head gasket cost?

so i think my head gaskets gone. 97 lumina 3.1L. the coolent is brown and if i drive for too long some smoke starts comeing from under the hood. the temp guage still reads lower then half but smoke comes out none the less. i really dont have the convidence to take apart my engine so i was thinking of taking it to a garage. only problem is im short on cash and would like to know if anyone has had theirs replaced and knows how much it would cost.

I'm in the process of doing mine. So far, i've spent about $650, which includes the head gasket kit, New water pump, both new radiator hoses, head resurfacing and pressure test, new head bolts, and, unfortunately, my rear exhaust manifold was cracked, so that had to be replaced as well. (that was $120 at autozone). I got all of the extra stuff since I'm already doing so much work I figured I might as well replace some of the other things that seem to need replacing at about 100,000 miles. You may get by cheaper, but I suspect not cheaper than about $450 if you do it right.

so i think my head gaskets gone. 97 lumina 3.1L. the coolent is brown and if i drive for too long some smoke starts comeing from under the hood. the temp guage still reads lower then half but smoke comes out none the less. i really dont have the convidence to take apart my engine so i was thinking of taking it to a garage. only problem is im short on cash and would like to know if anyone has had theirs replaced and knows how much it would cost.
You still do not really know if the HD gaskets are bad, where is the smoke coming from. also there are ways to check this, coolant test kits, pressure test, you are getting ahead of yourself here.

You still do not really know if the HD gaskets are bad, where is the smoke coming from. also there are ways to check this, coolant test kits, pressure test, you are getting ahead of yourself here.

so what should be my first step in diagnosing the problem? i was thinking of draning the coolent and filling it with fresh coolent to see if it turns brown over time like it is now.

when i bought the car i never checked the coolent for signs of oil (i know, my fault) so the problem could have been there for a while. i first noticed trouble when the low coolent light came on. i noticed a sludge around the inside of the rad cap which i cleaned off and the coolent in the resevoir was brown. i toped off the radiator with fresh coolent and left it like that.

now it seems that if i drive it for too long, smoke startes comeing out. this has only happened twice, both times at night so i couldent tell where the smoke was comeing from.

so whats a good first step?

im sorry, i may have missed it, what year and motor do you have? Why not start it and watch where the smoke is coming out? Maybe rent a coolant pressure tester from auro zone or something.

If you didn't have some kind of horrible overheat that proceeded this, something along the lines of the lower intake gasket is more likely...what led you up to this point?

tblake: its a 97 3.1L. i cant run it and watch where smoke comes out because it only happens after a lot of driving or if i drive too fast for too long.

jeffcoslacker: the problem was worse yesterday when i had to rush to the store before it closed. i was probly doing 120 km/h for 10 min strait to get there and when i got there i noticed a lot of smoke comeing out. i wouldent count that as a horrible overheat because the temp guage was still just a little below half.

i dont think there are any autozones in canada. i live in quebec. i have no clue where i could rent a coolent pressure tester.

Does the smoke smell like coolant (has a sweet, maple syrup like smell) or like oil burning? Does it seem to be coming from the drivers or passengers side of the engine (open the hood when you see it smoking and look). This would help immensly in diagnosis.

it smells like burning coolent. also the coolent level of the resevoir is getting lower and lower each day. i also just noticed that their is a small puddle of coolent under my car. this points to a coolent leak but still doesent explaine why my coolent is dark brown.

Coolant is probably brown due to poor maintenance, the usual issue with Dexcool, Again, stop and find out where the leak is or have it done professionally.

i just found a few more things that may help. the leak under my car was not anti freeze. it was windsheild washer fluid. which explains why it was running out so fast.

i disconnected the lower rad hose and drained out all the anti freeze. took out the coolent resevoir and drained that too. i also tryed cleaning the sludge out of it and got as much as i could out. it looks like oil but chunky. blackish brown. after cleaning it i put it back in, filled up the rad with coolent and bled the system. let the car run for a few min then repeated bleeding.

hopefully after a bit of driving i will be able to tell if oil is leaking into the coolent by the colour since its all new, fresh, green coolent.

I hope you bled the system when you refilled it, or you'll have new problems.

I hope you bled the system when you refilled it, or you'll have new problems.

yup. bled two valves. one at the water pump and one near the thermostat. i think thats the right way to bleed it.