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What is a ballpark figure for a headgasket replacement on a 4-cyl car?

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Fausto said:
I actually just replaced all of the plugs and there was no significant difference between them. They all had a grey-ish cast to them, but that was about it.
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This, and no water in the oil would get me looking elsewhere. Hate to see you get taken for a new head gasket when you did not need it.
If you do find a visible leak at the head/block joint, then you'd know.
 
skyking said:
This, and no water in the oil would get me looking elsewhere. Hate to see you get taken for a new head gasket when you did not need it.
If you do find a visible leak at the head/block joint, then you'd know.
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What about the hard starts when the car has been sitting (particularly when it's cold)? There have been a few times where the car sits in the driveway for a week or so and then is a beast to start. I have not seen a repeat of this since I swapped the plugs, but it hasn't been cold yet either.
 
If you want help troubleshooting it when your in front of your car PM me with your phone number. If your near Indy you can bring it over too.

Manimal
 
Nice offer Manimal.
About the hard starts: If one plug gets some moisture on it, it will fire right up on the other three and run rough for a few seconds.
If you had a cylinder full of water it would not turn over or possibly bend a connecting rod.
The low coolant and hard starts are likely totally unrelated.
The most common source of a cold hard start in a fuel injected car/truck is a weak pump or leaks in the fuel system that let the fuel flow back to the tank as it sits. Something like a check valve not working right.
 
lxskllr said:
Water in the oil should be very evident. Have you checked the oil?
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A blown head gasket does not necessarily result in water in the oil although finding water in the oil usually, but not always, confirms a blown head gasket lack of water in the oil does not rule it out.
 
alphatarget1 said:
Did you guys get the pre-cat recall done? Some QR25DE motors had oil consumption issues due to the pre-cat breaking up and getting bits sucked back into the engine...
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The only major issue my car ever had was the crank position sensor recall and that had been taken care of before I bought it.
 
Have you done a compression check? One or more cylinders being dramatically low will indicate a bad head gasket.
Have you started the car with the coolant cap off? If there is a head gasket leak then coolant and/or charge gases will spray out of the filler.
Have you checked to see if the coolant hoses get stiff when the engine is still cold? A pressurized, but cold, cooling system indicates a blown head gasket.

I would do all of these things before getting a head gasket done. My car is slowly losing coolant and I have attributed it to two things: leaking radiator cap (replaced, helped consumption a lot) and a very slowly leaking coolant/water pump. There may also be a crack or loose clamp somewhere in the cooling system that is leaking coolant and/or sucking in air.
 
JCH13 said:
Have you done a compression check? One or more cylinders being dramatically low will indicate a bad head gasket.
Have you started the car with the coolant cap off? If there is a head gasket leak then coolant and/or charge gases will spray out of the filler.
Have you checked to see if the coolant hoses get stiff when the engine is still cold? A pressurized, but cold, cooling system indicates a blown head gasket.

I would do all of these things before getting a head gasket done. My car is slowly losing coolant and I have attributed it to two things: leaking radiator cap (replaced, helped consumption a lot) and a very slowly leaking coolant/water pump. There may also be a crack or loose clamp somewhere in the cooling system that is leaking coolant and/or sucking in air.
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I will look into these things this weekend. Thanks for the advice!
 
You want this kit:
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7001006_0282514483

It's stupid easy to use, just fill the tube with the test liquid, take the cap off the coolant reservoir (while the car is running), stick the tube in it and pump. If it turns yellow, it means there is carbon monoxide in the coolant system (which indicates a leak in the combustion chamber). You can prove it to yourself (and test the liquid) by pumping it near the exhaust pipe when the car is running and watching the color change. Rinse and dry between uses, though.

My wife's car just went through the same exact thing and it ended up being the head gasket. I couldn't get the shop to take the engine apart until I came to them with this kit - they had never seen it before apparently (not going back there 😛).
 
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A5 said:
You want this kit:
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7001006_0282514483

It's stupid easy to use, just fill the tube with the test liquid, take the cap off the coolant reservoir (while the car is running), stick the tube in it and pump. If it turns yellow, it means there is carbon monoxide in the coolant system (which indicates a leak in the combustion chamber). You can prove it to yourself (and test the liquid) by pumping it near the exhaust pipe when the car is running and watching the color change. Rinse and dry between uses, though.

My wife's car just went through the same exact thing and it ended up being the head gasket. I couldn't get the shop to take the engine apart until I came to them with this kit - they had never seen it before apparently (not going back there 😛).
Click to expand...

Nice. I had not seen this before.
 
How old is the battery?

Have you checked under the car for visual coolant leaks? Radiator, hoses, waterpump, etc.
 
Not sure if it helps, but Autozone rents a test tool for this. A block tester. You put a bulb in your coolant resovoir or radiator, get the engine to heat so it starts moving coolant, then start sucking air with the bulb. If the fluid inside changes colors it means there's exhaust gasses in the coolant and that you're gasket is gone/going. It was like 29$ to rent, and i don't know if the counter guy was just dumb or whatever, but when i returned the unit he refunded the whole thing (I thought they were supposed to keep 5$ for the fluid used). Either way the cost is well worth it for piece of mind.

I did this in July because my 5.4L Expedition was sucking down coolant. It actually ended up being the spring and seal in the resovoir cap were gone, it was allowing the system to steam out when it would try to presurize.

EDIT: NVM See it was already mentioned above. But if you don't want to own one jsut about every Autozone has one to rent.
 
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i would guess anywhere from 700-950 for a head gasket on a 4cyl is about right. im in the middle of replacing the head gasket on my civic 1.6L now, and so far it has cost me about 200 bucks and a lot of frustration. i havent had time to work on it solid yet, so its a slow moving process. at this rate i should have the head to a shop in like 3rd quarter 2013 or so.
 
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