I got a diagnosis for a mild blown head gasket to my 1994 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon from a local Volvo specialist. He quoted me $1400 to have it machined and replaced. A few weeks later he quoted me the same and added $350 to rebuild the cylinder head and springs. At 225k miles I'm hesitant to add more than the $1400 to "repair" the problem. Is the rebuilding work worth $1750 to a vehicle with such high mileage or will the $1400 job be enough?

 

What is a "mild" blown gasket?
Either it is blown or not. no in between.

The head gasket set is only $50. It can be swapped in as little as 1 hour.
If it is a "mild" case, then the head is probably fine. check it with a straight edge to double check.

You can then increase the price based on what new parts you want to install during the time. Like water pump, new plugs.... etc.


what is wrong with the car?
could be something else.


Edit:
Josh at Yosifab has a lot of good usable heads you can buy for cheap. Just get the head gasket set and head from josh, and bolt it all together.

 

The vehicle is leaking about a 1 1/2 cups of radiator fluid each day/ 20 miles of driving. The oil looks fine with no milkiness. Here's a few pics just along the head.

Light radiator fluid leak by along the bolt.




No leakage along its drivers side

 

it could be just the water pump seal doing that... its hard to see.
It could be the head gasket.
Did the car ever run hot? over heat? Then if it did, it could have warped the head and leaking from that spot.
If the oil and coolant isn't mixing, I would think the water pump or the edge of head gasket.

others will chime in with more experience.


Edit:


Just saw the oil leak also... Might have to do the head gasket, unless that is coming from the front cam seal.


both cam seals and water pump can be change during head gasket.


if the car has good compression. then fixing these problems will definitely get you to another 250,000miles no problem.

 

What you show in the pix is in no way indicative of a bad head gasket. I see a front cam seal oil leak, water pump upper O ring leak; both are very easy. Just did them today actually...

If the car has not overheated, you can just change the head gasket without any head/machine work... It is pretty simple. I don't know about "an hour", but an afternoon is definitely a possible time frame to swap a HG barring unforeseen problems.

Definitely nor worth sinking big $ into the car. A '94 940 is worth $1,500 with those miles.

I don't see why shops ask these crazy prices for B230 HG--I think $500 is quite reasonable for an afternoon of work...

In your case I doubt you need a HG anyway.

In the outside case that you need a HG, use a Blue Devil treatment--$30 and it works like a charm!

 

when my mechanic does a head gasket, by default he does the timing belt, tensioner, cam seal, water pump and thermostat, AND the head gasket. and he sends the head to the machine shop to be cleaned and pressure tested, milled if it needs it. this all adds up to about a $1200 job. oh and of course, if the hoses look even a little funky, new hoses all around.

 

Thanks everyone for the impute. I plan to give the engine a degreasing then inspect the head and behind the drain shield for other leaks. The temp gauge has never risen beyond the mid mark but the automatic fan has kicked in several times and radiator fluid was added. Never shown steam or smoke.

The water pump was replaced by the volvo shop less than 20k ago incorrectly then fixed by them a week later. I'm very skeptical to send it back to them but plan to get a second opinion by another Volvo specialist. I have no experience repairing fixes such as these and don't feel confident doing it alone but I'm not ruling out a gasket replacement quite yet. I'll post more pics soon.

 

A head gasket job is not a small affair, so as easy as these cars are, still, one needs some mechanical savvy (and muscle) to tackle it successfully. That said, you don't need to get "upsold" for all kinds of unnecessary parts and services just because the shop needs to make money. Those who know little and rely on mechanics for their services pay exorbitant prices and get fleeced. If you do your own work and have personal "hands on" experience, things become clearer and easier as you progress.

Another problem these days is the flood of cheap aftermarket parts shops use (while their labor rates move ever higher). These "new" parts they sell you on are much worse than the used parts they talk you into replacing because, oh "it's time"... Don't fall for it--"if it ain't broke, don't fix it", really applies in this case.

 

Having done a head gasket and head swap on a 240 wagon last winter, it's definitely involved especially for an intermediate garage mechanic like myself (a great youtube video walks through the whole process on a 240 - not sure how much difference on the 940)

Your coolant leak looks exactly like the coolant leak I had after I did the head swap. So chances are it is the seal underneath that "hood" looking thing. I replaced the water pump while it was apart and chiming in with Lev, the gasket/o ring that goes in there was the culprit, cheap after market parts.

Also agreeing with TIPSP, could very well be a cam seal leak, again, when I did my head swap the cam seals I went with originally leaked right at that same spot, again cheap after market parts, took the time to get genuine Volvo cam seals and all fixed.

You never really said why your mechanic said the head was blown, losing coolant but not overheating I would be a bit skeptical about the head gasket.