Head Gasket?

[brasolt03]

Well i think my poor conti is showing the classic sign of a blown head gasket Coolant level is dropping about every thousand miles and there is a grey sludge in the collant. I knew it was bound to happen I own an infamous 94. My question is how much money am I looking at to have a shop do it. I don't mean a dealer but a trusted shop that I use they charge 45 an hour. I was hopeing i could get them done for 600 or less is this a good estimate? The engine itself is fine runs like a top no smoking missing or hesitating. The car which i have owned for two months is in perfect shape otherwise even the air suspension is in good shape also the car is not overheating always stays at 4 bars.

thanks for any info!

 

[Conti94]

Well the estimated cost for a Head gasket replacement parts and labor is $1400. But I am sure you can find a place that will charge less. The Gasket itself is only about $20 bucks. But $600 sounds possible.

 

[brasolt03]

I think your right on with you 1400 doller estimate conti i have been looking around and that seems to be about the norm. I think I jumped the gun though becuase it was dark when i was checking the fluids and i only had a flash light so to me it looked like all the coolant was gone but in fact the radiator and overflow are at there normal levels. The only things that concerns me now is that if I run my finger alond the inside of the filler tube on the radiator there is a greyish black sludge. The car has a very stable tempeture always stays at 4 bars no matter what which is right in normal and the engine runs like it brand new. No white smoke or water out the tail pipe!
so i don't know maybe i overreacted!

thanks,
brasolt03

 

[MichiganTeddyBear]

have you changed/flushed the coolant recently??? I have seen 'sludge' from old coolant in an otherwise fine system. another possible cause of 'sludge' is additives for sealing (stuff like Barsleak, ect). Previous owner of my Jimmy used barsleak to try to stop heatercore leak, it was 'sludgy' looking inside radiator.

Also, if its dropping that slowly, I would suspect pinhole leak someplace, like heater core, or radiator, or hoses. When the gasket on my 3.8 cougar went, it went thru coolant a lot faster than every 1k miles. and it was only burning it when engine was cold!