Replacing a Head Gasket

[RSmith]

Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of buying a cheap car with a faulty head gasket as a project car. What do you think would be the chance of being able to buy the car and replace the gasket then and there and drive it away instead of having to tow it?

 

[BAD63R]

Hello and welcome. It is possible if you have a spare hour and the facility to skim the head whilst you are there oh and also the headgasket of corse lol. But yeh it should be doable aslong as you have everything to do it. Might also be worth doing the cam belt aswell if you are removing the head. But list needed.

Head gasket and pulley kit.
Facility to skim head.
Tool box for removal.
Torque wrench for fitting head back on.
New belt as its off anyway.
And its up to you but might be worth just giving it some new oil and filter to help it along

 

[lutonmatt]

what car is it and i would say tow it home as something is going to go wrong if you try and do it on someone drive

 

[obi_waynne]

In my experience a lot of head gasket problems are caused by other faults and nearly always overheating. I'd feel happier giving the engine a complete once over whilst I had the head off.

Removing bolts from the exhaust can be a real pig at times if these have rusted on so expect a bit of a fight.