It would make me wonder why they replaced it?
Perhaps it was to disguise a leak revealed after a compression test...
Then the question of what caused the leak would enter my mind
A cracked cylinder head most likely; there's no way of knowing for certain but could be an indicator that the car is past its use by date.
The signs of a blown head gasket include white smoke from the exhaust, losing water in the radiator and overheating.
There is no reason to replace the head gasket if it is still good unless for some reason you have the heads off working on something else.
If you see that a vehicle had the HG replaced you can safely assume the old one blew. It would also be a reasonably safe assumption that it has overheated and there is possible damage or warping inside. It would be good to run a compression check in each cylinder if possible. ....well, you should do that anyway when buying a used vehicle.
There are 2 reasons to replace a head gasket:
1) it failed
2) something else went wrong internally and the head(s) had to be removed to inspect/repair the damage. A head gasket should not be reused.
Could be lots of reasons. Could be a slight oil weep to the outside of the engine between head and block. Could be a completely blown gasket. Could be the gasket was replaced as a preventative measure when other work (such as cam belt) was being done, or when a valve seat was being fixed. Lots of reasons.
In my case I was conned by an unscrupulous garage into having the HG done.
people dont replace parts when they are still good. it probably leaked or something. good thing is that they did replace it so u dont have to worry about it for awhile. i would look to see if there are any other problems on the car. if there is, then that person kind of waits until it needs to be done for the car to function. if nothing is wrong with the car, then that person fixes what breaks as soon as possible. thats the car u want.
I've seen plenty of cars on craigslist of many makes and models, and their owners state they have replaced the headgasket. How does one know when it is time to replace their headgasket, as an owner's manual obviously won't state the maintenance interval for a headgasket.
There have been cars that go 300,000 miles or more that have not had their headgasket replaced, is it really worth going through the money and/or trouble to replace a headgasket for preventive maintenance?
Thanks!
