Head gasket + timing belt (full engine job) cost

A serpentine belt takes 5 minutes to replace and may cost a tow and some inconvenience if it fails. A timing belt takes hours to replace and can cost an engine if it fails. You’re comparing mandarins to grapefruit here.

 

 

$2100 is too cheap, proceed with caution and plan on the bill rising.

My opinion is that the comparison is mandarins to grapefruits only in the work required for the job. My argument against "one time use" is this. Let's say I have the timing belt done. I drive the car once and realize I now need head gaskets. Would you seriously put in a new timing belt after driving it once? If so, please explain why.

My brother used this dealership and had his head gaskets done for $1,600. That included any other gaskets that needed replacing. This is a Subaru dealership, so I'm pretty confident that they are doing right by me.

Dealerships are known to cut corners and use undertrained techs. LOL. Its the secret sauce to making money.

Yes I would change the belt in your scenario. Honestly if you replace a timing belt and realize on the test drive the head gaskets are popped you might be the least competant mechanic in town. Or your a scam artist. So I would replace anything and everything you touched just to be safe.

This is a Subaru dealership, so I'm pretty confident that they are doing right by me.

Haven't spent much time around those places, have you?

In your shoes, I would also have the dealer do the work with that price difference.

and I completely agree with your example below, this is all I was trying to say.

"My argument against "one time use" is this. Let's say I have the timing belt done. I drive the car once and realize I now need head gaskets. Would you seriously put in a new timing belt after driving it once? If so, please explain why."

These are cars, they don't last forever. When I'm bored, I like watching the south main auto channel on youtube. He's a shop owner in New York, you should see the cars he works on, 10 year old cars are falling apart from rust.

I would not be able to justify a head gasket job of $3800 on a 13 year old car. If I lived in CA, TX, FL, things might be different, because that 13 year old car could have a lot more life left in it. With that said, I have no idea how rusty WA state cars get.

So for a dealer to do the job for half the price, yes, I'd go that route too. As far as the quality of work goes, sure, dealers might do the job a little different than an independent shop would. But at the same time, do you think that tech wants to see a head gasket job roll back into his bay to be done a second time?

My opinion is that the comparison is mandarins to grapefruits only in the work required for the job. My argument against "one time use" is this. Let's say I have the timing belt done. I drive the car once and realize I now need head gaskets. Would you seriously put in a new timing belt after driving it once? If so, please explain why.

 

Of course I would. I am held responsible for everything that I do, and every part that I install on your engine. If I reused your timing belt whether it had 2 miles on it or 200k miles on it and it failed for some reason later I would be held responsible. I guarantee my work for 3 years and 36k miles, I can’t guarantee a belt that I can’t guarantee the history and origin of.

I don’t install customer supplied parts for the same reason.

Of course I would. I am held responsible for everything that I do, and every part that I install on your engine. If I reused your timing belt whether it had 2 miles on it or 200k miles on it and it failed for some reason later I would be held responsible. I guarantee my work for 3 years and 36k miles, I can’t guarantee a belt that I can’t guarantee the history and origin of.

 

I don’t install customer supplied parts for the same reason.

That is a great point. I didn't think of it from the perspective of the shop owner. I was thinking of it more from the perspective of the DIYer. Makes perfect sense though that the shop would have a standard of everything they replace on any given job.

This is interesting. I just called a dealership who had quoted a pretty low number. They said $1,800 for the head gasket job. When I commented that this was about $2,000 less that others, he asked if it was for one or two. When I said I wanted both replaced (why would anyone ever just do one?) he said, "Oh, it's $1,800 for one, $3,800 for two."

I asked why it was more than double when the majority of the cost is labor to remove and reinstall the engine? It seems that once they have done all that, it would just be a few hundred for the other side. He said, "That's just the price for both."

Looks like I'll be clearing some garage space to do this myself.

LOL. 1800 for one. Good old dealership.

They were gonna try to do one head in car. It can be done, but I have never seen it done properly and without damage.

Update. For anyone who lives in the Seattle area, I found a guy on CL who is a semi-retired Subaru technician working part time from home. I know that can sound sketchy, but I decided to give it a shot. Went to his house and he obviously knew his stuff. Had a nice garage for working on cars and two Subarus in the driveway. Everything checked out. He knew every single quirks you might encounter when doing a job like this.

Long story short, I went over today to check on the progress. Engine removed, heads machined, new gaskets in place, main seal replaced, all other gaskets and seals etc., done. Didn't need a new timing belt since that was just done along with the water pump. He's putting it all together now. Total cost out the door: $1,300. That is $2,500 less than what the dealership wanted for the same job.

I'm guessing that is more than he made at a dealership for the same job. This time he keeps all the money. Win for him and a win for me! PM me if you live in the area and want his info.

He had warned me before he started that it might need a valve job done too, which would increase the machine shop cost to around $500. Once he had it all apart he let me know that the valve guides were in great shape and did not need additional work. He also mentioned that the valve guide problems were not as common after 2004.

We caught this leak pretty early, so no major breach had taken place in the gasket either. He said the cylinders had typical carbon buildup but no evidence of burning oil. It all looked very clean! Wahoo!

Now if I can just keep my teenage daughter from wrecking it when she takes it to college.

I just called to find out about having the head gaskets done on mine. He said they have to replace the timing belt too since it is a one-time use thing. They replace all other main seals, gaskets, and machine the heads. Total cost is about $3,800. Ugh.

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Didn't need a new timing belt since that was just done along with the water pump. He's putting it all together now.

Man you should have done a timing belt, what's another 35 bucks for a stock OEM timing belt. To me this is corners cut. But to each their own. hey it might last forever or, when you give it the beans it takes a shit.

 

Man you should have done a timing belt, what's another 35 bucks for a stock OEM timing belt. To me this is corners cut. But to each their own. hey it might last forever or, when you give it the beans it takes a shit.

Holy old thread bump batman. That car is in a junkyard at this point