Blown head gasket worth fixing???

I got mine from ebay for 300.00, plus 90.00 shipping, less than 60,000 miles, cleaned, and 6 month warranty. This has been almost two years ago, and still running great. The seller was Ericjapan out of Chicago area. The engine came from overseas. It probably depends on the motor, mine is a little 4 cyl 1.5, but some of the other engines that would fit in my car I noticed were a little pricier.
The first engine I installed in the car was from the junk yard, unknown miles, it threw a rod, ouch. So I started over.

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Claycreekfarm.info

Haynes manuals are OK (just OK) if you already have quite a bit of knowledge of how things work to begin with. They, for the most part, don't give a lot of detail and several times I have found they have left off a step or an important detail.

Another hint. Take lots of pics with a digital camera! I have found many times when having step by step pics of what I did has saved me a lot of headaches!

Yeah, now that you mention it. Just went online to do a quick price check on head gasket sets, and the most expensive one was for Volvos at $218. Labor must be really high where Raven is.

Pony!

A 1998 Honda Accord in any condition is not worth putting that much money into, if you can't do the work yourself (I know I couldn't). New cars are a pain to work on.

Now I have a 1974 Dodge Adventurer that seems to have lost its transmission and I'm considering putting a new one in. Paid only a couple of hundred for the whole truck itself last year, got that money back in saved delivery costs, and now if I have to put a brand new transmission in it for $1000 I've still got a pretty decent truck at the end of it, and one I know has a new transmission.

In my opinion (which is worth about squat on the open market), expensive repairs on vehicles less than 20 years old just aren't worth it. The bodies are made cheaply and as soon as you fix one thing, something else is broken. And you're paying a lot more in insurance too. AND you can't hardly get your hands under the hood to fix anything unless you are a Japanese elf or a toddler.

As for buying a vehicle for your son, I'd give him the money to get it repaired and tell him to pick out something for that amount. If he wants something better than $1000 will buy, it's time to get a job. (Old enough to drive is old enough to work) If he doesn't want to learn how to work on it, then it's time to buy a bicycle or a bus pass.

The last three used cars we bought all had leaking head gaskets. For about $250 in parts, DH went through them all and then got about 100,000 miles out of them. Paid $1,000, $1,500 and $2,500 for them. Still have the last one.

Labor is a killer on these, it's not an easy job and usually takes lots of tools. DH worked as a mechanic for lots of years, and has done this many times. Now son is learning how to do his own work. It works great when you've got someone to help you out if you get in a jam, or knows a few "tricks" that you need to be aware of to make things go much easier.

Son just replaced a clutch for a friend. Shop quoted about $2,500 for the job - parts cost under $200. This involved removing everything from the engine so it could be moved and the tranny dropped. Actually dealing with the clutch was the easy part, but getting to it, and putting everythign back together was the hard part.

Cathy

Banged up body, blown head gasket, etc. It's not worth that kind of investment. Now, if you or your son has the tools and inclination to take the job on yourself, it could be worth doing then. Cost of doing it yourself could be as low as about $40 for a couple of gaskets.

I THINK THIS IS A WONDERFUL IDEA!!!!!!!

He will need a torque wrench to properly tighten the head back down. They are a bit pricey...less than $75 new, and ebay would be cheaper.

I am afraid if the head has gotten hot, it could be warped. That is the down side to having him fix it.

Clove

Another thought...

Do not call a junkyard!!!!

Part this car out on ebay, and scrap what is left.

Don't forget about the catalylitic converter. They are bringing a small fortune on ebay.

Tail lights, mirrors, seats, carpet, interior door parts, rims, instrument clusters, engine parts, alternators, radiators, grill, emblems, radios, glove box doors, throttle body, trunk carpet, whole doors, trunk lids, speakers, marker light lenses, bumper covers front and rear, air conditioner parts, especially the condenser, engine pullies, power window motors and switches, oil pan, oil plug, jack, spare, head light housings, transmission sileniods and associated electronic parts (these Honda tranny parts are VERY expensive) etc.

All the above parts and more should sell well on ebay, with little effort.

List some of the parts as 'buy it now'. These would be the parts that someone might need immediately to get a car running. The other parts, I would list as auctions.

Your local library should have several books about this car, which will help repair it, or at least to take it apart.

I am constantly searching for used car parts on ebay.

As far as scrap is concerned, I think my local recycler was paying 65 cents for alum heads with steel...if I remember right.

