Hello I have recently had a fluid leak but believed it to be due to my reservoir having cracks -stupid plastic. Since that found the water pump had leak but during this time my gage never showed as hot. It never went above the middle. I was constantly filling the reservoir as it leaked.very quickly. Now the pump and T belt have been changed and right motor mount have been changed I believe the head gasket is blown. My question is - Is it worth it to replace the head gasket? It ran great before this problem . It's a 2004 with 160,000 mi. I have loved the car and didn't have any problems until some ninny hit me and broke the tie rod in a parking lot. My son is a helicopter mech. and can do the work to defer the labor cost but not sure what to do. The car starts but after it warms up it runs ruff.

 

The moral of this story for future readers is that it's better to fix the leak right away - it's a false economy to just pour in whatever liquid is pouring out...

If the labor is essentially free, heck yes, it's worth doing the head. You'll spend money at the machine shop getting the head planed and the valves done, but you'll be left with a car that most likely runs better than it used to (not because of the incrementally higher compression, but because of the clean, shiny valve seats and carbon-free internal passages).

 

Yes, addressing the leak was the most important that was why I found out it was the rezervoir that had a crack and J-B Weld was put on it as a temporary fix but it kept leaking and I didn't know where it was leaking from . My son finally got to look at it and found out that it was the water pump but by that time it already shut itself off at one point that's probably when the damage was done but thank you for your input I'm hoping that it will end up better just not sure how much they're going to charge 4 for doing the heads I'm hoping the Machine Shop can determine what could possibly be the problem and do a compression check before doing any work on it to see how much would be involved

 

???? I'm not sure what +1 is supposed to mean but if anyone has actually had the head machined or done the valve job on an S40 , 5 cyl ,and preferably a 2004, please let me know the outcome. I'm really worried as I'm not sure if the head is aluminum. I'm looking for some hope here.

 

+1 is just a shorthand way of saying "yeah, what he/she said".

I wouldn't get my knickers in too tight a twist over machining the head - it is aluminum, and a machine shop should be able to do what needs to be done with ease. You could always check with a local machine shop to see if they can give you any guidance / estimate.

Worst case is that the head is cracked, and that you'd have to replace it. Even then, there are plenty of these cars in boneyards, where a "new, used" head could be sourced for reasonable money.

 

Thanks habbyguy for your reply. I was told with aluminum parts there's basically no hope. It doesn't hold up well with heat.

 

Sounds like an old wive's tale - lots of aluminum heads being fixed every day. Just have to make sure it didn't crack, of course, but that's the case anyway. Most engines are built with aluminum heads these days - nothing unusual at all...