Bad Head Gasket.... Now what?

[grave79]

I just got the bad news today, my 96 518i has a bad head gasket, allowing exhaust into the radiator, causing overheating, radiator explosions, and generally bad things happening to my car. Of course I could pay £500-£800 to fix it, but I just bought a new Saab and was planning to sell this one anyway, so don't really want to do that. My remaining options, as I see it are:
a) Sell it as is, can't imagine I'd get much for it (but if anyone's interested, make me an offer ;) ).
b) Buy a used head, do the work myself. Never done it before, but I've got access to all the tools I would need to do it right, just a matter of finding the time.
c) Buy some chemical sealant stuff, like thermogasket, hope for the best, and feel sorry for whoever buys it off me (I'd be honest with them of course).

If anyone has experience with any of theses options, I'd appreciate their feedback. I would like to get the car back in good running order again, for the experience at least, but obviously I'm going to lose money on this and I'd like to minimize my losses as much as possible.

[infinity5]

i'd for for the liquid repair stuff and sell it. if no one will give you any money for it then part it out!

[632 Regal]

agreed on parting it, youll get more money that way and just think, you wont have to worry about how it goes together :D

[G Feller]

sux about the headgasket - good luck.

[DanH]

With a 518i you ought to be able to sit inside the engine bay and do all the work there. ;)

It can't be that hard to replace the headgasket? I'm not familiar with that engine. I dont think you'd need to buy another head unless its cracked or severely warped.

Maybe you could take it apart and get the head tested, if its no good, then part out the rest of the car. Otherwise slap in a new headgasket and sell it. You'll have to check out how good the used part market is over there to see if its worth doing that.

[grave79]

Dan, you're right about there being plenty of room in there! The only reason I fear it is badly warped is that I was rather slow in diagnosing the problem. (should have checked the boards sooner). This was the 3rd time in 2 months I'd had radiator problems, only now connected it to the head gasket, so I'm afraid after overheating it 3 times now, the damage could be bad, but it's certainly worth taking a look at before completely giving up. Only problem is, once you take it apart that rules out the thermalgasket solution, although I'm not convinced that's much of a solution anyway.

[Kalevera]

Personally, I would do it right or not do it at all. So, scrap the car, repair it the correct way, or sell it as is.

best, whit

[uscharalph]

Amen!!

[grave79]

Financially, I think 'doing it right' is the only thing that makes sense, I can get a reconditioned head for £400, or if the old head isn't cracked, perhaps I can get it ground without spending too much. Who knows, maybe all it needs is a new gasket, although I'm beginning to suspect the previous owner knew about it and pawned it off on me. Hopefully I'll be able to let you all know in the next month or so.

[BobHarris]

Get the head checked and rebuild it yourself.

Where are you? I know a place in Fareham that will skim a head for about £30 they are really good.

HTH

Bob