I would never, never call a junk yard until I sold what I could.

And just to think....he will learn life lessons about selling, car repair, diagnosing auto problems, etc.

Think of the thousands he will save over a life time after learning how to fix his own car, and not to be ripped off by a mechanic!!!!!!

And the cash he earns can be used towards another car.

Clove

Here is a Honda forum thread on changing head gasket with lots of pic

http://hondaswap.com/general-tech-ar...ts-pics-71528/

A few $$ on a good shop manual and some time spent reading goes a long way.The job is easy with a few tools and some mechanical apptitude.It is worth a try, worst case the car doesn't run again and you are sort of there already

Yeah, the car isn't running and we had to have it towed to the shop.

My son is 26 and lives three and a half hours away from me. He has NO mechanical aptitude. The best he can do is change his own oil. He lives in an apartment complex and has no place to work on a car, or any tools with which to do so.

The car has been totalled once, rebuilt and resold with a rebuilt title. We bought it from my BIL who drove it doing his salesman job in various states. We're talking MEGA mileage. BIL has wrecked it twice. When I say it has way over 100,000 miles on it, I'm really saying I have no idea the mileage...it may be over 200,000 by now.

You've all given us a lot to think about, but my son is in a tight spot. He starts a new job next week and doesn't have a vehicle now. I have no way to get the car back to my place so I could parcel out parts. He's going to talk to his Dad tonight about it. Hopefully his Dad can loan him some money.

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

If he is that hard up, cut the converter off and sell it on ebay. Many of them are bringing well over $100.

After reading your last post, the car is not worth fixing, IMHO.

Clove

Around our place, my son would probably order a used engine from one of the places that imports low mileage engines from Japan, and put it in. His Honda Civic is getting close to 300,000 miles, and he drives it all over the country--Wisconsin to New York or Vermont or Montana or Oregon, for example. A shop manual or 2, a set of tools, and a place to work isn't that expensive, compared to the option of driving newer cars and paying someone else to maintain them.

But, if you decide to get rid of it, either part it out, selling parts on eBay or Craig's list, or at least advertise the car for a couple of hundred dollars on Craigs list, instead of selling it to the junk yard.

This is probably too late if you've already had it towed but you could also check into a Vo-Tech School program. Here in auto-mechanics you bring your car in for the kids to fix so they can learn and all you pay for is parts and a little extra for power/ect. normally real cheap though. I have never took any of my vehciles to one but I know a guy who teaches it here and I know he makes sure the kids do a good job, because he wants them to learn how to do it right.

Based on what you've said, for your son, junking the car and getting another is the best choice, imo.

I'm with you on that question! My PT Cruiser is at the mechanics right now getting an engine installed. Overheated and warped the engine.

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Nina's Grammy

Resell the car, in "as is" condition letting potential buyers know exactly what is wrong with the car. Places like kijiji and craigslist are great ways to get rid of unwanted items, including cars.

For those folks who cannot repair their own vehicles, the extreme high cost of having someone else repair it will certainly influence the decisions they make.

One of the advantages of some of the Japanese vehicles is the availability of "JDM" engines - Japanese Domestic Market. Basically, laws in Japan prevent them from using older engines, so they cut the engines out of the vehicles and sell them in North American. Not only are the prices of these engines very reasonable, but the engines themselves have very low mileage - as the Japanese don't drive much - many of these engines have less than 50,000 miles.

Another advantage is that most parts are still on the engine, since they just literally cut the wires, torch the driveshafts and mounts, etc. Meaning that alternators, water pumps and even belts are still there. Many rebuilt engines here are just the engine, you have to install all the other parts from your engine.

Since my vehicles are AMC (even the Cherokee has loads of AMC parts) I don't have the option of a Japanese engine. But we are going to install a Nissan diesel into the 7, but we pulled that from an International Scout.

You're right about the parts still being attached to the engine. We just pulled the drive train right out of the Scout, parted out what we could, and dragged the rest to the metal scrappers. Came out about even on the deal. (Further off-topic: If anyone wants the half-cab for a 1980 Scout, we have one.)

Pony!

Another place to advertise that car, would be on hondacivicforum.com . There's alot of members who also have accords.

When I got my JDM it there were no extra parts on it. This was ok though as it made it lighter for shipping, and I already had some parts left over from the blown engine. It probably depends on who you buy from.

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