The Head Gasket

The head gasket is the most critical sealing part in an engine and sits between the engine block and cylinder head. The purpose of a gasket is to keep the pressure within the engine’s cylinders and to ensure maximum compression when gasoline is ignited in the engine. Another purpose is to avoid coolant or engine oil leakage into the cylinders. All gaskets must perform reliably under extreme conditions to help combustion gases, oil and also water from leaking out of their chambers.

Problems

Problems can occur when an engine is running when its coolant is low or when cooling system failures occur. The engine is likely to get overheated resulting in damaged gaskets. A leaking gasket may have different consequences, from minor oil leaks, poor performance to temperature problems. When such problems occur it is quite likely that you have to replace the gasket.

Symptoms

Blown head gasket symptoms usually are not very difficult to notice. However, if you neglect the warning signs of your car you have to pay considerably more for repairing it, as conditions of your car will become worse. If you can recognize these symptoms you can definitely save yourself a lot of money. So, most importantly learn to identify basic warning signs associated with gasket failure.

Repair

In some cases, it is possible to fix the gasket with a sealer or with the help of a repair kit. However, in most cases you are faced with an expensive repair bill. The replacement of a gasket can take a long time, especially in modern cars with injection engines. These cars have many parts that need to be removed before the cylinder head can be removed. The cost to repair a gasket is therefore quite high, not because of the price of the gasket, but because of the hours that has to be spent.