Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:03:38 -0500 From: "The Malt Hound" <trn07040-nospamnospamast.net> wrote in message news:3872orF5gigo4U1nospamvidual.net... > > My car is a 1995 9000CS with 171,000 miles on it. I just blew the > headgasket. It will cost about $1,000 to get it all fixed, provided > there are no surprises like a cracked head. My mechanic says he only > sees cracked heads from running long and hard while overheated, > which I haven't done. > > So it's an old car, not worth much, but certainly worth a heck of a > lot less with a blown headgasket. I was thinking of selling soon and > now this happens. > > What would you do? > > If I get it fixed, I'm sort of committed to keeping the car at least > another year. Or maybe not. That does sound a bit steep for this job, but it all depends on the shop's labor rates, because that is really what you will be paying for. The actual cost of the gaskets, etc are minimal. That said, you could do what I did when my daughter's '93 9000cse blew it's gasket at 120k miles (a mere youth). Make it a project and do the deed yourself! Of course this assumes that you actually *like* doing auto work and have the tools and a garage to do it in... I got it done in a few weeknight evenings, putzing around after work. It is kind of a big job, what with removing the timing cover and all, but that just increases the sense of accomplishment when you get it all put back together and there are no "leftovers". ;-) Oh, also, we had another car around that she could drive while I took my time with the repairs. -Fred W