In 5000 miles my coolant went down by about 16oz (2 water bottles), and when my car is parked for about 6+ hours the first few mins of running I see white smoke coming out. Also, my tailpipe is starting to look black (was not like this before). It all started happening since about 30k miles ago. I suspect it is a head gasket but my oil doesn't look gelled up nor did I find water in the oil when I dump it. It doesn't burn a drop of oil either.

The car is stock B18B, so it is not related to mod. Engine has 175k miles, so maybe it is better to drop a JDM engine in there and call it a day. It is B18B with an auto tranny. Car exterior, interior, and suspension are in excellent condition (new shocks, looks like a 40k-60k miles car).

So, how much is the following?

1. Replace the head gasket, I assume labor is the $

2. Replace the engine with a JDM or USDM B18B, OBD2 (97 chasis), and keep everything else including the tranny.

3. Do an engine/tranny swap to B18B and 5spd. I am not planning to do any fast driving/racing so B18B is good for long commute, daily driving.

How much is each option? My wife's car is also beaten to hell and I may replace that one with a new camry first, so not much fund left for a new car myself, and that is out of the question.

 

I've seen SIR-G auto swaps going for 2100-2300 on ebay (usually OBDI, but when I emailed them it was 200 more for OBDII). Complete swap and you'll have a B18C auto with relatively low miles. Might be more then your looking to spend though.

 

headgasket/refresh like 450-700

 

headgasket------$56
manual-----------$15
self satisfaction--PRICELESS

Been there, done that, 293K miles and counting.

 

Hey Sam, when you did your headgasket last time, did you have to mill the block/head to make the mating surface clean? What happen to the old gasket and why was it leaking?

 

im having the same problem with my gsr motor(220K).......I believe its my head gasket...white smokes only when i hit vtec.....plus one cylinder is a bit low....Im thinking about swapping a jdm b20, add my tranny, and call it a day. Dont know all that b20 vtec or rebuilding.....plus adding more stuff = money....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PandaBear &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey Sam, when you did your headgasket last time, did you have to mill the block/head to make the mating surface clean? What happen to the old gasket and why was it leaking?
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My old head gasket wasn't leaking, I hydro-locked the engine bending a rod and had to remove the head to remove the piston/rod assembly to replace the rod. You can have your head checked to see if it is perfectly flat or not at a machine shop, and have a minimal mill job if it needs it.

Anybody want a good laugh, I reused my 250K mile head gasket when I put it all back together (because I was poor), and I now have 293K miles with no problems. I was flat broke, that is why I had to reuse it, and I even used the old oil pan gasket. No leaks on either and car runs like a champ to redline. I do not advise anyone to do this tho, I am just pretty lucky I guess.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sam92Teg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">headgasket------$56
manual-----------$15
self satisfaction--PRICELESS

Been there, done that, 293K miles and counting.</TD></TR></TABLE>

couldnt agree more

doing it yourself is the only way to learn and save money, it is a good thing to learn and comes in handy if your working on other people motors or building one of your own

 

I know, and I want to do it myself too. The problem is I work long hour and go to school part time, so I need my car and can't spend 20+ hr to replace it.

Do you need anything more than a jack (so you can remove the side mount), a rachet, and a torque wrench? How long does it take?

 

i can do a head gasket in about 2 hours and im not the fastest wrencher in the world

all you really need a a few sockets (10mm, 12mm, and a 14mm) some pliers to loosen hoses, a torque wrench, some rags, and a helms manual

 

Do you need to mill the head/block? Scraping the old gasket? I know they are metal so these steps are not needed right?

How does metal head gasket wear out? Crushed? The car was never overheated ever.

 

if you have car smarts at all or even a chiltons manual you can swap a head gasket for like 100-200 depending if you head is worped or not

 

time to go lsvtak.....thats what i would recommend....