318i head gasket replacement cost (need opinions please)

[mellowyellow88]

Gruppe:

Still in search of a daily driver. Will be checking out a 1991 318i hopefully this weekend. The owner (2nd owner) does not know if the head gasket has been replaced. The car has about 120,000 miles. I'm not familiar with these cars but I know they have head gasket problems. For those of you who own 318s, can you tell me how much it is to replace the head gasket? Assuming it's done at a shop, not by yourself. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[e9nine]

..they are usually replaced by that mileage as the premature failure occured before that mileage. HTH

[Bill 84 318i]

It's actually the profile gasket that was faulty on the M42. I'm 99% that it would be replaced by 120k. If not, it is a very rare case.

[playmakr]

trust me, i found out the hard way

trust me, i found out the hard way.........................................i bought my '91 318is with 142k. After driving for an additional 8k i noticed that the car was overheating. Also, noticed water "shooting" out of what looked to be the water pump i replaced it. Turns out there's a gasket on the front of the engine (profile gasket) which was leaking and the oil pump cover (memory) had coroded somewhat (previous owner did not change anti-freeze regularly) causing the leak. The problem is to change the profile gasket, the head has got to come off. While i did this, i took the opportunity to rebuild the cylinder head, valve job etc. They had to shave a little off of the cylinder head at the machine shop so this raised my compression - whatever they did - the car revs like a "bat outta hell" now. Make sure you feel comfortable with the owner's story if he tells you that it was replaced. Get details, make sure the story jives with mine and others on this board, or better yet, see if he has a receipt.

-p

[nando]

maybe use the questionable history of the headgasket as a bargaining point. I don't think it's that big of a job to replace, and you may save some $$ on the car.

[mellowyellow88]

thanks guys

Thanks for the tips guys. If all goes well, I'll check the car out tomorrow. Will let you guys know how it goes. I'd like to get a collective opinion as to how much you'd pay for a four door 318i (1991) with about 120,000 miles, assuming that it "looks" and "drives" like it should.

Thanks in advance, again. Happy Holidays!