gruesome

Howdy,.blew a head gasket on the way to get coil packs. Does this engine just one gasket? Hiring someone to do this. This is more than a little over my head. $150 is worth it. Worse case scenario, is $250 good for a yard engine?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

$250 for a yard engine is decent if you can hear the engine run and make sure its not making any noises

V6 should have 2 head gaskets, while youre already there to me its best to replace the timing chain, guides, valve seals, valve cover gaskets, etc etc etc. probably would need to get the head machined as well and see if the block is decked at all

long story short replacing everything yourself wouldnt be too costly except getting the head machined, but if youre paying someone to do it, itll be a big bill. better off to get a low K engine

gruesome

The guy told me.$150 for the head gasket, not sure what that included. Just did the water pump. I started the watery pimp thread accidentally. What would be a decent price for an engine swap?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

depends where you are, im gonna guess maybe $700-$1000 if you supply the engine yourself for a backyard mechanic to do it

$150 seems awfully cheap to replace the HG, i was busy this last summer and didnt have time to replace the HG on my Crown and it was $3500 for a Japanese specialty rebuild place to do the HG, WP, Tbelt, valve seals, etc. that was without the block or head being machined, didnt need it. backyard job i would say replacing the HG and everything else would be at least 800

mbmax03

I've done 2 head gaskets myself before on other vehicles. If you have some tools it actually is pretty straightforward to do yourself. If you can do that, it won't be super expensive. I'd be leery of a $250 yard engine. Seems like it would have a lot of miles.

gruesome

The yard guy said he was giving a deal. My engine has 211k on it. Was quoted $600 for swap, but it's way out of my budget. The $150 is labor. The car is outside and I don't get home from work until after dark.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

211k i wouldnt trust at all, im assuming thats miles. the only way i would want a engine swapped in any of my vehicles is if the engine has under around 150,000km or around 80,000 miles. anything more youre doing alot of work for a worn out engine

gruesome

Just put in a water pump, which was a. nightmare due to an alleged mechanic dropping the timing tensioner inside the timing cover.

gruesome

My car has 211000 miles, ran very strong. Would a head gasket a multiple random misfire?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

yes, you can lose compression with a blown headgasket. could be what caused the misfire code

are you 100% sure it IS the headgasket?

gruesome

what else could drain a full radiator, make oil watery and look like I had smoke bombs coming out my exhaust? The car won't start now. I pulled the spark plugs a days aago, they were bone dry and the and coolant were normal.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

by all those symptoms, it probably is the HG. thought maybe you blew a rad hose or something and assumed the HG was bad

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

A very very bad water pump install.

Crusher103

iTrader: (10)

A headgasket is not a small job on these cars. That better be a very close friend charging you $150.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

This makes no sense. The radiator is drained, yet you say the coolant is normal?
Oil is watery, as in thin or milky? Was the oil changed after the water pump mess? If not, that could very well be the reason for the bad oil.
Smoke bombs? A blown head gasket, depending on the location of the failure will produce white steam, and lots of it.
Plugs dry? If your blowing smoke from a HG failure the plugs would be wet or at least steam cleaned when you look at them.

Max streets

iTrader: (11)

whoa 150 bucks on headgasket on a vq ether this guy thinks u have a 4cyl or he doesnt know wat he's doing or must be a really good friend.that's alot of work and might as well change alot of the parts its a good investment u can bring it back to when it was born,or change the engine for a lower mileage.ether way u call it ur gonna have to pay some cash.
it's no point in changing the headgasket and not changing anything else things well end up braking later and u knowing u just had the whole engine apart.

gruesome

A few days ago, the plugs were dry and the oil and coolant were normal. NOW, the radiator is empty and the oil is very runny. did change the oil after the water pump was changed . He doesn't know it's the rear one yet. I found out when I individually unplugged coil packs when it was timing a few days ago. The front three, there was an obvious difference, on the rears, not much at all. I thought it was just aftermarket coil packs. Was on the way to the yard to pick up the back three coil packs. I don't have enough money to do an engine swap, he quoted me $0600 for that. Thinking of changing all the gasket s before it. I'm quite frankly unsure if this is the original engine. I did see compression test numbers on the intake manifold.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Please define runny oil...

gruesome

The oil seems to have coolant in it because it is thinner than it should be, it runs off the dipstick. when I got it to a stop off the highway, I let it cool down a little, checked the oil and steam came out of the hole. Took off the radiator cap, no sign of coolant. I'm on very lean budget. Normally wouldn't consider this, but do those bottles of mechanic in a jar actually anything better than snake oil?

gruesome

Handy that a 12 pack of bud bottles paid for the loan of an AAA card.

gruesome

found a head kit including bolts for $87.99 plus about $5 shipping on Amazon. It's made by evergreen performance. It's that good or bad? The price is less than half of AutoZone, is evergreen good or bad?

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

no way in hell anyone is doing a head gasket on a VQ for $150. not no way, not no how. this ain't a honda.

anyone that offers to do one for that cheap doesn't know what they are getting in to, and they'll quickly find out that they are in for a 15 hour job at least. i don't know any mechanics who do work for $10/hr.

furthermore, it is my opinion that doing a head gasket on a VQ is ridiculous anyways, unless your engine has so retardedly low mileage on it that you don't want to get rid of it or some other abnormal factor is causing you to want to save THAT particular engine. it's easier and cheaper to just swap in a junkyard 100,000 mile engine.

gruesome

cannot afford the yard engine or the labor to do the swap. this guy completed an alleged mechanics water pump installation by dropping the timing chain tensioner in the timing cover

gruesome

half tempted to Craigslist it as a parts car, but probably wouldn't get enough for another vehicle

NYTooCooL

iTrader: (1)

As a person who has had engine work done, and went through the motions. Um.....from what I know, usually people recommend replacing the engine because the job/labor is equal, if not less to just swap a used engine than to do a head gasket job. Take out and drop in. Granted the engines are somewhat pricey, but that labor price you are getting... I don't know. Sorry to repeat what others said, but just make sure you trust this mechanic that is charging so cheap. Verify everything he is telling you with someone on the forum, and if it doesn't check out. Don't do it. That labor is just so low of course people are going to question. Just my friendly 2 cents. :-)

Verify that you two are on the same page what he is charging for and what he is doing, parts included/not included. The part is not the issue here. It's this labor that everyone is questioning. Got my engine put in for $450 Labor and that was fairly cheap. Gasket job should be roughly around that same price range if im not mistaken.

NYTooCooL

iTrader: (1)

As far as the engine, I hope you are calling local yards for prices on their engines. The engine you need can come out of a couple diff. Nissan vehicles im sure. I haven't looked for a 4th gen engine but im pretty sure when you search for one its the same as Infiniti i30 and a couple others. Don't rely on the mechanic to find it for you. If I can get a 5.5 gen engine for 6-800 im pretty sure a 4th gen engine is cheaper.

gruesome

found 4th gen engine for $250, yard guy said he was giving me a deal. Don't have the cash for an engine swap