my 1989 dodge k car blew a head gaskett..whats that?

Answer 1

The head gasket goes between the "head of engine, - (part with the sparkplugs "manifolds" , - and valves etc). It is the "top" part of engine, - about 6-8 inches tall, - on your car it is made of aluminum, the engine block is bottom part of the engine, and it is made of cast iron! It is about 10-14 inches tall and contains the crankshaft and pistons and has all the accessories bolted on to it -(almost). The headgasket it the "seal" between the two main parts of the engine, it is supposed to keep water in the engine (for cooling), and the compression and "ignited explosion" contained within the cylinders. If it fails, the engine looses the water and overheats, - or the compression goes bad, and the engine misses (or won't run at all, ---- or both at same time)!

It is nice to have someone who will explain that the car isn't worth fixing, - when he hasn't even seen the car, or how bad off it is! This is my opinion,--- it is up to you to determine this! Your decision should depend on how "good" the car is! Is the interior nice (or at least satisfactory to you )? Is the body nice and streight? how about the paint, - is it "terrible", - or can you "live with it"??

Also it s it the regular 4 cylinder engine, or the "V6" ??. It is relatively easy to put one in the 4 cylinder engine, (providing the head isn't severly damaged by being driven overheated!) A reputable garage should be able to put on an "exchanged rebuilt head", along with a new head gasket for $5-600 (maybe less) depending on skill of mechanic, and "shop charges"! The "V6" on the other hand is quite expensive -- probably running you at least $1,200 or more (depending on what else you are going to have to buy to get it right!).

The important thing here is to find a garage that isn't going to give you a real "snow job", - but actually "honestly tell you" if this is your problem, and how much is it going to cost you to fix. -- then go from there!

Now tell me what kind of car are you going to "step" in to for less than $1,500?? And if you can't pay "cash outright" for "newer car",- (you are going to finance), -- then you are going to have to buy probably at least a $4,500 car- before they will even loan the money! They couldn't care less what you can afford, ---this is what you will get,--- if they finance it! Oh yes then you have to buy "full coverage insurance for it also, - which will probably cost you around $1,500 to $2,000 a year on top of the payents!

Now how much will you actually save by dumping it?? One other thing, it is probably only worth about $50 with a blown headgasket , - to sell outright or trade!

Answer 2

it means you'll spend more fixing it than it is worth.
click here for a definition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/special:search?
type in head gasket in the search box
.................news flash!!!!............................
i went to kelly blue book .com
i don't know which k car you have, so i assumed a 4dr aries k, fully loaded, 98,000 miles. it is worth (in my zip code) $1495.00 retail. that is assuming the car is in showroom condition. less than 5% of all cars fall into this catagory. i checked trade in value, or what a dealer would give you for it. it is $575.00.
the other fella thought i was pretty mean telling you that your car wasn't worth rebuilding without even seeing it. i suppose you might find a shade tree mechanic to fix her up for $575.00 but in reality...i doubt it. when they get in there it seems they usually find other things that were not forseeable until it is dis-mantled. so you have to ask yourself, "if i put $500-$1000 in this car, what is the value of it?" it is still worth the same amount regardless of what you do to the engine.
now what about the rest of the car? the transmission? tires? brakes? paint? interior? suspension? if you love this car...by all means keep it. but these cars (as are most cars nowdays) were throw away cars. sorry...i don't make the rules i just live by them, and i hate to see people dump a ton of money into a car that is totalled just by having to fill the gas tank.