I would ask the guy how he diagnosed the head gasket, they don't blow out like a tire when you are driving down the road unless the engine had been overheated severly. I would ask if he has done a compression test of cylinder compression, and I would also ask if there is cross ontamination of the oil and coolant. These are some of the ways to diagnose a head gasket problem.


I would get a secon opinion before I start thinking about a new or rebuilt engine. Unless your engine was driven without water or oil and wasn't overheated it can probably be saved. The headgaskets on these cars tend to leak oil, not blow out and cause the car to die. It takes someone with experience to diagnose the fuel injection and ignition systems on these cars. It's far too easy to condemn the entire engine or head gasket. I once had a shop tell me that my 1971 Jeep needed a engine rebuild, I had it towed home and after replacing the ignition distributer it ran like new.