Honda Car Forum

My 96 Honda accord has a blown head gasket, and 215,000 miles. What should it cost to replace, what should I do to know a good job was done, or should I just get a lower mileage used engine?

I would opt for a used engine.There are some nice engine swaps that work if you want to up-grade to a higher performance level also.But Honda is not my forta, maybe someone else who sees this will give you some nice idea's.

if you bought the car new and all the services haqve been kept up there may still be lots of life left in the engine [many of my honda customers have way over 300k miles and the engines still run strong and don't smoke or make any bad noises.] figure 6 hours at your local labor rate [my fastest time for this job was3 hrs] plus pressure testing for cracks and resurfacing. you may as well have a valve job done and replace the stem seals at this mileage. and plan on a new timingbelt /tensioner and water pump. typicaly these jobs bill out at approx 1200 dollars in my area. this is still cheaper than a used replacement engine of uncertain quality. [ at least you know your engine] good luck i hope your trusted shop is reasonable.

what hobbabob said.