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I will be finding a mechanic to replace the head gaskets on my 2004 Subaru Legacy. What questions should I ask to find out if I can trust the mechanic? One mechanic said he would like to have the car for a full day to get a quote on it, is that normal? As a college student I don’t want to be screwed over, because I just don’t have the money to deal with that.
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Most of the shops want to up the time by telling you they need to pull the engine to do the job. The job can easily be done in the frame if they know what they are doing. Make sure they use a multi layer head gasket the repair will last longer if you do. There are mixed opinions on new head bolts vs using the old ones. The Subaru manual doesn’t say specifically if they can or can not be reused. Personally, I replace the head bolts because they are torque to angle and since our shop has a 3 year 36k warranty I go with new bolts. Not to say that I haven’t put a few back together with the old bolts when a customer needed to cut cost but then we also don’t warranty the work either.
Not sure where you are located but in the Denver area this repair cost 1800-2200 depending on the shop rate and if the heads need to be resurfaced or if there are going to be any timing belt components replaced.
So I went and talked with them, so they are saying I will have to get a new timing belt even though the timing belt is new. Am I being upsold or good advice?
On my personal vehicles I replace the timing belt any time I have to remove it. It is cheap insurance knowing that the belt was replaced. We do recommend a new belt but in the end the customer has final say and we note the repair order that we are reusing a belt. If you plan on keeping the car for a while I would go ahead and replace it. There shouldn’t be any extra labor charged for it only the cost of the part.
if you want to tell if the guy is good or not ask them how they check the head if its warpped and the vaulves…
what they shouldnt do is take the head off and just swap the new head on without checking it all out…. they should be able to give you an idea of the price… example if the valves are bad price $$$ if the head is warped or crack to bad $$$ if rockers or other parts are bad $$$…
they should be able to show you there equipment to test and explain how they test it.. and machine it them self…. or if they take it to a machine shop to have the work done… because a lot of auto shops cant machine there heads them self…. probably like 80% of them can not reseufice their heads them self..
now if you want to be sneaky and gather up more info and do more research you can call up machine shops and ask about them if they do work for them and stuff… example is there are not a lot of machine shops that do head work.. maybe like 2 every 45 miles…now you where talking about head bolts… they should always be replaced… what happens is the stretch over time by the heat… the thread spacing can get more of a gap… a lot of heads are like .0002″ between good or bad.. so unless you use a mercromitor to test the bolts not a caliper they dont have the resolution’s… its better off spending the $20 and get a new one… if the head bolts are bad it will start to leak maybe not right away but maybe in like a month or 2… requiring you to take the head all off again and re-replace the headgaskets again..
and they should be able to tell you how they do a pressure test off the car…. to correctly do it… you should also check the heads off the car for valve leaks and cracks
the work time should take like 2-12 hours of work to do… like a v4 something like 2-5 hours beponding on what has to be taken off… parts full head gasket kit is like $70 and bolts are like $25 call around to some auto part store and ask for parts and how long they think it should take to do…
just to give you an example I called to get an price to see how much it would be… several of them said they would have to call the machine shop and see how much they are before they can give me an price… wich means that they dont have the equitment them self… and means that they are not just taking the head off and putting on a new gasket but machining the head… now thats the stuff to check for… just an FYI
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