Is head gasket leak a common problem?

[Flipz]

Hi,

I went to the dealer today to finish a lower joints recall for the car and they said the timing needs to be changed but while they were checking it out they found out that the head gasket is bad and there is a bad leak from there. I asked the person about it but he couldn't show it to me because it is beneath the motor but said it is pretty common problem with Eclipses because the motor is not Mitsu but Chrisler's and they had a really crappy design on the gasket not to mention the warranty on that one is only 36K miles. He quoted me $900 for the repair which is OUTRAGEOUS. He said that the gasket cost $187 and the rest is labor. I was wondering whether anyone of you have had that problem about the crappy head gasket?

How much did you spend on the parts and labor. I am thinking of changing my timing belt and water pump so the labor will be combined for all but still $900 for that is too much . I will check Autozone for new head gasket, can you recommend me some quality one or a place to find it cheaper than the dealer's $187?

Thank you for your time,

Best Regards,

Svetlin

P.S

I just found one head gasket at http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/cat...partGroup=20&EPImodelID=19680&EPIengineID=653 Is this what is bad in my car or is the dealer referring to something else?

 

[oldman]

I asked the person about it but he couldn't show it to me because it is beneath the motor but said it is pretty common problem with Eclipses because the motor is not Mitsu but Chrisler's and they had a really crappy design on the gasket

I would not trust anything he has to say. Are you losing any oil, coolant? Any coolant in oil and oil in coolant? Are you blowing smoke at all? Is the car over heating? Coolant boiling over? Did they perform a compression/leakdown test?

If the answers are "no" which I suspect, take the car home and never admit your car in that dealer again. If you want to be sure, take the car to a trusted dsm shop for a second opinion. Good luck.

 

[Flipz]

Hi,

actually I haven't had any problems with the car at all. No smoke or anything like that but these guys got me worried because they said that if the leak continues some coolant can get into the motor and fry it. I am changing the timing belt in 1-2 weeks so if the labor is the same to change the gasket I might as well do it considering the price I found online was only 30 bucks for that. What can you advise me? Have anyone had that problem before, these guys sounded like every second Eclipse 2G they accept have it

 

[oldman]

Hi,

actually I haven't had any problems with the car at all. No smoke or anything like that but these guys got me worried because they said that if the leak continues some coolant can get into the motor and fry it. I am changing the timing belt in 1-2 weeks so if the labor is the same to change the gasket I might as well do it considering the price I found online was only 30 bucks for that. What can you advise me? Have anyone had that problem before, these guys sounded like every second Eclipse 2G they accept have it

Who is doing the timing belt job? Most shops will charge about 1hr more for the HG from a timing belt job. I don't trust these guys at the dealer, they sound like used car salesman.

 

[girlieracr4g63]

I suggest you call them tomorrow, and ask if maybe they could tell you how they knew it had a leak if it wasn't visible. Also, I agree that it sounds like they are trying to rip you off.


Wendy

 

[styx]

Who is doing the timing belt job? Most shops will charge about 1hr more for the HG from a timing belt job. I don't trust these guys at the dealer, they sound like used car salesman.

1hr more, don't think that includes cutting the head.

 

[Flavor-DSM]

I recently replaced my head gasget I bought it from Advanced for $98.88 .. me and my dad used my brother-in-laws shop (and his tools!) to change it along with the timing belt and water pump.. The way we found out the gasget was a little shot was because the radiator hose would build up an abondance of pressure even if the car would run for about 1/2min to 1min.. the car had a plethora of problems that we seemed to overcome over the weekend and now it runs fine after sitting for a year and a half (the guy that owned it before me) but by all means i would replace the water pump (if its bad) and timing belt (dont want those babies to go).. if your not noticing any signs that the head gasget is shot then i can bet they might be tryin to take your money..

 

[Mike Marnik]

I would say have a trusted shop check it out when they do you timing belt and if it does need the HG have them do it but from what it sounds like the dealer is bsing becuase you should be able to see it from top it would be hard to see from below. they may even be bsing about the timing belt thats JMHO.

 

[Flipz]

Hi,

Well the timing belt is my opinion because the car is on 100K miles and I do not want to risk waiting for 120K for the timing belt to be changed (usually done every 60K) as I just bought the car and the last thing I need is a timing problem that would break the motor. The gasket problem is really weird indeed as they said the car is leaking oil and I am parking in my spot in front of my house every morning, the car stays outside the whole night and all these weeks I would have noticed drops of oil under it. I know it doesn't make sense but the dealer sounded so convinsing, he even said that the design of these things is bad because it is not Mitsu's but Chrysler's .

 

[deusxmachina]

If you are wondering about the head gasket, buy a $20 tester, do a compression check, and post the numbers here.

If it comes to it, I wouldn't put anything but a Mitsu head gasket in. Hard to believe they cost $175+ though when a turbo 2.0 gasket is 100 less than that.

So far, sounds like the same kind of hucksters at the Jiffy Lube who told my mom her car needed a transmission fluid change for $80. Too bad I changed the fluid myself on that car weeks prior and it was so clean you could barely see the level on the dipstick. Assclowns.

 

[Flipz]

Excuse my lack of knowledge but what is a compression check and where do I buy this tool to do it - is it difficult to be done?

 

[Mike Marnik]

its a guage that you can buy at your local autoparts store just ask for a engine compression tester. it works by taking out a sparkplug and then the end of the gauge screws into where the spark plug goes. then you turn off the ignition coil i just pull all the plug wires off my spark plugs and turn the engine over for a few seconds and it hold the highest compression it read then you reset it and move on to the next cylinder. its very easy and shouldnt take more than 30min on your own.

 

[oldman]

Excuse my lack of knowledge but what is a compression check and where do I buy this tool to do it - is it difficult to be done?

compression test