Head Gasket

[snalajxb565]

Hey new comer to the boards but on my second discovery went with the 2001 Sd model my mechanic gave it a good bill of health
The main question I had was its pretty common or so I have been told that the older engines tend to leak oil in the head
gasket. My buddy had a 2000 with 77k miles and it lasted 2 years before his mechanic finally said better to get done based
on inspecting the car once he got to 100k. So the question of the day is there a way to measure visually the urgency of the
head gasket?

Thanks in advance.

cheers

 

[alzerom]

Can't measure it visually. The ways the head gasket is laid out is that it can leak to the outside which is just messy, no harm no foul. Then the gasket fails back toward a piston letting water into the oil sump and serious other problems. You can monitor for the appearance of water in the oil, however it needs to be caught early so a test kit is needed. Waiting for the oil to become visually milky is inviting additional problems and you will wish you had replaced the head gasket. The time frame between just leaking to the outside and finally leaking into the piston would depend on how badly the heads were warped when it was overheated. Predictions will be impossible. Buy the kit for testing the oil - $100 and check it very often, or get it fixed.

This assumes the diagnosis of head gasket is correct. You can get the same leaking from the same area with a valve gasket leak which is an easy fix.

 

[snalajxb565]

Thanks for the info is the test kit retail or mail order.

 

[alzerom]

autozone... etc.