Blown head gaskets

[big dwag]

Not sure of the engine size, But its a 2002 dodge ram, the guy that owns it said he took it to the shop because it wasn't running to good. They told him that it was way over filled with oil & it had blown head gaskets. The oil pan plug was strip so they couldn't drain out any oil ? I guess the question is how can the computer at the shop tell them that its blown head gaskets. And what would the price be for a job like this cost ?

[FishFind]

Not sure on price.

They test head gasket by checking the cylinder compression. It is a gauge almost like a gauge to test air pressure in your tire. You take a spark plug out and screw the gauge into the spark plug hole crank the engine and check the reading.

[Levithan9]

I use a chemical that i get from SnAP-ON. its a combuston leak detector. Its dark blue in color. I pour it into a cylinder with a suction bulb at the end. Start the truck up, let it get hot, and when steam comes out the radiator, i squeeze the bulb, which sucks up the steam. If the fluid truns from dark blue to a light green, or better yet, full yellow....your damn heads are leaking.

I just bought a 2003 Ram 1500 Quad cab with 110k from one of my customers for $1000. Sounds good, right? He had a blown head gasket. He coulden't afford to pay the labor to install an engine...and to top it off, he coulden't afford an engine for it.

For some reason, these dodge engines are costly as hell. I pulled the motor, decited to ship it off to the machine shop to get rebuild. $1350 was my cost for full rebuild...UNTIL he took the heads off. 1 cyl head had dropped 3 valve seats, and the other had started to drop 2 more. So i had to get heads for it. Final cost went up to $1843. Now take that number, add another $500 for shop mark-up, then add another $1,150 for labor to install the engine...your looking at $3500.

Would you fix it?

[danielsatur]

Do a good visual inspection on your plugs, and know what cylinder they came out of.