Is my Honda worth fixing? I have a crack in the head gasket ($1000) Need to replace the timing belt ($800) Mechanic recommends flusing fuel injection something ($80). Should I seriously consider a new or used car instead of fixing this old one?
There’s too many unknowns to say for sure. How many miles on the car and the most critical question of all; exactly how much overheating and/or continued operation of the car occurred with little or no coolant?
If it went through quite a bit I’d say unload it because a head gasket repair may not cure all of the problems that may exist.
If the head gasket simply popped and the car was not driven very far then I’d say fix it but price the job around. There’s some labor overlap on a head gasket job and a timing belt job so my opinion is that there should be a bit of a labor discount involved. Keep in mind this is ethically, not legally.
No idea why a fuel injection flush is even being considered at this point.
Is the car running bad or overheating??? Why is he saying you need a head gasket replacement??
Timing belt for this vehicle is normal maintenance. But $800 is awfully high.
Again…is the car running bad that the mechanic suggests you need fuel injection flush?? First off this is usually a scam and I think that these places that offer it are total sleaze. I’d find another mechanic if I were you.
Car has not given me any problems. It just hit 100K miles. I found out about the gasket when a pep boy mechanic was getting ready to change my timing belt. I guess I probably would have had the head gasket replaced if the Pep Boys would have done it. So, I told the mechanic to just put everything back together without replacing the timing belt and I would just look into. So, here I am in the process of trying to decide if I should just do this maintenance work or “unload”. Thanks again for your comment.
I have not had any overheating on this car. Don’t know when the gasket cracked.
This whole thing sounds suspicious to me.
An injection system flush on a car that’s not experiencing any problems is a moneymaking scam. All gasolines contain detergents sufficient to keep injectors clean except in extreme conditions, such as extremely low mileage vehicles that end up pumping very old gas.
A cracked headgasket (usually called a “blown” headgasket) allows hot exhaust gasses to be blown into the water jacket, usually causing overheating and coolant loss, and can also allow coolant to be drawn into the cylinders during the intake cycle and burned, producing white smoke and misfiring. Sometimes it will also breech into the oil return channels through which the oil from the valvetrain drains back to the crankcase and mix with the oil, diluting the oil with coolant.
Diagnosing a bad headgasket takes checking of the coolant for hydrocarbons, doing a pressure leakdown test (where the cylinders are pressurized with air and a gage to see if the can hold the pressure), or in some cases bubbles can be seen being blown up through the radiator cap hole…that’s combustion chamber gasses being blown into the water jacket and migrating up out of the jacket.
In short, I’d question the headgasket diagnosis. Unless there’s something he checked that you neglected to mention in your post.
In summary, you may want to look for a new shop.
Get a second opinion. This sounds bogus. How was the gasket problem diagnosed? If the head gasket is bad, there will be symptoms; loss of coolant, overheating, etc. Maybe all you need is a timing belt (and a new mechanic).
OK…Here’s part of the problem…The PepBoy mechanics work on commission. The mechanic was probably trying to drum up business. I’m really at a loss how the mechanic was able tell by visual inspection that you have a broken head gasket. You can’t even see the gasket…it’s sandwiched between the head and the block.
Take it to a TRUSTED independent mechanic. This story is getting shakier and shakier by the minute.
At 100K your Honda is middle-aged. Even if you needed the work described, good maintenance should give you at least another 100K - probably more. Hondas hold their value - for good reason.
Thank you for all of your comments. I took it to a mechanic a friend recommended today and he found no crack in the gasket just a leaky plug for the coolant. He is going to fix my timing belt for $600 and it looks like our trusty 2000 Accord is a keeper. Hooray!
Sincere congratulations. And thank you sincerely for the feedback.