Replacement of the cydnr head gaset = $825

[wrightz28]

Meh, good luck. here's a nice way to make a little easier....


Get a couple of box tops, computer paper ones are the best,

Draw an outline of what is being dissassembled on it, and poke holes in the box corresponding to a bolt's hole as it's being removed from the part and place in the hole on the box(head, intake, you get the idea0. That way, you don't loose anything, and you know where it goes when it's all said and done.

[hotrod_chevyz]

Most shops charge between $50 and $100 to diagnose the problem if it takes tools like compression gauges ect. Any shop thats worth a flip can tell if its a head gasket within an hour. Some places dont charge you if its easy to find the problem. A lot of the time a pro can instantly tell what it is but as slow as your losing anti-freeze, it might make it tougher to tell.

As few of miles you say it has, unless you really run the cream out of it, I would guess somthing went wrong on the assembly line and its just taken this long to show its butt.

Good luck, and I would make darn sure thats what it is before you go ripping the top of the motor off.

T

[knight7]

yah that is the best i could possible do to get it diagnosed for the problem. Its around $55 for a diagnose i guess. The problem is that i am really low on money. Every cent is important to me right now because im saving up for college tuition money. I still havent started on it but im thinkin if i should just do what i have been doing for about two months (puttin coolant in after every 2 weeks). I mean, arent other things getting messed up too?

[hotrod_chevyz]

When water leaks into a combustion chamber, it sort of steam cleans it. When you take apart a motor with a cracked head/failed gasket, you can tell wich cylinder had the leak because the piston or pistons the water was getting to will appear cleaner than the others. The spark plugs steam clean too, where they will look cleaner than the others that arent getting rained on. Ive heard of people actually feeding their engines water, as a method of cleansing them. Really overheating is all you need to worry about, unless it starts to run rough. That would be a sign the leak is becoming bad enough to cause the compression to become lower on a particular cylinder. Usually(unless its not a bad crack or leak) you can see the compression leaking back into the water works of the engine, meaning with the engine cool and the radiator cap off, you can witness bubbles coming back up into the radiator with the engine running(cool). They make some stuff you can put in it to help solve the leak, but it only works for a little while(if at all), and ive been told its not good on other parts of the system, such as the heater core. Typically, water settles inside the combustion chambers after the car has been shut off. You should be able to pull the plugs out and catch one or some of them with moisture on them. Remember that the engine heats up even more after its shut off, when the water stops circulating. A good time to check the plugs is after a normal drive, and the engine has cooled off almost, but not completely.