Post Gasket Engine Life Expectancy

Here’s the symptoms: Check engine light diagnostic showed cylinder 3 misfiring so replaced plugs - engine light subsequently went off for two days and then permanently reappeared. Changed oil/filter and all looked good - no milkshake effect. However noticed drop of green coolant at base of engine block, so there’s a leak somewhere. No overheating visibly took place. Heard “gurgling” sound in dash, from back pressure in coolant system. Was adding ounces of coolant to overflow reservoir each month but not enough to cause alarm. At cold start idled rough for a minute then idled/drove as normal without negative effect on mileage, highway driving, acceleration, etc.



In short, local (overseas mind you) dealership indicates it’s a blown valve/head gasket at serious cost ($K’s in USD).



Considering this is pricey here in Europe, if gasket is replaced and leak is located/fixed, how many more miles should I expect out of this engine?

If it’s done correctly and there’s been no erosion to the head, the engine should have normal life expectancy.

Congratulations of having monitored the situation and taken action before it manifested itself as an engine-destroying problem. We get countless posts here from people who never paid attention to the symptoms until the problem became too serious.

Thanks TSM, our fingers are crossed as the mechanics start working on it Mon am… I’ve got a growing list of questions for the Service Manager once he calls to report what they see with the head/valve cover removed. Hope to see no cracks…

How many miles would you guestimate to see out of these Chrysler engines? This goes into my calculation to figure out if we keep or sell considering I need to also overhaul the front and rear brakes at the same time.

Are there specific tests, e.g. compression, that I should have completed post-fix to validate the engine’s worthiness?

The engine is probably good for another 100,000. Clearly it’s in good hands at your house.

Cracks aren’t really very common, in fact they’re very rare. And they should check for flatness and paths from erosion from the combustion gasses blowing through the headgasket breech.

They’ll have to fire the engine up, warm it up, and check it out anyway. When they do they should be checking for evidence of passage between the cylinders and the water jacket.

Good points TSM… I’ll add these specifics to my questions/feedback once the full diagnosis is in come Wed-ish.