Methane2k2

I have a 92 Integra GSR and my head gasket is blown.... A Mechanic is charging me 300 dollars for labor plus the items i need to buy for it, head gasket etc....
The Mechanic said itll be around $200 for all the gaskets..... what other gaskets is he talking about?....is it necessary to change them????

I did not talk to the mechanic am not sure whats he talking about.

GWInquisitor14

In order to replace the head gasket, you must remove the cylinder head. In order to do that, u have to take the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, fuel injectors, valve cover gasket. I think thats it.

trellix78

Not only do you have to remove the intake and exhaust manifold to get at
the head gasket, but you have to take slide off the timing belt and remove the
cams to get at the bolts that hold down the cylinder head. Several rubber o-rings
then need to be looked at and possible replaced when you remove the cams. $300 is about right for labor.

b16a2delsol

Yeah about Having to replace the other gaskets.... no its not "Always" necessary.... you don’t have to remove the injectors, just the wire connected to them, thus there is no chance of breaking them.... and the intake and exhaust gaskets are reusable.... but if they are indeed bad(which I doubt) yes you will have to replace them.

chrisnova

I have done 2 head gaskets. I did one I my Integra, but I did not remove the injectors or intake manifold, because I disconnected the electrical connectors and fuel line and removed them along with the intake manifold. It is a personal choice how you want to proceed. Also, depends if you want to grind the valves and replace valve stem seals too. If you really want to low ball it you might not have to do all the gaskets. You migth be able to reuse some, but it is risky.

$300 sounds like a good deal on labor. I think I might be able to do the whole thing here for $600, but the guy before me that owned the car was going to do it for $1000 with one mechanic. My brother in Washington DC was told he would have to pay $2000 on 1995 MX-6. Head gasket jobs are not cheap.

virusiidx

yeah the valve cover gasket, intake gasket, exhaust gasket, head gasket, seals all that...

I just finished putting the head back on like 15min ago

GWInquisitor14

Yeah timing belt is a biotch to get back on and timed correctly. Took me forever. Also, you need to replace the head bolts when removing so i hope hes charging u for those also.

chrisnova

You sure about having to replace the head bolts. For my car it was optional. INstead I ran mine through die and thoroughly oiled them before reinstalling them.

virusiidx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GWInquisitor14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah timing belt is a biotch to get back on and timed correctly. Took me forever. Also, you need to replace the head bolts when removing so i hope hes charging u for those also. </TD></TR></TABLE>

you can reuse em if theyre ok, just oil up the threads

fro

before you put on the head gasket it can u spray the gasket with a copper paint to make it seal better or make it last longer. i heard something about it i was wondering if anybody knew anything about it

95lstegman

$300 is very fair for labor. and as for the gaskets, the valve cover gaskets can be reused almost eternally, unless they start leaking. cam seals need to be changed, as they are annoying, intake manifold can stay on the head if you're just doing the head gasket, but i would recommend getting a valve job done on that older engine. do your homework and a good 3-angle valve job with machining the head flat and all will go for $150 in a major city. then your head will be clean and valves will seal nice. but if you're really trying to get out of paying more $$$, only reuse the valvecover and exhaust manifold gaskets, and have them not remove the throttle body or intake manifold. and it's okay to reuse the head bolts, and copper spray is not required if the mechanic takes his time torquing the bolts, slowly, in 10 ft-lb increments in the prescribed tightening sequence. very important! hope this helps.

Methane2k2

Aite thanks a lot guys..... so its gonna be 300 dollars for labor and if i decide to change all the gaskets how much would it be to replace all the gaskets?

Methane2k2

When ur headgasket is blown are there any syptoms that u can notice to tell for sure that ur head gasket is blown for example... ur motor running like ****???

Mr_Dirty

I was told by a mechanica that when your head gasket is blown your car will start running hot/overheating and you will notice that your radiator is always low.

At 1st I thought my radiator was cracked and leaking or it was a hose but it turned out to be the head gasket. Got all that taken care of asap.

Methane2k2

well am not sure if my head gasket is blown but im pretty sure it is..... My motor does not run like **** or anything and my radiator is always leaking so i dont know.... any ideas of what exaclty it can be??? I have a leaking on the corner right above the engine code.

GWInquisitor14

do a compression test and then a cylinder leakage test

chrisnova

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95lstegman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">$300 is very fair for labor. and as for the gaskets, the valve cover gaskets can be reused almost eternally, unless they start leaking. cam seals need to be changed, as they are annoying, intake manifold can stay on the head if you're just doing the head gasket, but i would recommend getting a valve job done on that older engine. do your homework and a good 3-angle valve job with machining the head flat and all will go for $150 in a major city. then your head will be clean and valves will seal nice. but if you're really trying to get out of paying more $$$, only reuse the valvecover and exhaust manifold gaskets, and have them not remove the throttle body or intake manifold. and it's okay to reuse the head bolts, and copper spray is not required if the mechanic takes his time torquing the bolts, slowly, in 10 ft-lb increments in the prescribed tightening sequence. very important! hope this helps.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree with this accessment.

There are so many gaskets that you can reuse if you don't want to blow an extra $200. I plan to do a 1995 Mazda MX-6 with just the head gasket and timing belt. The other stuff does not need replacement so I will do it without. I guess if you can get the whole head gasket set for $10-40 it might be worth doing everything, but when it gets up to $200 then it is worth reconsidering. I made a mistake in that I should have done the valve job when I did mine last Spring, but luckily I have been able to make up for it, at least temporarily by using an oil additive to reduce the smoking from the bad valves.

chrisnova

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Db2_iNtEgRa &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well am not sure if my head gasket is blown but im pretty sure it is..... My motor does not run like **** or anything and my radiator is always leaking so i dont know.... any ideas of what exaclty it can be??? I have a leaking on the corner right above the engine code.</TD></TR></TABLE>

When the head gasket blows the coolant is usually burned in the engine. It shows up as a white billowing smoke out the exhaust. Also, sometimes there is idling problems or compression is affected. Overheating is a common problem if the gasket blows near a water connection and will show up as overheating and reduced coolant levels.

boosted k20

doesnt really make sense to pull the intake manifold. just pull the head with the manifold still attached. and like stated previously, u can reuse the exhaust manifold gasket. The only gasket i see u need n is the head gasket. u can reuse the valve cover seal gasket, spark plug gasket, etc if they are not leak n right now. i reuse all these gaskets with no problems with leaks.

also when u pull the head, it is recommended that u get NEW head bolts or just go for a set of arp head studs. reuse n the stock head bolts is not really good cuz the bolts stretch so u will not get a good seal when u torque the head bolts down. and since u have the head off, u might as well do a timing belt and water pump install too