I have blown my head gasket on my 1.6L 1992 Mazda 323 Hatchback. I am waiting on a price from a mechanic but am sure it will be quite costly. How difficult is it to change the head gasket on this model? Does the engine need to be removed to fix it?

My father and I are mechanically inclined and have fixed many other problems and have rebuilt a jeep. Yet, we have never replaced a head gasket. Any help is appreciated.

Paul

There are a numbers of items to worry about, putting the timing belt on correctly when you reassemble, removing the exhaust nuts from the exhaust head pipe (broken studs), lossening and tighting the head bolts (pattern and torque specs), whether the head is warped (did the engine overheat?) and if there is a lot of milage on the engine, should you do a valve job? Basic operations consist of unbolting every thing and lifting the head off
replacing parts and putting it back together.

Read the instructions, and if they dont scare you get on with it. Some other important things are mark everything you disconnect, get the head checked for warping by a recon shop before you put it back and re torque the head bolts after 500 miles.

If you are methodical, it shouldn't be too difficult.

While not playing down the ability of human nature to overcome adversity,I do not think that this job comes even close to the heading of DIY! I say this because simply having asked the question explains the level of experience!And we may very well alert Paul to all of the things to look out for, but this does not explain step by step how to do it! If you still insist on doing it yourselves, I would strongly suggest getting a good manual for your model and "annoy" as many technical people as you can locally, untill you are comfortable to take it on!