i had a friend of mine replace his head gasket when it blew forever agoin a 96 neon. he only replaced the head gasket none of the others from the kit only the main head gasket. he never had any problems compression was fine no service engine lights, no codes, nothin. I always thought when you did the head gasket you had to replace all of them? why did his stay fine without changing anything besides the one head gasket? thanks

 

I've done it too. It all depends on the condition of the gaskets and the gasket material. I don't suggest reusing gaskets, but you can get away with it. the exhaust gasket is copper, which is reusable if not bent, cracked, or broken, and the head can be pulled without disconnecting the intake manifold, it's a lot harder to pull off the motor. If you reuse the gaskets, might i suggest a light coating of Silicone on both sides of the intake manifold gasket, thermostat gasket, and valve cover gasket.

 

It depends on which HG he used. All brands don't offer the same quality.

 

im pretty sure it was a felpro gasket. dont think he's used any other brand, never had probs with felpro so why fix whats not broken. just seemed odd to me, everything i've ever read about it says replace them all, I repalced the hg in my girls vw jetta and swapped them all but it got me wondering about it

 

Who knows? The HG doesn't have a Lifetime warranty that I know of. It may have been just one of those things that happen.

 

the cam seals are probably your only biggest concern, and if they arent leaking now i wouldnt sweat it until somthing happens, other then that the valve cover gasket, tube seals, valve cover bolt seals, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets, thermostat gaskets etc etc etc all should be fine, even the cam position sensor gasket should be fine. If its not leaking anything now, dont mess with it.

oh and on a side note, i just did the headgasket in mine, and i replaced everything i could find in terms of gaskets for good measure, more work? no not really lol plus it gives me peace of mind

 

ive done it many times with no issues...as previously stated, it all depends on the condition of the other gaskets