How difficult would it be to replace the head gasket on a 1996 pontiac grand prix?
July 2, 2009 | Car
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Re: “How difficult would it be to replace the head gasket on a 1996 pontiac grand prix?”
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even with detailed instructions, you will need quite a few specialty tools that average joe doesnt have. given the fact that you know so little about cars, i would take it to a shop.
–sure it isnt just the lower intake manifold gasket?
Take it to a mechanic! You have to adjust valves and many other issues way beyond your comprehension!
Which engine do you have and what is the problem?
I tend to agree with cra-z-r-n-u.
More likely an intake problem than head gasket if it is a 3.1L.
If we assume that you have a 3.1 liter engine. The intake gasket leaking is very common, much more common then a blown head gasket, and it is very common for it to be misdiagnosed. As far as pricing, in the Baltimore area it would cost $35-80 to diagnose the issue, and then about $700-1000 to fix it if its the intake gasket, and head gasket replacement would run in the $1200-1800 range. The ranges I quoted would depend on what kind of shop that was doing the repair, and what other issues they run into while the engine is apart. Keep in mind that the intake gasket leaks on most of these engines, and there is nothing you have done to cause the issue, but if you have continued to drive it with a blown intake gasket & badly overheated the engine you could have also blown the head gasket. This does not normally happen, we do atleast one of these each week and only once have we found a blown head gasket after diagnosing the vehicle as only having a blown intake. The problem on that vehicle was that the intake was just poaring out coolant, we replaced the intake gasket and then started checking over the engine to make sure everything was perfect, and found a blown head gasket. You should know that replacing the head gasket requires removing the intake also. In this particular case we found a cracked block when we pulled the heads off, so it was truely a worse case scenario. I tell you all of this to make it very clear, don’t drive it with the blown gasket, or if you do, don’t overheat the engine, keep it full of coolant. Good Luck