Blown head gasket - what to do?

I have a blown head gasket on a 2001 Cadillac Deville DTS. the car is still in good condition otherwise. The repair would be $3-4k and the car is only worth about $5k. I'd love to get $1-2k out of it somehow without repairing it and I would be happy. I don't have the time to part it out myself. Any suggestions?

 

Put an ad on Craigslist & a 4-sale sign in the window . Sometimes you get more value if you offer to do trades .

 

Take it off a sweet jump.

 

$3K to change a head gasket?

 

Cars with computers are made to break, not made to fix.

 

Accurized.

 

Its not the computer thats broken....


Junk the car, it ain't worth fixing. If it was mine I wouldn't fix it and all it would cost me is parts.

 

Yep, the disposable culture, began roughly as carburetors were replaced with 01001s.

 

Man, I'd throw a new head gasket on myself and sell it fast, but that's me.

 

That's what I was getting at.

Pull the head, check it for flatness, install new head gasket. Ship it.

Nowhere near $3k

 

Trade it in.

 

It's the Northstar engine. You apparently have to remove the entire front end and suspension just to then be able to remove the entire engine to replace the head gasket. That's why the job is so expensive. I've verified the cost of the job at multiple garages and the dealership. Sucks.

 

Abort. Doing the HG on that motor is a bitch. At least it's not a pre2000 model where the block disintegrated around the head bolts.

 

http://www.heal-a-seal.com/NorthStar.html

 

Get away from the dealers and find an independent shop. I've pulled heads on 6.9/7.3 diesels in E350 Ford vans. The dealers said you couldn't do it that way. Now i'm not saying it can be done on this car, i just know that jobs can be done at independent shop that can't or won't be done at the dealers.

 

sounds like Engine Restorer in a can is all you need.

 

Surface the heads and replace the gaskets.
Should be abot $200 in parts/labor. And a case of icehouse to the mechanic.

 

The Northstar engine is extremely intolerant of the abuse that other engines would shrug off without damage.

For example, the Northstar engine:

1) Cannot be bored for oversize pistons. The cylinder walls are too thin to begin with.

2) Has a high repeat failure rate when the heads or head gaskets are replaced. The original factory repair manual didn't even have a procedure to R&R the heads, because it wasn't recommended.

3) Has the capability to "limp home" with no coolant, which is fortunate, since they tend to start weeping coolant at about 75k or 5 years, whichever occurs first.

All in all, you could probably replace the entire engine for that amount or a little less, at an independent shop.

As an aside, my BIL's deVille had the pistons and rings replaced at <60k because of excessive oil consumption; there was a service bulletin issued several years ago, which involved an 8 hour cylinder cleaning procedure (which didn't work in his case), and ultimately, a warranty piston/ring change.

 

I forgot to ask the OP:

Is it leaking coolant or compression?

If it's coolant, try Bar's Leaks or something similar; what do you have to lose at this point?

If it's compression, KYAGB. :down:

 

I replaced my headgaskets on my 2000 sts. The job sucks. Also has 4 cams, 3 timing chains, and 6 gears. Your average local shop probably wont want to take on the repair. and if they did most would probably screw somthing up in the process. Get rid of the car for what its worth and save yourself the headache.