Jdiggity

Hey everyone.
I recently had my car overheating alot, figured it was my thermostat so I had my car taken to the shop, spent about $420 total thinking I had the overheating problem fixed, and nada. I bring it back and now im being told theres a slight crack in one of my head gaskets. Im not the smartest guy in the world when it comes to engines, so could anyone tell me what fixing that cracked head gasket would cost me?
-thnx

mustang9513

This was a frequent problem with the 94 and 95 Mustangs. I had it happen to me twice. The first time it was under warranty, so the cost was nada, lucky me. The second time for parts and labor it was about $1400 and that was about 3 years ago, so I dont know exactly with inflation, but it is not cheap. Good Luck

Xemeth

It's not really that it's a tough job, it's just time consuming. You have to remove a lot of stuff to get to the cylinder heads. Some cars you luck out. My friend had an Accord or something, and she blew a head gasket. If I had the replacement gasket and sealant, I could have done the whole thing in the driveway, cause the cylinder head was directly in front of you when you open the hood.

Jdiggity

Yup, ganna cost $1200 of which I dont have. Horrible thing is, i still owe money for fixing it up prior, and with me just getting a new job, I have no idea how im going to get there now. Looks like ill be driving this thing untill the engine explodes.

Xemeth

Well, good luck driving it. While it might not explode right away, this same friend who I mentioned earlier, didn't know she hada head gaske issue. She drove it and oil ended up in her spark plugs, and then the car wouldn't start.

mustangman02232

look for a 4.2 out of a 98+ f150, and reuses your upper intake manifold, it will pretty much drop right in and solve the problem

or get the heads milled and use mls headgaskets from 99-04s with new bolts/studs

nikbait

Mine started overheating too, I've got a 95...what we didn't realize was the thing about the 94-95 head gasket failure. SOOO, we replaced the head gaskets, machined the heads and the car's been good since then. It only cost us $500 cuz my dad and hubby did all the labor on my car. It really does pay to know someone who knows what they're doing when it comes to auto repair!
And I swear, If I'd known about this problem, I NEVER would have bought my car, I'd have waited for a newer one. But, its too late for that, sooo we've just learned to deal with it. But it is a pain in the butt to have fixed. I didn't know that you could replace the 95 gaskets with 99 gaskets. Hopefully this won't happen again!!

Xemeth

It really does save so much money. Basically all you do is pay for parts and if they're not immediate family maybe slipping them $50 or a case of beer.

nikbait

I know it Hehe, it prolly would have cost us like $1200 to have it done by someone...we got away with doing it for like $450.

97tunedmustang

When the headgasket went on mine a friend of mine did all the work for $390 which i still thought was a lot but compared to what it coulda cost, i cant complain.