Hello everybody. My 1997 Honda Civic DX Hatchback has a cracked head.
The mechanic i go to tells me $1,200- $1,500 to fix it.
He tells me that he will take the head to a machinest and have them weld? and fix the crack. Another ht member tells me his price is wild.

What does everybody get price range on mechanics fixing your cracked head?
How do they do it? I do not want to get ripped off.

I bought my civic for $5k.. I have spent $4.5k on repairs.. they just keep coming and coming. My dad says i need to keep the car, since i invested all the money into it and made it run and look nice. My other friends tell me to get rid of it.
I do not want a new car, i like my civic. If i spend $1.5k to fix my head, i would like the car to be trouble free for 9+ months (not going to happen).

Your thoughts?

 

buy a dirt cheap cylinder head on Honda-Tech, have a mechanic install it on for a fraction of 1,200-1,500

 

You have spent 4.5K on ******* repairs????

Get a new mechanic. Anyone that recommends you to spend 1.5k to repair a ******* DX cylinder head, is an ******* and is trying to rip you off.

You could get a new motor for your car for cheaper than 1500$. **** look around HT, you can probably find people willing to GIVE you their cylinder head!

 

Sounds like you have been getting ripped off a bit. I think it is time to find a new mechanic and you should be able to get a fully remanufactured head for less then that!! look around there dirt cheep for that motor

 

tell ur mechanic to go suck a lucky, cause thats outragous....at a couple of junkyards areound here thay have COMPLETE y7's for 450-500 w/20-30 K miles

 

damn.
everybody in this thread hates the current mechanic.

Update*
Called my 'old' mechanic he agrees with everybody!
He told me "Hes ******* you... hes ******* you, we will get a new head and it will still be way under what he told you, hes ******* you."

So i guess i will go to the other mechanic.. maybe.

How long should a mechanic take to do this job?
The 'cheaper' mechanic told me about a week.. to fix the cracked head. I work full time.. Not having a car all weak is gonna suck.
I am not sure about the 'bitch mechanic' time frame to complete the work. We have not spoke about it yet.

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I do not want to buy one from honda-tech
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Well there was like 4 things wrong on my car when i bought it (busted mirrors, busted windows, busted visor clips, and misc. ) $4.5k in repairs was Also included in that work. So in other words, i prob. spent $2k or $2.5k on repairs directly linking to the cars errors and faults.
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Yeah, well i guess i go to the other mechanic. Hate to let the other guys down though, they have been working with my familes cars for atleast 6 years.
My dad loves the mechanic that is ******* me over. Infact, My dad said the 'old' mechanic is stupid.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ekdrm2d1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
How long should a mechanic take to do this job?

The 'cheaper' mechanic told me about a week.. to fix the cracked head. I work full time.. Not having a car all weak is gonna suck.
I am not sure about the 'bitch mechanic' time frame to complete the work. We have not spoke about it yet.

_______
I do not want to buy one from honda-tech
______
Well there was like 4 things wrong on my car when i bought it (busted mirrors, busted windows, busted visor clips, and misc. ) $4.5k in repairs was Also included in that work. So in other words, i prob. spent $2k or $2.5k on repairs directly linking to the cars errors and faults.
______
Yeah, well i guess i go to the other mechanic. Hate to let the other guys down though, they have been working with my familes cars for atleast 6 years.
My dad loves the mechanic that is ******* me over. Infact, My dad said the 'old' mechanic is stupid. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Tell you dad to pay for it then. Thats dumb logic. "I like him, so I'll let him rip you off".

If you brought that car to me, I would find you a good used DX cylinder head probably for less than 100$. I would have it resurfaced and get a brand new head gasket for another 100$ or so.

Install time would be about 6 hours total, and I would personally charge you about 100$ labor.

Your mechanics suck ***.

DO NOT FIX THE CRACKED HEAD.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_Ej &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Tell you dad to pay for it then. Thats dumb logic. "I like him, so I'll let him rip you off".

