prelude head gasket

[zxdreamer]

Hi everyone ... I have a question regarding a head gasket for a 98 lude vtir ...
I had it taken to honda for a service when it was overheating & they cleaned out the radiatior & replaced all the hoses & said it was fixed & will not overheat anymore ... only a few weeks later it has overheated again, so i've taken it back & they've now said the head gasket is gone & there is no compression in the engine ...
my first question is ... should they not have pressure tested the cooling system in the first place to make sure the radiator was the problem to begin with

second question ... here is the quote ... is this standard or a major rip off??
Head Gasket Repairs:

Parts Required:
Cylinder Head Gasket Kit (X Japan)
Timing Belt & Tensioner
Balance Shaft Belt
Cam Seals
Heater Hoses
Water Pump
Coolant
TOTAL PARTS: $1400
TOTAL LABOUR: $1500 <---how many hours do they think they need to spend??
HEAD MACHINING: $500 (if head requires extensive repairs there is a likelyhood of requiring
a replacement cylinder head, in which case the price will be a
considerable amount more)
FLUIDS & SUNDRIES: $200

oh and as soon as the car came back from the original service it doesn't start first time like it always has ... they say the solenoid on the starter motor is gone .. and here is the quote

Parts Required:

Genuine Starter Motor

TOTAL PARTS: $1450
TOTAL LABOUR: $250
GRAND TOTAL: $1700

sounds like a total rip off??

thank you for your help

sally

[finalazy]

its usually easier to check thermostat or radiator first to see if it fixes things

same thing happened to me, had to replace head gasket

got it done together with my major service and it cost about 1k

[teh_mechanic]

for all that work thats actually not that bad a price )except for the genuine starter motor, get an aftermarket one, definitely not worth $1450)

for all that work i would quote 8 hours. removing the head is a fairly large job. in saying that i charge my after hours work at around $50 dollars an hour and my boss is around $90 during work hours,whereas honda will be charging closer to $150 an hour, for big jobs like this it really can pay to find a good independent mechanic, we are as knowledgeable as any honda mechanic but are able to charge lower prices.

also, your cylinder head should not need to be replaced unless you did severely large damage to it like overheating the car until it stopped. normal procedure is to take the head off and machine it back to flat, as the overheating actually bends the head very slightly, resulting in the leaking head gasket you may have