Head gasket replacement cost?

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KBHumphrey

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92 Wellcraft w/VP 4.3 430B 4100

Blew the impeller and ended up running her hot back to the dock. Unsurprisingly the two front cylinders are only pushing around 50psi so I likely blew both gaskets (knock on wood that no warping occurred.)

Anyway, shop estimated $1400-1500 to replace both head gaskets. While I don't expect anyone in here to give me a price, I would like to bounce it off you guys as to whether that seems reasonable. Sounds high to me. Granted, I'm not a marine tech, but where's all the labor hours coming from?

I'm not opposed to paying the diagnosis fee and hauling it to another shop for an estimate, but if it's going to be in the same price range, I'd just rather save the time and get it done.

What do you guys think?
 
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Lyle29464

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

They need to do a lot of inspecting before they can replace the gaskets.
 
BonairII

BonairII

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

KBHumphrey said:
Blew the impeller and ended up running her hot back to the dock. Unsurprisingly the two front cylinders are only pushing around 50psi so I likely blew both gaskets (knock on wood that no warping occurred.)
Click to expand...

Did you know motor was hot and continued to run it?

Hopefully, there is no damage to the cylinder walls.

I'd be checking to see if you can handle the head gasket replacement yourself. $1500 bucks to replace a gasket sucks.
 
tpenfield

tpenfield

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

That price it fairly typical, giving the amount of tear-down that is needed to get the heads off. Retail price on the gaskets is going to be in the $125 - 175+ range as both exhaust and intake manifold gaskets along with the head gaskets are going to need to be replaced during the re-assembly. Getting the old head gasket material off of the cylinder head and the engine block is tedious work . . . etc.

So, lesson for the day is do not run your boat back to the dock once the impeller craps out.
 
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MarkSee

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

KBHumphrey said:
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Is the $1400-1500 estimate just for the head gasket replacement or to do some diagnostic work to make sure something more serious did not take place? Seems like before telling them to just do the head gasket replacement you'd want to make sure something more serious did not take place like the other posters indicated.

If the inspection does not reveal any major issues, since the heads are off anyway, might want to consider having a valve job if that has not been done before on a 20 year old motor.

Just as a point of reference, even though we're in different parts of the country, in 2010 for all the labor and parts including valve job machine shop work my 7.4 in the Sea Ray the mobile mechanic I used charged $1500. So for a retail shop then, their estimate is not that far out of line.

Mark
 
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TilliamWe

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

As stated, the pricing is reflective of industry average. When I had the heads off my engine in 2005, the Mercruiser gaskets required to put it all back together were almost $300 alone. Since you are in a traditionally industrial, unionized area, I'll guess the labor rate is $90-$100 hr. As you can see, it doesn't take long to hit $1500.

This would be a good time to learn how to do this kind of work yourself! ;)
 
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KBHumphrey

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

Thanks for teh responses guys. I've done heads before on automotive engines that require tilting the block forward just to pull the cap all teh way off. I don't have a lot of marine engine experience but seeing how everything is exposed, I assumed it would be a quicker job. I'm toying with the idea of tackling it, but I've a lake trip planned in a couple weeks and we just closed on a vacation home so my free hours are sparse.

Thanks again.
 
BonairII

BonairII

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

If you think this repair may be over your head, or you would have to 'rush' to try to get it done yourself...then have the marine mechanic do the work. I'd definitely be sure that the $1500 is going to cover everything, and that the mechanic isn't going to surprise you with "extras" that he didn't list in his original estimate.
 
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TilliamWe

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

It's both easier and harder! Access is the main thing, and that varies from boat to boat. Once I removed my sunpad/seat back assembly, I could get right beside the motor. Good luck.
 
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PS94

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

If you've done automotive, this is easier. It's basically a chevy 4.3L out of an s-10, it's open, and accessible....but if you ran her with no water, and are down on BOTH front cylinders....I'd be budgeting for more than $1500. :(
 
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Lyle29464

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

When a car gets hot the water is still there cooling. It might be at 220 deg but that would sound great to the dried out boat engine that is at 900 deg.
 
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TilliamWe

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

The exhaust manifolds might be empty, but there'd still be water in the block, don't you think?
 
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Lyle29464

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Re: Head gasket replacement cost?

Depends on where the gaskets blew and how far it was back to the dock.
 
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