View Poll Results: What to do with a mechanically sound (ignoring the motor) 03 Caravan with 220k miles
Headgastket
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0%
Motor
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0%
Junk the whole thing
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0%
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[4th Gen : 01-07]: Blown head gasket - time for a new motor?
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From: CT
Blown head gasket - time for a new motor?
An 03 caravan in the family with 220k miles blew a head gasket. Car is still mechanically sound (ignoring the motor right now) and is on its second trans which has about 50k miles on it (the first one lasted 170k miles or so, IIRC). Would you replace the head gasket or just do the whole motor taking into account the age/mileage of the motor?
For the past year or so, the motor had been losing a quart of oil a month (about 1500-2k miles, every few gas tanks) and had to top off the coolant overflow tank from ADD to FULL about ever month or two. It almost never left a drop of oil and the underside is slightly coated in oil so i figured the leak was from the valve cover and just blowing around the bottom and never accumulating enough to drip when parked. I suggested that the head gasket might have a crack in it since there was no burning coolant smell or any visible leaks. So a year went by like this and over a week it blew through 3 gallons of coolant and the exhaust is like a super soaker/shower and the muffler leak that sprang up a couple months ago is rusting inside-out, so I think its safe to say I know where the coolant is going.
I'm not fond of the idea of doing a headgasket myself on a 11 year old van with 220k+ miles on a transverse mounted engine so I suggested either take it to a shop and pay the price or I can install a new crate motor, I strongly suggested a crate motor since the motor in the van has 220k. Why spend 50% the cost of a new motor when its probably not going to last more than another couple years. I would imagine it wouldn't be that much more work on my end to just do the motor. I haven't checked with any shops but I'd have to guess a headgasket on a transverse mounted v6 is pretty time consuming and would probably cost around $1000 parts/labor to have a shop do it. New crate motor is $2000, or easily less than a year of car payments.
Also, since these drivetrains were meant to be dropped out the bottom. How much clearance do I need to lift the van up? I don't have the van here so I can't go out and measure how tall the motor is. I have plenty of 4x4 and 6x6 cribbing I could get the van up on to.
For the past year or so, the motor had been losing a quart of oil a month (about 1500-2k miles, every few gas tanks) and had to top off the coolant overflow tank from ADD to FULL about ever month or two. It almost never left a drop of oil and the underside is slightly coated in oil so i figured the leak was from the valve cover and just blowing around the bottom and never accumulating enough to drip when parked. I suggested that the head gasket might have a crack in it since there was no burning coolant smell or any visible leaks. So a year went by like this and over a week it blew through 3 gallons of coolant and the exhaust is like a super soaker/shower and the muffler leak that sprang up a couple months ago is rusting inside-out, so I think its safe to say I know where the coolant is going.
I'm not fond of the idea of doing a headgasket myself on a 11 year old van with 220k+ miles on a transverse mounted engine so I suggested either take it to a shop and pay the price or I can install a new crate motor, I strongly suggested a crate motor since the motor in the van has 220k. Why spend 50% the cost of a new motor when its probably not going to last more than another couple years. I would imagine it wouldn't be that much more work on my end to just do the motor. I haven't checked with any shops but I'd have to guess a headgasket on a transverse mounted v6 is pretty time consuming and would probably cost around $1000 parts/labor to have a shop do it. New crate motor is $2000, or easily less than a year of car payments.
Also, since these drivetrains were meant to be dropped out the bottom. How much clearance do I need to lift the van up? I don't have the van here so I can't go out and measure how tall the motor is. I have plenty of 4x4 and 6x6 cribbing I could get the van up on to.
Last edited by SparkMasterB; Apr 4, 2014 at 01:50 AM.