I just bought an 02 cavalier with a blown head gasket and I'm not sure if I should pull the engine and do a complete rebuild or if I can get away with just remilling the head. It was driven a while with coolant in the oil and it did overheat so I'm assuming the head is warped if not cracked. I haven't opened it up yet so I don't really know how bad it is.
It still starts and drives so it can't be totally screwed right?
Depends what you can do yourself.
Well if you pull the head check it with a feeler gauge and a good straight edge and see if you find any spots that aren't flat. Or send the head out to be checked.
We had a 96 sunfire that had blown a head gasket and drive it home and did what I suggested and it ran fine once we put a new gasket on....however ours didn't overheat it just smoked a little.
For me it would depend on what the intent was for the car. If it was a beater, i would just throw a new gasket in it and see what happened.
As long as it was not making any mechanical noises I would start with cheap oil and after driving it 50-100 miles i would change it to synthetic if it was running fine (just using the cheap oil at first because there was moisture in the motor) and forget it ever happened
If it was a car that needed to make it for a longer period of time or wasnt "beater status", i would do the same process, but send the head to be checked and milled if needed, and get fresh head bolts.
The LN2 can take a heck of a beating and survive. Even if it needs a new head, they cost almost nothing from a scrap yard.
"A car just isn't a car without a little blood, sweat, and beers." -- Shadowfire
Well while I have the head of I might as well check the rest of the valve train. And if the lifters are bad I'll have to pull the engine anyway to change the camshaft. So is there anything else I should check or replace while I have it all apart? I'm probably going to change the timing chain and sprockets as they are past their life expectancy. But should I do rings and rod berrings too?
It's definitely not a beater and I plan to drive this car for a good long while. So I'll definitely have the head checked out. Thanks
