Rep Power: 0

I own a 05 Civic Ex Special Edition and the head gasket blew out, I took it to a Pep Boys near my house and they gave me a price quote of $1500. I want to know if it really does cost that much because i felt it was a little expensive and if it can be done for cheaper somewhere else. I live in middlesex county, new jersey so if anyone knows a good mechanic in this area it would be great.

 
Rep Power: 0

Well considering that a gasket kit is at best $116 for your car plus a few bucks for shipping and you may want new mounting screws and there's 10 of them on the D17a2 head block which'll run another 70-80$ (7-8$ a screw) and you'll most definately have to have the head resurfaced by a machine shop which is roughly another$200. That's already $400 about add an oil change to that and antifreeze and you should have all the stuff needed to change the head gasket if you have the tools and want to attempt a diy. If you know someone personally like a friend who's a mechanic, they'd usually do the job for 500$. A shop charges you about $1000 at least just for labor. Like I said parts, resurfacing, and fluids shouldn't run you more than $450. I just had my head gasket replaced @ 116000 mi. Same car year and trim as yours w/5mt, cost me 886 + 50$ additional for valve adjustment and like 25$ more for oil and coolant. Unless you use synthetic. Currently spun my engine bearing so I've got a much worse problem, need a new motor, and it looks like I'll be diving nose first using the trusty civic communiy forum and my civic diy manual as engine swaps at a shop tend to cost an arm and a leg to replace. Good luck with your fix. Try rockautoparts.com for felpro headgasket kit, do not buy the store brand one, felpro is much better. Majestichonda.com has very good prices for factory genuine Honda parts, hope these sources help you out a bit. Don't buy from a dealer either, the mostly charge retail prices that you can get cheaper at majestichonda or elsewhere if factory isn't mandatory.

 
Rep Power: 811

i paid a local honda dealer $500 for labor and i supplied the parts (gaskets, oil, coolant). and i brought a used head in i got for $150 off ebay and took to a machine shop to get checked out. there is no way you should be spending over $1k including all the parts and labor and even a different head. but you can reuse the old one so long as you get it checked before reinstalling. 1500 is a ripoff esp at pepboys i would never trust them with such a big job.

$100 gasket kit
$30 oil and coolant
$100 machine shop to mill, clean, pressure test the head
$100 head bolts
$500 labor
$150 if you get another head off ebay, which isnt necessary

 
Rep Power: 0

The only time you'd need another head block is if your's has cracks and/or leaks showing. $100 for machine resurfacing sounds great, I've heard of lower prices close to that, but just decided with my friend's trusty machine shop. And where did you find a good gasket set for a D17 @ $100? Your prices sound even better. As for Honda doing the labor for such a job here in staten island, ny, they rob you blind and have no shame in lying about the actual labor amount taken. I've had some very bad experiences with Honda dealerships to the point where I needed to call Honda of America on them, to get their act straight and to stop lying and giving me 20 different stories about what was causing my car to overheat, but they greedily took the money for the time they kept it sitting in their garage for hours without being serviced, I found this out from someone who works thee whom I somewhat knew in the Honda tuning community on the island. Well at least they returned all my wasted money and finally told me the truth of the cause and got me a free radiator, still runs good to this day. Dealerships are very shady to have your trust in when taking in for repair. Regular servicing, maybe, but then again, depends who works on your car. Anyway if I took my civic to the dealer here, they'd charge me at least $1500 for labor, sounds crazy right, not to me, they wanted $2100 to replace my clutch, at least I'll never in my right mind take it there again.

 
Rep Power: 811

i did get some honda dealer discounts at the time for all the parts due to me being a good customer. i took the head to carquest machine shop and for $100 they gave it the works. compression test, made sure all the valves and cam were properly installed, cleaned and hot-tanked the whole thing, and put assembly lube all over. and milling ofcourse. looked so much smoother than from the factory. i got a second head to make it easier cause the dealer wasnt going to send the head out on their own after removing it, and i would be without a car for more than a day too.

 
Rep Power: 189

I did the headgasket with my local mechanic and he only charged me $600 with resurfacing. $1500 is too much, but an expected price from a dealer.

 
Rep Power: 312

You don't need new head bolts. Honda head bolts don't stretch like a lot of other car manufacturer bolts do, this means you don't have to replace them. If your going for an upgrade get ARP studs but otherwise I'd never replace the bolts unless there is something obviously wrong with them. Here in Canada I paid 600 dollars for all the parts but I also replaced the timing belt, accessory belt, P/S belt, timing belt tensioner, and water pump. I did the work myself.