Head Gasket price estimate ?

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IrishLX450

IrishLX450

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
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31
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Location
Palm City, Florida
Hey guys, can anyone give me a ball park figure of what it would cost to replace the head gasket in my '96 LX450 ?, including machining head ? I know this has been discussed many times but wondering if anyone has a current idea
Thanks.
 
This is really going to depend on what happens when they pull the head and how strongly you can resist the "well why I am doing it" type of work.

I got a quote to pull the head, scrape the gasket, throw a new gasket on and slap it all back together for $1500.

BUT, doing mine, repairing all the things that are showing wear and easily accessable while doing the head work, I am at about $4500. Plus an exhuast and new radiator, etc.
 
My HG story ended up being DIY around $2500 and worth every penny, even the wife thinks so. A rough estimate is to take Beno's numbers plus about 8-10 labor hours or more for a shop to do it. I didn't have time either and took about 5 weeks start to finish working about an hour or two at a time.
 
I've got a quote of $2,600, but could be more or less, this includes pressure testing, machining head, flushing radiator, oh well, has to be done.
My bank account deems that I avoid any "since I'm in there" scenarios !, but, since you mentioned it what might be some good while I'm in there jobs ?
Beno, can you get heat shields for exhaust manifold ?, my old ones rusted of
 
Really the while you're there jobs are up to you, but things like cleaning, testing and rebuilding the fuel injectors, removing and cleaning the oil cooler, new hoses, new vacuum lines, all new gaskets, valve seals, new fuel filter, maybe a new radiator, water pump, clutch fan, check rear heater hoses, rebuild the starter contacts, etc. I just did a lot of this on my truck if you want to check my build thread but it gets expensive very quickly :-/



IrishLX450 said:
I've got a quote of $2,600, but could be more or less, this includes pressure testing, machining head, flushing radiator, oh well, has to be done.
My bank account deems that I avoid any "since I'm in there" scenarios !, but, since you mentioned it what might be some good while I'm in there jobs ?
Beno, can you get heat shields for exhaust manifold ?, my old ones rusted of
Click to expand...
 
$2500 if head is machined. Add another $1500 if you have to replace the head and associated parts.
 
If you have the valves ground, also have the shop tip the valves back into clearance. the clearance pucks are made of unobtanium if you do it by buying the correct thickness puck. You can get most of them, but there will be one or two that no one has.
 
For example the injectors:
I had one go bad so I know 1st hand.
You can have them cleaned and rebuilt for $115 and it takes about an extra 5 mins to switch them out as you will already have the fuel rail off to do head gasket.
Dealership charged over $100 just to determine one of the injectors was bad. The price for one new injector was about $300 (did job myself). That's about $400 to change 1 bad injector (not all 6).

If you spend the $115 for the parts you essentially get the labor free and all your injectors would be rebuilt.
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

This is the same reason shope recommend to change water pump or tensioners, when doing timing belts.
 
OUbobcat20 said:
Toyota dealership just quoted me $1200 which includes all labor, gasket, and machining.
Click to expand...

This sounds unbelievably reasonable for a Toyota dealership. If you can't do it yourself that would be the way to go. Just understand that they are going to find some " things " while they are in there and that the bill is going to go up.

As for some of those other quotes they seem absurdly high. I just bought an entire reseal kit from Beno earlier this year and it was less than $400, that's every seal you need ( as long as they don't forget one or two of them :) Having the machine shop clean and plane the head would have been a little over $200, I opted to have a valve job as well which drove the bill up over $600. We will not go into the while your in there's or the fact that I rebuilt the whole motor. I still haven't figured up my final costs. I do know the head can be done for less than $700 if you did it yourself.
 
Does anybody else think that the price of having it done is just too damn high?
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I mean, $4500 to fix the HG and get all the "while I'm in there" stuff out of the way...
At that point, wouldn't an engine swap almost be more cost justifiable?
I mean, if you're already going to shell out $4500, why not pay a little more and just get a rebuilt engine?

I don't mean to complain, but I really feel like professional mechanics are basically extorting people most of the time. I understand there is a lot of training and whatnot that goes into it. Plus the regular costs of doing business. Plus this and that, but when will it end?
 
The higher the price the wrench-less are given the better.
This is how they end up in a grease monkeys hands for $1500 with free tires and interior included!
 
Stick with the basics if you are on a budget. There are threads all over on here where they just pulled the head and replaced the gasket only. Checking and milling the head should not be left out. If it's within the limit though you can let it go. Valve stem seals come in a head set so why not have at least those replaced or do it yourself-there are threads about leaking stem seals. Anything external can be replaced later if needed-just extra labor-even plugs and phh. Read up on average lifespans of parts in it. You don't need to make it all new all over again-the rest of the chassis most likely still has over 200k+ unless you are rebuilding the entire truck. Lots of the WYIT items are peace of mind or ocd or pros padding their parts markup-which is high. It's extra profit replacing every part since they're off anyway-no extra labor. Easy to argue that you're not "doing it right" Many shops markup parts 50-100%
 
Yup, mine will be done by a very reputable mechanic SD TRUX here in SD very soon and if you are anywhere near 200K miles and you plan to keep the Cruiser you might as well plan on putting a new head. Because it is going to suck when you get this job done and 5K or 10k miles down the road your head cracks. Then you are doing or paying for it all over again!
 
Yup, mine will be done by a very reputable mechanic SD TRUX here in SD very soon and if you are anywhere near 200K miles and you plan to keep the Cruiser you might as well plan on putting a new head. Because it is going to suck when you get this job done and 5K or 10k miles down the road your head cracks. Then you are doing or paying for it all over again!
 
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