I’m being told I’ve blown a head gasket!

[JerseyThursday]

2000 Integra LS. 96,000 well maintained miles.

Yesterday, I noticed when going slow or stopped the temp gauge went all the way up to the redline and I could actually see a little steam rising from the hood. Then, as soon as I started going again it started to go down to about right between middle and H. Not wanting to run the risk of doing any damage to the engine I went straight to the mechanic, who is only a few miles away.
I have used this guy before and he always has been reputable.

He just called and said my head gasket is blown.
This means he has to pull the head and see if there are any cracks. If not, mill the top flat put it back in with a new gasket. He suggested getting a new water pump at the same time (this one was only 9,000 miles old).
Parts + labor $900-$1,100!

I asked what the indicators were and he said when they tried to put antifreeze in the radiator it would just come shooting back out. A sure sign the head gasket was blown.

A couple of questions:
Does his diagnosis and price seem reasonable?
Does this happen a lot in with Integras? How could I possibly have avoided it? There were no indications of anything amiss before yesterday.

[92integ]

dont sound like u blew a head gasket to me....if anything it seems like either ur way low on radiator coolant or your thermostat is bad and not letting the water in ur engine OR your fans arent kicking on...i had that problem with my 92' integra if i sat at a red light my temp would start goin way up but once i started to drive it would go back down

just cause when he put coolant in and it came shooting back out dont mean ur head gasket is blown, if so then my head gasket must be blown on my car right now (which it isnt) if u open of a hot radiator and put water in it im pretty sure the water will come back out on most any car

$900-$1,100 is ridiculous....me personally id never pay that much for a head gasket as im sure 99.9% of the people on this site wouldnt either

id check ur thermostat, coolant level, and fan relay before u go spend $1,000 and have it not be fixed

and 1 last thing, is ur car smoking or have steam coming out of ur exhaust?

[coldfire]

Have your mechanic perform a leakdown test with the radiator cap off and the radiator full. If the head gasket is bad, when you test the bad cylinder then there will be bubbles coming out of the radiator.

And like everyone said. 1100 for a head gasket is a ripoff.

[JerseyThursday]

Originally Posted by 92integ

dont sound like u blew a head gasket to me....if anything it seems like either ur way low on radiator coolant or your thermostat is bad and not letting the water in ur engine OR your fans arent kicking on...i had that problem with my 92' integra if i sat at a red light my temp would start goin way up but once i started to drive it would go back down

just cause when he put coolant in and it came shooting back out dont mean ur head gasket is blown, if so then my head gasket must be blown on my car right now (which it isnt) if u open of a hot radiator and put water in it im pretty sure the water will come back out on most any car

$900-$1,100 is ridiculous....me personally id never pay that much for a head gasket as im sure 99.9% of the people on this site wouldnt either

id check ur thermostat, coolant level, and fan relay before u go spend $1,000 and have it not be fixed

and 1 last thing, is ur car smoking or have steam coming out of ur exhaust?

There were no symptoms until everything went south yesterday. No coolant leaking and the car was running fine. Then, all at once the temp gauge went to the max hot and a little steam vapor started rising from the hood.
Taking the highway briefly to the mechanic cooled it down, but soon as I stopped in his parking lot it went to max hot again.

Supposedly, the whole antifreeze shooting out took place the next morning, when the car was cold.

What ultimately was the problem that was causing your car to run hot?

[Acura2g]

Have a shop do a hydrocarbon test on the coolant that will tell you if you have a headgasket. Quick and painless.

[JerseyThursday]

Originally Posted by Acura2g

Have a shop do a hydrocarbon test on the coolant that will tell you if you have a headgasket. Quick and painless.

I called them and the said they did run a hydrocarbon and showed the gasket was shot. I guess I don’t have a choice but to believe them. This sucks. I haven’t heard of many people with this happening on so few miles (with a Honda made product).

[92integ]

if i were u id go look around check out some different shops and try to find a lower price cause $900-$1,100 is just crazy. head gaskets arent that hard on integras i can do 1 on an integra in prolly like 2 hours so its not hard at all really....

[jpeso23]

dont let none of them jersery wanna b's rip you off man...there all bastards...and get even more mad when they lose....but yea...sounds like you need the hook up a little better on parts and installation....keep from get'n so many whopper bills on repairs, i mean if i took my shit to a dealer or repair they would prob say 1000 too, but thats why you need to throw a little cash around in the mecs shop before you leave and get one to come by for a cheaper prognosis

[m0nst3r]

Sounds like your fans may have stopped working. The same thing happened to me when I had a Honda Accord. If I drove the car and was sitting at a stop light, the car would start to overheat, so I had to turn the heater on full blast in order to keep it in the green. It's probably not your thermostat since your car cooled back down while taking the freeway. If you car was still overheating while you were on the freeway, then it would have for sure been your thermostat.

Here's the kicker though, your mechanic could be telling the truth. If your car overheats and you keep driving it that way, there's a pretty good chance you can blow your headgasket. I would check the the oil dipstick and make sure there's no coolant mixed in there. If there is, it'll look runny and kind of look like chocolate milk and is a sure sign of a blown headgasket. Also, if you have white smoke coming out of your tailpipe, that's also another sure sign of a blown headgasket. I would try doing a compression test. If you have two consecutive cylinders with low compression, you can have a blown headgasket. A leakdown test would also help you out in determining if you have a blown headgasket. But yea, don't pay $1000 to get that fixed. Headgaskets only cost like $50, and I'm sure you can find someone to do it for a lot less than that. I will agree with your mechanic about getting the water pump changed though. I would also switch out the timing belt.

Good Luck!

[C25A1guy]

Since the coolant HC test was positive, then the gasket is bad. One grand isn't too absurd in my opinion to have the work done properly. Since the T-belt and water pump was replace recently, you probably can forgo that, but machine shop cost, all new OEM gaskets (not just the head gasket it self, but every other gasket in the head outside of valve seals), reassembly, etc. it doesn't sound too out of line.

[MC Teg]

$1100 for head gasket repair sounds about right. I had a civic with a blown head gasket and it costed around $1200 for new head gasket, timing belt, and water pump.

[JerseyThursday]

Well, I bit the bullet. This car is my daily driver and needed it back ASAP.

Here is the ugly itemized bill:
Head gasket set- $174.11
Machine work (grinding the head flat)- $100
Change oil and oil filter- $35
2 Gallons antifreeze- $24
Water pump- $88.70
Thermostat and seal- $16.11
Labor- $592

That hurt.

[Dot]

Originally Posted by JerseyThursday

Well, I bit the bullet. This car is my daily driver and needed it back ASAP.

Here is the ugly itemized bill:
Head gasket set- $174.11
Machine work (grinding the head flat)- $100
Change oil and oil filter- $35
2 Gallons antifreeze- $24
Water pump- $88.70
Thermostat and seal- $16.11
Labor- $592

That hurt.

Wow Greedy Laborers!
Seriously, got me a head gasket set himself and payed the shop $200 to hook it up with everything along with it ^^^everything you said.

Although he is a 250lb. Brazilian Weightlifter

[92integ]

dam $174 for head gasket set...i bought set for my 92 integra for under $100....

idk things must cost more where u live or something cause i can get my head hot tanked and resurfaced for about $65

to bad u didn't live by me, id do it for u for like $200 or so

[Tugre]

I have the same problem...but I'm not going to spend that much money on the car. It's to old and busted for that kinda work. =p