Blew a head gasket on a 2012 Civic, found it before the customer did

Last Tuesday a 2012 Civic came in for a rough idle. I pulled the dipstick and saw milky oil, compression test showed 90 psi on cylinder 3. Told the owner it was a head gasket job around $1,400 at our shop in Akron. He said he was about to drive it to Pittsburgh that weekend, so catching it early probably saved him a tow and a short block. Anyone else catch a big failure just from a simple oil check?

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1 Comment

casey2681h ago

Man that customer owed you a beer. Head gasket out of nowhere right before a road trip is the kind of thing that turns a weekend getaway into a 800 dollar tow plus a new engine fund. I had a similar save last year on a CR-V, coolant was low but no obvious leak, took the cap off and it smelled like burnt toast. Charged the guy 90 bucks for a diagnosis, he probably spent that on lunch in the drive thru.