I just found out my problem with my overheating car was head gaskets. How hard is it to get it done urself? The shop is charging $1400 for the job, is that what it should be? I live in northern california.

Thanks

 

its not too hard bro, try getting a buddy who knows what hes doing and have him help you bro.

 

If you're reasonably comfortable working on your car and you have a decent collection of tools, just grab a friend and pick up a repair manual. However, if the car has been overheating, you may also want to have the head checked for warping.

 

The shop is also "suggesting" that i change the water pump and timing belt because he said he is going to have to take them off anyways. Does this need to be done? I told him that the water pump and belt were changed around a year ago. If this job gets done will my engine be ok or should i just buy a new engine? It has 157K miles on it.

Heres my question. What are the symptoms of a blown head gasket?

My car would start over heating, stopping and turning it off would stop the problem. Temperature needle would stay in the middle. I took the thermostat out casue i thought it was the thermostat sticking and the car ran good for a while until it started overheating again. Took it to the shop and they replaced the thermostat and the car ran good again. 1000 miles or so later the car would overheat once again, stopping and turning off the car would solve the problem. I dont see oil in the coolant reservoir or coolant in the oil stick.

I have already changed the radiator, thermostat and water pump (40K miles ago).

 

Since your h2o and t.belt are fairly new, theres no point in changing them
Neither are removed from the block, when doing a HG repair (well, t.belt from the head...but thats it)

Symptoms of a bad HG are white smoke, oil in the coolant/coolant in the oil, over-heating (or just higher temps), and low coolant volume of course.
Pull your valve cover and look under that for the milky junk.

It does sound to me, like the gasket is bad. Yes, I would have the head checked for warpage at a shop, and have a resurface done on it, regardless.

 

Do a compression test. That should tell you if you head gasket is bad. The water pump wont have to come off to get the head off but it is just routine that they replace that cause they are already down to it. The timing belt has to come off to get the head off. So that also is usually replaced.

 

He has a point. Deffinately get your head resurfaced and checked for warping

 

If you are in Northern California, contact me. I am in the Sacramento area. I can do a headgasket in a day easy for you and for a LOT LOT less then $1,400. I have the tools to do leakdown and compression test also. Used to be an ASE certified mechanic. Hit me up on PM or email. I'll help you out.