# 2002 Sentra w 278,000 miles - replace head gasket or engine?



## Swede67 (Nov 29, 2014)

First off, 
I can't afford a new or used car so I'm kind of stuck.

I have a 1.8 2002 Sentra 5 speed that has 278,000 miles on it. Long story short, the head gasket must have blown two days ago - brought it to the mechanic this morning and get a phone call that it's the head gasket.

He says with the miles on the engine to do the head gasket 'it's like opening a can or worms'. 
He was going to price used engines (with lower mileage) to replace the engine. Ballpark figure is $3,000 to replace engine, $1800 to $200 to do head gasket. 

Any advice (no I can't drive the Sentra to the nearest lake and put it out of it's misery. I have to drive to work) 

Thanks for any ideas


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Your mechanic brings up a very good point. I would normally agree that a used engine might be the way to go. My concern is that the 1.8L is a head gasket failure prone engine and you might end up with the same thing on the replacement engine. Most will give you a 30-day warranty; if you pay a little more, they may extend it to 90-day. If the rest of the car was in good shape, I would prefer to use a remanufactured engine, but I doubt the $2000 plus labor is in your budget. A remanufactured short block can be had for around $800, but you'll have to figure in the cost to send the head out for servicing, gasket kit and timing set and extra labor, so it probably won't save you much money. Best of luck with whatever you decide!


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