A blown head gasket is bad news for any motorist. It means the cylinder head has to be removed, and possibly resurfaced, to replace the head gasket. If coolant has entered the cylinders and/or crankcase, additional repairs or a whole new engine may be needed depending on the extent of the damage. Anyway you look at it, replacing a head gasket is a labor-intensive job that may end up costing your customer upward of $1,500 or more.

One of the first questions many customers ask when they're told their engine has a blown head gasket is, "Why did the gasket fail?" The answer to that question depends on the vehicle, its history and any contributing factors you may have uncovered during your diagnosis.

Some engines just have a history of blowing head gaskets. Head gasket failures on older Honda Civic 1.3L and 1.5L engines are fairly common because of a "hot spot" between the two center cylinders in the cylinder head. The location of the exhaust valves, combined with restricted coolant flow in the head, creates a hot spot that causes the head to swell. When this occurs, it crushes the head gasket, leaving a path for combustion gases to burn through the gasket. Replacing the original gasket with another OEM gasket temporarily solves the problem, but sooner or later the problem returns because the OEM gasket crushes and fails again.

The cure here is to install an aftermarket head gasket that has been re-engineered to ...