You could also go to a shop to have it pressure tested and that will let you know if you're head gasket is blown. Also, if it is, make sure you get your head checked b/c it's aluminum and can get warped. BTY if you have a shop do it, plan on spending somewhere between $1000-$1500.

 

why do they charge so much labor? what is actually being done? if i was to do it by myself? is there mistakes that i can make that will mess up my motor or anything?

 

Yes! you can messup. The reason why the shop will charge so much is because they are basically ripping apart the motor. Stop asking how much a shop will charge it's been answered like 3 times already. Also your gonna wanna chage your timing belt,water pump and maybe depending on you the oil pump. Goodluck.

 

well i dont have much funds right now that is why im so questioning the price... its wierd becuase im hearing so many diffrent prices.. some tell me its will be 1000+ and some is telllin me 200??!?! and some is tellin me 1000 is too much and its more like 5-600... well who have actually paid for the job at a shop?

 

I had a quote done by a couple of different places for the headgasket replacement on my Infiniti G20 last year. It's a 4 cyl engine(SR20DE). Infiniti wanted 2k, other places wanted 1200+. This isn't a cheap little deal so the people that are telling you that it's 200 are probably only talking about the gasket itself. Look it sounds like you don't even know for sure if it's your head gasket. Start the car, warm it up have a buddy rev it to like 3k. You should certainly be able to see this white smoke. Smell it... most coolant smells like maple syrup sorta when it burns. If you're unsure with that, go pop your hood, open up the coolant resevoir and look at it. If it looks trashed or brown or foamy that means that there is A- oil mixing into the coolant(headgasket) or B - air flow into the coolant(like headgasket). If the head gasket is cooked get it fixed asap... especially if your pumping that contaminated oil through your turbo. Do you have a FSM or some sort of manual for your car?

-DaBat

 

Check oil/coolant, do a compression check. Do you want us to spell it out for you?

 

We already have :werd:

 

Another thing you may have to worry about:

A normal shop will not work on my car since it is turbocharged. I have to take mine to a high performance shop because a normal shop doesn't want to mess with anything. That alone will bring the price up to around 1k, if not more.

Since your car is aftermarket turbocharged as well, be prepared for an anal raping on the labor if you eventually find a shop that will work on it. I suggest you pick up a manual and a set of tools because that will be your best option instead of paying out the ass for labor.

 

Yeah, more work is involved removing the head on a turbocharged car...removing turbo, oil lines, manifold, wastegate, charge pipes, downpipe, etc...rather than just removing an intake and undoing the header.

 

And they don't want to screw up any timing changes or other things that are completely different from what they see in the service manual. My shop that previously worked on my car said they didn't know what kind of setup I was running and they didn't want to figure it out because their insurance doesn't cover it and they couldn't warranty it.