1994 Buick Regal Head Gasket

[Keepitrunning]

I inherited a 1994 Buick Regal, 63K miles and no rust since florida car. Unfortunately it lost a serpentine belt and my son kept driving. When he finally pulled over steam was still coming out (hopefully a good sign) but temp gauge was pegged on hot side. I had it towed to my house.

After he admitted this wasn't the best idea, we set about getting the car back on the road. Changed oil, replaced thermostat and coolant, replaced serpentine belt, etc. - but car ran rough.

Did cold compression check. All 3 front cylinders were 190 psi, rear drivers cylinder and rear center cylinder were zero and close to zero, so I've concluded the rear head gasket is toast.

On to my question - I'm trying to minimize cost here, paint job and interior on this car are poor. Can I just replace the rear head gasket? I was told I need to machine both heads and replace both gaskets and to be honest the car just isn't worth that much.

Any guidance appreciated!

[rkvons]

Originally Posted by Keepitrunning

I inherited a 1994 Buick Regal, 63K miles and no rust since florida car. Unfortunately it lost a serpentine belt and my son kept driving. When he finally pulled over steam was still coming out (hopefully a good sign) but temp gauge was pegged on hot side. I had it towed to my house.

After he admitted this wasn't the best idea, we set about getting the car back on the road. Changed oil, replaced thermostat and coolant, replaced serpentine belt, etc. - but car ran rough.

Did cold compression check. All 3 front cylinders were 190 psi, rear drivers cylinder and rear center cylinder were zero and close to zero, so I've concluded the rear head gasket is toast.

On to my question - I'm trying to minimize cost here, paint job and interior on this car are poor. Can I just replace the rear head gasket? I was told I need to machine both heads and replace both gaskets and to be honest the car just isn't worth that much.

Any guidance appreciated!

Well the car overheated. The heads were pretty hot. Are they warped? Cracked? It's hard to say. You could take it apart and see if they are still intact. You will have to determine if the mating surface is planar. If so, you should be able to get by with only changing the gasket. How hot did it actually get? Other things also got toasted. Anything rubber. So, that's your dilemma.

[Tech II]

Since the car is in poor condition, and it overheated badly(yes, he should have pulled over as soon as it happened), I'm thinking engine......you don't say what the mileage is, and what condition the transmission is.....20 year old Regal, if driven in a rust belt, like NE that uses salt on the road, I would look elsewhere to put that money....

Sorry reread, 63K....still wouldn't fix it....car may be worth $1000.....that's about the cost of fixing it....

[Keepitrunning]

Thanks both for your responses.

At this point I'm thinking nothing to lose by removing the rear head and seeing what it and the head gasket looks like. My son will be helping me, hopefully when he sees the damage it will reinforce the need to pull over when something like this happens.

In best case, the head somehow survived unscathed and we can try replacing the rear head gasket and see how the car runs.

In worst case, guess we'll see a warped/cracked head and other melted parts. In that case I agree car will not be worth fixing, we'll get rid of it and my hopefully now smarter son can start his search for a new vehicle.

We'll be starting in a week or so when he is home for school break, I'll add to the post and let you know how it went.

[Blue Bowtie]

I believe the heads are iron. That's a plus. If it turns out that one is warped more than a light cleanup can solve, salvage yards are probably full of these heads. If the heads do not have to be milled, the intake should require no modification and the job will be easier overall. A decent running, low mileage vehicle is likely worth the cost of a used head.