silvergoose

The head gasket in my 05 civic went out on Friday, I took it to a highly rated mechanic on Yelp since I don't know anyone in this area and the car failed the cylinder compression test. The complete quote for work came in at $2,353.

I have read on here it is recommended to replace the water pump & timing belt at the same time as the head gasket. Does the radiator need replaced too?

My mechanic said when I dropped it off if the head gasket was gone he would want to replace the radiator.

Mechanic said a 50/50 chance a valve job will need to be done but won't know until he gets in there. The labor for it is $285 if needed.

Here is the estimate I received:



Is there anything I don't need to do?
Is this a fair price?

Note I live in SoCal, mechanic hourly rate is $97 which was the lowest between 3 places I called before taking it in to this one.

Would it be cheaper to just replace the motor given the $1400 in labor?

Any help and feedback is appreciated.

ferio-ichi3

Download the service manual, and do it yourself. You have another car?

silvergoose

Assuming I do it myself, should I replace all the parts listed on this estimate?

I own the Haynes repair manual and couldn't really figure out how to do the head gasket looking through it. Do you know the specific page/section?

thanks.

ferio-ichi3

No lol, that shop was trying to get extra money from you. If you havent changed the water pump, belts in a while, it would be good to change. Just inspect the belts and see how it looks. Change parts that you know are messed up. Was the car driving just fine before the blown headgasket? And taking the head off is easy. Disconnect vaccum lines, coolant lines and anything else that connects the car to the head. When i took my single cam head off, i took off the intake manifold jus to have extra space. Take the studs out, nd itll come off. You can drain coolant, so you wont have a mess. Clean the surface of the block/head, and put it all back together. Its almost borderline required to change studs.

No idea about the section in the manual though. Check index/table of context.

silvergoose

Thanks ferio-ichi3.

I had a new belt put on about 2 years ago. About 4 months ago I had the 02 sensor and something else replaced to pass smog. Then flushed the radiator & replaced thermostat 2 months ago because car was getting hot.

Other then that all I have done is oil changes, spark plugs, air filter. No other major maintenance over the 179k mile haul so I suspect stuff is starting to wear out / need replace.

I just want to do what is needed now first and the other stuff later if it can wait.

Do I need any special tools to do the job (torque wrench, etc)?

I have sockets and screwdrivers, no air tools.

drigo951

Do I need any special tools to do the job (torque wrench, etc)?

I have sockets and screwdrivers, no air tools.[/QUOTE]


You will need a torque wrench for bolting the head