Need advice with BHG on 1989 Supra Turbo
 

Hi,

I am new to this forum and I am hoping I can get some advice. I have a red 1989 Toyota Supra Turbo which appears to have a blown head gasket. A block test was done and combustion gases are getting into the coolant. The engine has 182k miles on it and there are some small oil leaks as well. My mechanic recommends replacing the engine with a new Jasper engine rather than fixing the BHG. He feels that since my engine has so many miles on it and has oil leaks that there is a good chance that I will have more problems with the engine after the head gasket is fixed. Even though I love my car I cannot afford buying a new engine for that car ($5000+) so I feel that my only option is to try to sell the car as is. Do you agree with my mechanic's suggestion about getting a new engine rather than fixing the head gasket? Other than this problem the car is in good shape except for some paint fading on the roof and what may be a problem with my dimmer switch (no dashboard lights and the lights around the climate control buttons go out when I turn on my headlamps).

Thanks!

Bhg
 

No I don't agree with your mechanic. If you can turn a wrench you can replace your own head gasket and fix the the leaks yourself. Many people do and there is plenty of help here to do it. If your motor has compression and ran good, pull the head and replace the gasket. These cars usually leak from the valve cover gaskets and the front crank seal. You can do these repairs with regular tools and tools that Auto Zone will lend you with a deposit. You can do the whole job for cheap. Even if you took your head to a machine shop for new valves seals or to have checked out you still would be under $200 to do it right.

You could probably find a good mechanic to do it for you for about $500 if you can catch him away from his shop rates. Remember this economy is bad and many guys can handle this job. It;s not really that bad. Guys on this forum have done it with little mechanical experience.

Supra motors are known to go over $250,000 miles. I just stopped and looked at one for sale on the side of the road. It had over 260,000 miles and ran good.

Jdm engine zone has engines with 50-60,000 miles on it for under $2500