Cylinder head and head gasket on a 2002
 

For those of you who replaced the head gasket, does the head usually need machining?

I called the dealership asking about replaceing the gasket and asked if the price included them machining the head and they said " machining aluminum heads usually doesn't work, blah, blah..... be prepaired to pay us another $1200" They also wanted to mention that it might be a good time to bend over and replace the engine since it has 250k on it.

Needless to say I will be doing this myself (not beyond me) so I will be replacing the timing belt / water pump, seals, etc. Everything I have to touch to do the gasket.

I know 250k is a lot of miles on a motor I am religious about oil changes every 5k and it still runs great (minus leak of course). I figure that even if I were to replace a cracked head and everything else and spend $1000 and get another couple of years out of it, it would be worth it.

PS- Should the head bolts be replaced also.

Re: Cylinder head and head gasket on a 2002
 

just take the head to a machine shop, they will fix it up for you. and yes head bolts should always be changed.