Blown Head Gasket! How much to fix?

After 12 years of spirited driving and 240,000 kms on the clock, the head gasket demon finally appeared today.

I thought I could avoid him. Some of you laughed at me and called me foolish... you were right.

So, bottom line, what is it going to cost to fix it?

And, can I park it until the spring and fix it then, or will I cause further damage?

Advice please.

John

P.S. Here's a picture http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thebaptist/detail?.dir=/d682re2&.dnm=252fre2.jpg&.src=ph

can you turn a wrench?
thats about the cheapest way to do it.
if i remember correctly the gasket kits are 200 ish. plus while you have the heads off have them checked. oh and buy all new head bolts and dont use the crappy cork intake end gaskets that come in the kit go to ford and get ones for a 97ish windstar 3.8
it is also i perfect time to do other things while your in there. ie. water pump, motor mounts timeing chain etc.

back when I first bought my cougar the head gaskets were gone and i took it into ford they quoted me over 3500 to do teh job. so its much better to do it yourself

oh and it should be okay to sitt for the winter it will be better than driving it

good luck
Josh

It will be ok to let it sit if there isn't any coolant in the crankcase or the cylinder bore.

I'm not bad with a wrench, but I don't have the time, energy, or the garage space to tackle this project.

So the question remains, how much is it going to cost to fix this? $3500 from ford seems on the very high side.

Thanks,
John

I got mine fixed for under a thousand.

drop the oil ASAP into a container that you can inspect it, anti-freeze is thin, and can work its way down past the rings in the cyclinder bore, a couple drops of this stuff is harmfull enough to cause a spun bearing apon start up after you do your headgaskets, glycol is brutal stuff on the bottom half of your engine, when my gaskets where suspected of going, i dropped all the oil out of the car, and poured 2 liters of oil brand new in the motor, let it run for a min, turned it off and dropped that oil too., if your tight for cash you can do it for 700ish bucks, but like others have said, well your there replace worn things, motor mounts(if they are stock) spark plugs, wires.

JJL said:

I'm not bad with a wrench, but I don't have the time, energy, or the garage space to tackle this project.

So the question remains, how much is it going to cost to fix this? $3500 from ford seems on the very high side.

Thanks,
John

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Lotta labour costs if the mechanic isn't familiar with these cars, and most aren't. Get a fresh quote from Ford and post your bottom line. Someone on here with the experience may need gas money.....

Perhaps a head gasket party in a generally well equipped garage just north of Trenton....?? Comments from all...

HoseHead said:

Perhaps a head gasket party in a generally well equipped garage just north of Trenton....?? Comments from all...

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Sounds like you don't know what to do with all that time in your hands, Bruce