Does You Car Have A Blown Head Gasket? Here Are 3 Reasons To Sell It To A Company That Pays Cash For Junk Cars

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Understanding Automotive Maintenance And Repairs

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Does You Car Have A Blown Head Gasket? Here Are 3 Reasons To Sell It To A Company That Pays Cash For Junk Cars

7 June 2021
 Categories:
Automotive, Blog


A car's engine has both coolant and oil running through it, but these two fluids always need to be kept separate. They're prevented from mixing by the engine's head gasket. When this head gasket fails, coolant will start to leak into the engine oil. Head gasket failure is most often due to overheating since overheating can warp the engine head and cause the head gasket to unseal. Heat also causes the head gasket itself to quickly break down, which can cause small cracks to form that allow coolant into the engine.

Regardless of what caused it, repairing a blown head gasket is usually a very expensive repair. Head gaskets aren't expensive, but replacing one often involves taking out the entire engine and disassembling it in order to reach and replace the head gasket. Labor costs can be extremely high for this type of repair, so it's common for repair costs to exceed the value of the vehicle, especially in older cars. If you have a car with a blown head gasket, read on to learn three reasons why your best option is to sell it to a company that offers cash for junk cars.

1. Your Car's Engine May Fail While You're Driving

A car with a blown head gasket will still run for a while. Unfortunately, continuing to drive isn't a good option. When coolant mixes with oil in the engine due to a blown head gasket, the coolant causes the engine to rapidly corrode. In addition, the fact that coolant continually leaks into the oil makes the car's engine prone to overheating.

Overheating and corrosion both make your engine likely to fail catastrophically, and this can happen while you're driving. Overheating can warp an engine's pistons, causing them to strike the sides of the chamber and tear the engine apart. When you have a blown head gasket, you're always at risk of engine breakdown while you're on the road — if your engine fails while you're in traffic, you could be in danger. In order to stay safe, it's better to sell your car and buy a new one rather than continuing to drive with a blown head gasket.

2. Private Buyers Are Unlikely to Purchase a Car With a Blown Head Gasket

Selling to a private buyer is often a good way to make a bit more money than selling your car to a dealership. However, buyers are wary about purchasing any car with a blown head gasket. Repairing the head gasket is costly, and a blown head gasket will cause other damage to the car's engine as coolant leaks into it.

There's no way for buyers to know how much you drove the car while it had a blown head gasket or what other damage may have happened to the engine, so buyers will rarely show interest in a car with a blown head gasket. Selling your car to a company that offers cash for junk cars is a route that's more likely to be successful — it could be quite a while before any private buyer makes an offer for your vehicle.

3. Dealerships Won't Offer You Much for Your Car as a Trade-In

You also have the option of trading in your car at a dealership when you purchase a new vehicle. However, they'll see evidence of the blown head gasket when they inspect your car. Coolant leaking into the engine oil causes it to turn extremely viscous, so a blown head gasket is difficult for a mechanic to miss when they examine the oil.

You won't receive full price for your vehicle when you trade it in, and the dealership will most likely just send it to a scrapyard while paying you very little for it. You'll often get a better price by selling your vehicle to a company that offers cash for junk cars since you'll avoid the car dealership taking a portion of the sale by selling your car yourself.

If you have a car with a blown head gasket, the best thing to do is to find a company in your area that offers cash for junk cars. Even if it still runs, a car with a blown head gasket isn't very valuable — you'll get the best price by selling it to a junk car buyer. You'll also be able to sell your car much more quickly by going to a company offering cash for your junk car than if you were to wait for a private buyer to make you an offer on it.