1988 Voyager Headgaskets

[DAVE K]

I Have A 1988 Ply.voyager V6 3.0
It Has A Blown Headgasket,i Called A Repair Shop And Got A
Pretty High Est.of What A Headgasket Job Would Run Me.
Then They Told Me That The Heads Would Need Work Because
That Peticular Eng.has Aproblem With The Valves Being Distrubed When The Heads Are Removed.
Of Course The Cost Extra.
Might There Be Anything To This?granted It Might Not Hurt
But Is It A Need To Thing?

[GTP Dad]

Head gasket replacement is costly due to the labor involved. The actual gaskets for the job are not expensive, however, there is always a possibility that the heads warped when the gasket blew especially if the motor overheated. If you are mechanically inclined and have a few tools, sockets, torque wrench and a few wrenches you can do this yourself, if not leave it up to the experts. I would certainly question the valves being disturbed by head removal. The heads themselves are pretty stout and should hold the valves properly. If the vehicle has a lot of miles you may want to consider a valve job and resurfacing while the heads are off, it will cost a few dollars but will improve performance and reliability. If the mileage is very high you may even want to consider putting in a remanufactured engine or a used one with less miles. This may actually be less costly than replacing the head gaskets.

I located an engine on car-part.com with 12k miles for $600 there would be an additional shipping and installation cost but it may be cheaper in the long run for you if you are going to keep the van for a while.