Blown Head gasket

[Cduncan133]

Just curious to see what I would be paying for the worse case scenario of a blown head gasket. Last summer my car overheated, since then I've pretty much driven it like this. I dont have the atypical symptoms like oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil. I do have a little engine/(rod?) knocking going on. I have kseal in it right now, which seems to be holding up well. Before the kseal, driving around 150 miles a week I'd only be just below the cold fill line of my coolant at the end of the month, so it wasn't much coolant loss.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what it may cost to do this, and if it's worth it. If it's something crazy, and I could get away with driving this until tax season, then I wouldn't mind dropping money for a brand new engine.

Thanks!

 

[Number4]

Most shops won't do a head job on these. It's cheaper to just buy and put in a used engine. Used engine install usually runs $3500.

Driving with a blown gasket (as I've read) can allow the coolant to erode or pit the block and head surface. This makes it 'impossible' to do a head job.

My '03 has two blown head gaskets. I'm going to attempt the repair myself (Mustang and F150 folks have done it) and see how it goes.