The signs of a bad engine head gasket are engine overheating, white smoke coming from your exhaust, loss of coolant, engine burning coolant, milking or contaminated engine oil, bubbling in your radiator or coolant reservoir.
When an engine head gasket goes bad it can cause coolant to get into the combustion chamber or engine cylinders and lead to white smoke as the engine is burning the coolant and coolant can also get into the engine oil can cause milky looking engine oil which is bad.
The temperature gauge on your vehicle will also often go up due to a bad engine head gasket as the head gasket is not sealing the engine properly and keeping the coolant separate.
When an engine head gasket fails it can also lead to coolant leaking into the cylinders or combustion chambers and be burnt along with the fuel and result in white smoke coming out of your exhaust.
The exhaust smoke may also have a sweet smell and indicate the presence of coolant.
A blown head gasket can also cause engine coolant to mix with the engine oil and cause the oil to appear milky or contaminated.
If you think your head gasket is bad you should stop driving the vehicle and have it towed or leave it sitting if in your yard as continuing to drive the vehicle with a bad head gasket can lead to complete engine failure which can be very costly.
The cost to replace engine head gaskets depends on the vehicle but can range from $1,000.00 to as much as $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 if an auto repair shop does the job.
If you can replace the head gaskets yourself you can replace the head gaskets yourself for around $70.00 to $200.00.
Replacing the head gaskets is a big job and requires removing parts off the top of the engine including valve covers, and the engine heads to access the head gaskets.
Then the surfaces need to be cleaned to ensure a good seal of the head gaskets.
It can take several hours for head gaskets to be replaced and the cost of the labor is what is the most costly in replacing the head gaskets.
I replaced the head gaskets on my 92 Chevy Silverado myself and it took me a week to finally get everything done but I was having to work another job at the same time.
If I were focusing directly on replacing the head gaskets I could've had it done within a day or two.
Also you have to reset the valve lash once you put the heads back on so that is another part of the job.
To reset the valve lash on the 1992 Chevy Silverado I would tighten down the rockers for the valves and then would turn the engine crankshaft over 90 degrees and then tighten the rocker arms down again when they came loose.
Then I would turn the crankshaft another 90 degrees and repeat the process again and then continue turning the engine crankshaft 90 degrees again and tighten the rockers down enough to where they just slightly tight but not too tight.
Then I would repeat the process until I had them all tightened properly.
A shop wanted $2,000.00 to do the job and so I learned myself as I could've bought another crate engine for the amount of paying a shop to replace the head gaskets.