Do I Have To Replace A '99 Pontiac Grand Am Head Gasket?

[XTGeminiman]

I have a blown head gasket in my '99 Pontiac Grand Am that is leaking oil. Here's my dilemna. The car has 130K miles on it and I've driven it pretty hard so I don't want to pay for a new gasket. How much longer can I expect to drive it without paying for the gasket? I've been leaking a little bit of oil for about 25,000 miles now so I don't believe it's as big a deal as the mechanics are making it out to be but I want some outside advice. Will it be alright to keep driving for a while? Thanks!

 

[Ben]

I wouldn't worry about it at all unless you are actually loosing oil. A little seepage is fine and won't hurt anything.

 

[Howard L]

Did you run a compression test? If not how do you know it's a bad head gasket? Leaking oil could be several other things besides a bad head gasket. It could be a rocker cover gasket, about a $10, 15 minute repair if it needs to be replaced, 5 minutes if it needs to be tightened.

If you had a bad head gasket your engine would probably be running rough and blowing oil or coolant out the exhaust.