Gasket HELP FAST!!!!

[Vladimer]

hey all, im in need of great help, im not really great with engines, well never really worked with them, k heres the thing, my mom has a 98 dodge stratus, she took it in for a inspection cause the oil was leakin and he said that the chamber was leakin cause the gasket was broken, and they will charge anywhere from 80-200 dollars for repairs, so is it possible to repair a gasket yourself?? and if its possible then pls TELL ME HOW, in detail pls, dont wana be spendin 200 bucks to just install a new gasket if it s possible to do it myself,

pls and great thanx

[esmartuek]

head gasket?
oil pan gasket?
some other gasket I'm not thinking of?
Usually it will cost you anywhere from $10-$30 to replace by yourself... depending on your availible tools.

So yes, it is possible... you can probably find a haynes manual at your local autoshop (Chilton just merged with Haynes, btw)... that should tell you exaclty how to do most everything on your vehicle (except maybe tearing apart things you shouldn't be)

[Vladimer]

well the guy said its broken and causeing a oil leak so my guess is the oil pan gasket, do u know where u can pike one of those manuels up?? and how much the ussaly cost

thanx

[Vladimer]

oh ya sry, there isint really a autoshop around here, my mom brings it in to like mr lube and wal mart and stuff, but were in canada and its a 1998 dodge stratus, think they give them out in those big store so some cash??

[esmartuek]

I said autoshop, didn't I? I meant automotive store... Checker/Kragen/Schucks, Autozone, Pepboys, etc.

Manuals cost around $15... you can probably find an okay deal for it online.

If it's the oil pan, buy the gasket and an oil filter, drain the oil, remove the oil pan, replace gasket, replace oil filter, place the pan back on, put the oil pan plug (a bolt) back, fill vehicle with amount of oil specified in vehicle's manual, run the vehicle around for a few minutes, check oil.

If that doesn't fix it, then it's something else (obviously)
if you're due for an oil change anyways (3000 miles/3 months) then you might as well try this anyways.
Always replace your oil filter if you're draining the oil... all that will happen if you don't is that your filter will go bad before your oil does or it will dirty up your oil.