Blown Head Gasket - fix or sell???

[dpmccullough]

Help! I just had the transmission rebuilt on my '92 Explorer XLT. The day after having the transmission fixed my engine rapidly overheated and started to visibly smoke. I took it to a mechanic and they diagnosed it as a blown head gasket. What should I do? I've had the vehicle for six years and have taken great care of it... new KYB shocks, super spring in the rear, AC overhaul two years ago, new automatic hubs etc. However, I just spent $1800 on the tranny and the cheapest mechanic is $1700 to replace the head gaskets. Should I pay to fix, try and fix it myself, or sell??? Help!

 

[86caprirs]

Well I am a Technician with Ford...so if it was my vehical I would fix it.How well are you at fixing your own vehical???It is not a hard job, but it will take time.

 

[dogfriend]

If you are mechanically inclined and you have a place to work on it and you have the time, then you should try to do it yourself. The parts are not expensive, the quote was $1700 because of the time required to do the work.

If you try to sell the truck with a blown head gasket, then you won't be able to get much for it, mainly because the buyer will be suspicious that the problem may be even worse (like a cracked head)

 

[section525]

I just did a head gasket for about $200 in parts when it was all said and done. The heads were warped too though, which added another $100 for machining. So, worst (hopefully) case scenerio is you spend $300 and a weekend of your time fixing it.

 

[marragtop]

Did the mechanic say why it overheated? I'm assuming it overheated and then blew the gasket. Also, does it still smoke/overheat while you drive it now? My 92 has had a 'blown head gasket' for the last 30k miles. It runs OK(little less power) and doesn't overheat or use water or oil, so I'm continuing to drive it till it drops.

 

[savage120]

I would just get it replaced. Same thing happened to me, I bought the explorer and one week later I found out the right head gasket was blown so I got it replaced and while the mechanic was in there I asked him to replace a whole ot of stuff becuase it really would not add to much more to the labor becuase he was already in there. I replaced both headgaskets. (not smart to do only just one)

 

[dpmccullough]

thanks

Thanks for the advise! I am somewhat mechanically inclined but this sort of a job would probably take me a couple of weekends. I understand that the cost of repair is mostly for the labor involved and not the parts. I can still drive the vehicle but it overheats rapidly and looses power very quicly so I assume that it is really the gasket that is blown. It still visibly smokes after a mile of driving so it's not driveable at this point. I'm just afraid that I'll open it up and the heads will be racked or warped. Does anyone know of a good mechanic in the San Jose area? I want to price it out some more or at least find a mechanic I can trust for an estimate. Thanks again!

 

[marragtop]

If you are going to pay someone to do it, and you are going to have the heads checked/reworked, figure about $1500 -1700. Make sure they put new head bolts in, as they are 'stretch' bolts that should only be used once.

 

[Maniak]

If you have the time.. Do it yourself.. Its not that bad if your somewhat mechanically inclined..

I bought new heads (remans) for $550 or so, gaskets/bolts cost me another $200 or so.. Misc stuff (oil, antifreeze,thermostat etc) cost $50ish..

It took me 2 days.. 12 hours to take it apart and 8 hours to put it backtogether.. (I took off my inner fenderwells, and never put them back on)..

Its not that hard to do, just label things (put bolts in baggies, and then draw what the bracket looked like, or at least lable it)...

the only special parts I used was a torque wrench (1/2 drive), torx bit (the head bolts use that).. I can't think of any other special tools..

We are in Az so the exhaust manifold bolts came right off.. If you get rust there, start soaking those exhaust bolts (the ones connecting the manifold to the heads) now.

~Mark

 

[installrite]

Doing head gasket on 04' 4.o SOHC and trouble.

Not my first go at replacing head gaskets on Fords, but this time I am having a lot of trouble. Forgot to set everything to TDC and mark it before I took it a part. We checked with friends and put the dots on the cams at 12 o'clock and re assembled. No compression on 1 3 4 and 6. Following the Haines manual, I found a dealer that let me look at (not borrow) the special aligning tool for the cams and thought I had it figured out. We reassembled and she starts but still no compression on 1 3 4 6. Couple things we did not do. Lubricate the cylinders after cleeaning, lubricate the valve stems after pressure test and re-surfacing. We let it run for a couple minutes hoping to build pressure in lifters? and lube everything else but so far no difference. Any Ideas.

 

[Maniak]

Not my first go at replacing head gaskets on Fords, but this time I am having a lot of trouble. Forgot to set everything to TDC and mark it before I took it a part. We checked with friends and put the dots on the cams at 12 o'clock and re assembled. No compression on 1 3 4 and 6. Following the Haines manual, I found a dealer that let me look at (not borrow) the special aligning tool for the cams and thought I had it figured out. We reassembled and she starts but still no compression on 1 3 4 6. Couple things we did not do. Lubricate the cylinders after cleeaning, lubricate the valve stems after pressure test and re-surfacing. We let it run for a couple minutes hoping to build pressure in lifters? and lube everything else but so far no difference. Any Ideas.

You should start your own thread in under the hood or the forum for your generation X. Your in the first Gen X forum which only has the 4.0 OHV motor.. Completely different motor...

~Mark

 

[R&T Babich]

Did the mechanic say why it overheated? I'm assuming it overheated and then blew the gasket. ...

X2 on why did the gasket blow?
Ours blew out a freeze plug which overheated it.
Bubbles in the radiator and steam out the exhaust - gasket or cracked head.
It had 219k, rusty undercarriage and a few other issues so it was just not worth repairing.
It's now a parts car for a '92 & '93 with much lower miles.

 

[jd4242]

if it overheated and its a first gen i doubt its a head gaskets.more than likely its a cracked head.

 

[installrite]

Thanks maniak

Thanks Maniak I will do.

 

[ol_ben]

could be a stuck thermostat. I have a '93 that I had to limp home when it the thermostat went bad - 1/2 mile overheat, let cool down, add coolant. repeat.

A new thermostat fixed the problem

-Ben

 

[Dano!]

Old thread from 2006.