself and it is still good for another 4 years/50K miles. In fact the extended warranty is the only reason I haven't gotten rid of my GA yet. The car's been paid off since Dec 2000 and I like to get a newer (i.e. 1996 to 1999) Regal or S-10 4x4. However, I can't justify in my own mind purchasing a different vehicle that will have no warranty and that I will have to make payments on until the paid off GA is out of warranty.

[Peyman]

what does the head gasket do? and how can one prevent having it blown?

[gagt98driver]

Originally posted by Peyman
what does the head gasket do? and how can one prevent having it blown?

The head gasket mates the head to the block, forming a seal - the head being the part of the engine that contains the cylinders/pistons and the block being the "body" of the engine that contains the crank that the piston connecting rods attach to. The pistons moved up and down and the piston connecting rods (attached to the pistons and crank) force the crank to turn thus delivering power from the gasoline that is burnt in the cylinders. The crank in turn is attached to the flywheel and flywheel mated to the tranny.

The head gasket forms a seal for the oil and coolant to pass between the block and heads. When it goes bad you get coolant (and sometimes oil) leaking either down the outside of the engine (somewhat serious) or leaking into the cylinders (very serious). Also when a head gasket fails it can cause an engine to run hot and warp the head, necessitating either a new head or having the head machined level and a riser gasket installed (a head gasket thicker than the original) to compensate for the loss of clyinder depth which would increase compression.

As for preventing it. On some engines you can't. In fact on any engine it will eventually fail over time. However, there are some engines that because of poor design of either the head or gasket, the gasket will fail early on in the life of the engine (under 70K mi). Others it will last well into 150 to 200K and beyond simply because of a better design.

There are some things you can do to help prolong its life on some engines. First off not abusing the engine (i.e. no constant full throttle launches) and changing the coolant regularly (every 2 years for the "old" type coolant, every 5 years for the extended life).

[lamonpat]

My car is presently in the shop since monday morning for blowed head gasket too... :(
My car only has 35k miles...
Well, my boss where I work (I work in a gas station/mechanic garage) quoted this job about 750$ CDN. Maybe he charge me half the regular price...

[martopg]

Originally posted by 4kQuad
So, you'll soon be 4kTwin???

Sorry, Had to. Good luck, I've put a few dollars in mine also.

Oh, so that's what your name means! Well right now its a five thousand dollar car, and right after I get this done it will be ~6.5K :(


Originally posted by logicman49
The question is why did this happen? I'm always hearing about leaking manifolds and blown head gaskets. I just bought a 2003 black GT. What the he-- is the problem with these cars? My last 3 cars were towed from in fornt of my house after 13,15, and 17 years of ownership. Thought I'd keep this one until it became a classic! That's why I bought Black and the GT...

Yeah I know, I didn't even drive all that fast either and the car has 73K on it so there is really no reason for this thing to blow other than it being a POS design... Then again I think my family has a curse or somethin: our last three cars have all had blown head gaskets within the past year; 89 Dodge Dakota (93K), 87 Plymouth Voyager (114K), 96 GA (73K) :banghead:


Originally posted by lamonpat
My car is presently in the shop since monday morning for blowed head gasket too...
My car only has 35k miles...
Well, my boss where I work (I work in a gas station/mechanic garage) quoted this job about 750$ CDN. Maybe he charge me half the regular price...

Damn 35K!!! That's ridiculous... these things must be designed REAALLY bad... at least you lucked out on the price... I just dropped my car off at my usual guy today... looks like $1245 plus the pressure test of the head :( $750 CDN is like a tenth of what I'm paying :D

[4kQuad]

4kQuad came from the fact that my car would start and idle at 4K when I joined the form. I have after purchase about 5k in mine. But the 2,000.00 plus I put into the motor rebuild, I blame on myself.

One day I changed out the anti-freeze to get it ready for winter. The next day I removed the raditor cap to check the water level.
Got back in the car and took off with out putting the cap back on. Got trapped in traffic at a accdent and the rest is boil over....I mean history.

Paided 1,500.00 for the car. from there
front struts
water pump
heater core
CV Joint
Gas pump
Computer
Exhaust from the cat back

[Spoonya]

Originally posted by gagt98driver
Also when a head gasket fails it can cause an engine to run hot and warp the head, necessitating either a new head or having the head machined level and a riser gasket installed (a head gasket thicker than the original) to compensate for the loss of clyinder depth which would increase compression.


Wow! Great info gagt98driver! Thanks!

After a car meet last summer, someone happened to have a computer on them that could run diagnostics on your car.... we all got our cars tested, and it turned out all of our GA's were running up to 225 when our cars were idleing or stuck in traffic.

So are you saying that the head gasket failing has something to do with temperature control? and it's NOT the thermostat causing this? And if so, how can this concern be brought to the dealer? because according to them, the only gasket that WASN'T replaced on my car recently was my head-gasket.... and I'm still running high-temps in traffic, so now I am worried that I'm up for more BS?? :O

[LargeFish]

Nobody has corrected this yet and I can't let it go...

Originally posted by gagt98driver
the head being the part of the engine that contains the cylinders/pistons and the block being the "body" of the engine that contains the crank that the piston connecting rods attach to.

No, the head contains the valve train. The pistons and cylinders are in the top part of the block. Otherwise it was some good info...

[gagt98driver]

Originally posted by LargeFish
Nobody has corrected this yet and I can't let it go...

No, the head contains the valve train. The pistons and cylinders are in the top part of the block. Otherwise it was some good info...

Yes and that's my fault for trying to type a coherent answer without a pot of coffee in me in the morning. :P

[martopg]

Originally posted by 4kQuad
4kQuad came from the fact that my car would start and idle at 4K when I joined the form. I have after purchase about 5k in mine. But the 2,000.00 plus I put into the motor rebuild, I blame on myself.

One day I changed out the anti-freeze to get it ready for winter. The next day I removed the raditor cap to check the water level.
Got back in the car and took off with out putting the cap back on. Got trapped in traffic at a accdent and the rest is boil over....I mean history.

Paided 1,500.00 for the car. from there
front struts
water pump
heater core
CV Joint
Gas pump
Computer
Exhaust from the cat back

Oh, ok... haha idling at 4K has gotta be scary... i rarely take my car over 4K EVER :lol: Haha that sucks about the boil-over. I left the radiator cap on the van off one time, but my mom figured it out after a good couple miles and put it back on so it wasn't damaged too bad, thank god.

[BiH]

My 96 SE had the headgasket gone 2 years ago at around 50-60K miles. Not sure of the millage, didnt really record it at the time. It was over $1400 but I paid $200 or something like that, it was covered under warranty but there is a deductable and the dealr that was fixing it had different prices for parts than the warranty company so they where fighting over for 3 days. I finally said to hell with it and I'll pay for the difference. It was leaking oil out the engine luckly instead of mixing the oil and coolant.

Car had his share of problems when I owned it, its fine now. I had to replace altenator last year and that was it in last year. Hopefully it will last for a bit more.

[Spoonya]

Originally posted by Spoonya
So are you saying that the head gasket failing has something to do with temperature control? and it's NOT the thermostat causing this? And if so, how can this concern be brought to the dealer? because according to them, the only gasket that WASN'T replaced on my car recently was my head-gasket.... and I'm still running high-temps in traffic, so now I am worried that I'm up for more BS?? :O [/B]

Can someone please answer this? Thanks.