Rep Power: 0

After doing some research...the engine on my girlf's honda has a bad head gasket. Repair work for head gasket, timing belt, water pump is about 2K.....I can get a engine with 75K miles and 30 day warranty for 600 bucks, throw in a new timign belt and water pump for about 250 more. Still less than 1K...

Are there any gotchas for changing the engine out? Can it be done without having to take out the tranny and all?

 
Rep Power: 811

pretty sure you need a cherry picker, and yea the trans has to come out. head gasket change should only be around 450 (at the dealer), assuming the head is not warped. pay a shop 75 to check for warpage and clean the old head. timing belt and water pump costs 200 and labor should be included in the head gasket work since the whole engine bay is already taken apart and its easy to change those things before putting it all back together. shop around some more

 
Rep Power: 290

How many miles on the girls engine? You don't really need a new engine if just the head gasket is bad. People on this forum will give you pointers for changing out the head gasket, timing belt, and other stuff. If you have the ability to change the engine yourself, then fixing the current engine shouldn't be a problem.

 
Rep Power: 0

sooo, if u can change an engine out, why not just put a new headgasket on, and change the timing belt urself, 300 bucks on the high side, with about 6-8 hours of work....

 
Rep Power: 0

I thought between parts and stuff it would be more than 500 to do a headgasket change....


Her engine has 105K.....if I can get a good used for for 500 I think it would be best...

Dont you?

 
Rep Power: 290

Honestly, I think doing an engine swap would be more work then changing head gasket, timing belt and water pump.

 
Rep Power: 0

yea, but how do u know the engine doesnt have the same problem, or a bad waterpump, or timing belt... u would have to overhaul it anyway, to make sure its in good working order... just do the repairs for 3-500 bucks, ull be better off

 
Rep Power: 227

^^^agree. HG is ~$35-40 here in Atlanta from the dealer. Im planning on doing a replacement as well, along with the water pump and timing belt. Im looking at replacing all three items for ~120, with me doing the labor.

If you do it yourself, have a friend around to help for the crank pulley bolt removal. Ive heard its as easy as pulling excalibur out of the rock.

 
Rep Power: 0

its easy with the crank pulley tool

 
Rep Power: 0

^^^ Word. It's not hard to do it yourself as long as you have the right tools, a Hayne's manual, some beer, and two days to do it.

Crank pulley tool and a torque wrench are the only specialty tools you'll need for the job.

 
Rep Power: 0

OK. I can probably do it myself then. One thing is that the head might need ot be resurfaced so I might be out of some additional funds there.

I do have a chiltons manual. But honestly I've never worked on these little cars before. Ive always worked on GM cars and trucks. Much easier. Im going to try to convince a friend at work that is a tuner to help me with it. Might have to pay him 200 bucks or so but at least I'll be sure its done right....

Unless there is someone here on the board that lives in Austin, TX and wants to make some money.....