If you brought that car to me, I would find you a good used DX cylinder head probably for less than 100$. I would have it resurfaced and get a brand new head gasket for another 100$ or so.

Install time would be about 6 hours total, and I would personally charge you about 100$ labor.

Your mechanics suck ***.

DO NOT FIX THE CRACKED HEAD.</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, i felt bad. when my dad told me that.
Damn, let me ship my car to you.
Thats wild.

Really, well the other mechanic said brand new one.. the other, said repair.
This sucks, i want a 'down person' like you to work on my car.
Live in texas? ha

 

god dam. kid just get a new head a use one put it on takes 10 mins. time it and ****** role on. there are mini threads on how to do it on forums. im sure you can fine someone with a head for sell cheap...i got 2 a 1.5 and 1.6 for sale. if you do it your self car will be down for maybe an hour if you dont know what you are doing

 

most of the time when they say the head is cracked its really not & u just need a headgasket
tell him to show u the crack

i cant stand people who dont do things themselves

come on ur a man or at least a male...
u should be able to do this

 

the metal used to weld the head would cost more than the head itself. seriously.

go to a local junkyard and pick one up, or buy one from ebay or on here, dirt cheap.

then you can either get a machanic to do it for cheaper than the current one, or do it yourself using the many mini-me threads on honda-tech.

 

yeah i did a mini me swap
just by reading the how-tos

i didnt know anything about it
i just jumped right into when my friend crashed his ex

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coupedragracing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">god dam. kid just get a new head a use one put it on takes 10 mins. time it and ****** role on. there are mini threads on how to do it on forums. im sure you can fine someone with a head for sell cheap...i got 2 a 1.5 and 1.6 for sale. if you do it your self car will be down for maybe an hour if you dont know what you are doing</TD></TR></TABLE>

Want to help me do the work? haha.
I live in tx.. dunno where you are.
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I do not know how to work on cars Yeah, i'm hoping its the gasket!
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Really, the metal would be more? thats messed up. hmm

I did a motor swap in my crx.. Well i did 3% of it.. my friend did like 97% for me

 

for the price that that mech wants to machine fix ur head, u can buy THREE if not FOUR low mileage D16Z6's which are better than the stock D15b or Y7 or whatever the stock DX is that you have in there now

Buy a new Dx head ... well new to u ... buy one used, they're not expensive, especially for a DX...or buy a Z6 head and do a mini-me swap

Either way, u can get away for like &lt; $150 for a new DX or Z6 head, I personally would hook it up mini-me style, but if u dun wanna do that, a new DX head's even cheaper, and put it on urself, a head isn't hard to put on regardless of what anybody tells you, especially if ur putting the same (DX) head on...

expletive the mechanic...that's way too much, and u should never spend money getting a head like that one repaired...new head, 1/8 the cost, put it on yourself, drive away with a smile on ur face knowing how much you saved...

EDIT:
PS: even if you buy a used DX head and have ur mechanic put it on it's not that much money...a fraction of that, maybe $200 - $400 labor if he's a dick...I'd just swap the head gasket while ur down there w/ the engine apart like that...and depending on the miles the timing belt/water pump as well...

 

you just need to buy a reliable ls swap with that 1200. otherwise get a used head and its fixed for a few hundred bucks

 

whats wrong with you? Seems like you like to waste your money, so why dont i just give you my address? Like many have said, get a used head and call it a day, save your money so one day you can have your own house or something

 

where in texas are you?, i have a head off a d15b7 92-95 dx that i can sell you for cheap

 

I got upset knowing how much money you wasted already...and how much you were planning on wasting with the "new head". I promise if you read up on things yourself and either attempt to fix things yourself or even hire a friend/someone who knows a lot about honda's you would have previously saved a lot of money, and you will be saving a lot more in the future. Good luck and remember be smart, not broke

 

Uh oh, I'm seeing signs of over heating again.

Just in time for a recession

I'll keep you posted. I'll possibly get rid of the car, than deal with this again.