Head Gasket...Temperature soaring...

Hi There,

I have a 1993 Honda Civic DX. Of late when I start the car the whole
body bumps and the engine temperature soars as indicated by the
temperature gauge. On the first occasion it gave thick white smoke
from the exhaust and the hood. There is a characteristic burning smell
too.

I bought the car 6 months ago when it had 93K miles on it. I had
replaced the timing belts then and as of this day it has 97K miles on
it.

The first time around my mechanic gave me the car back after keeping
it for 2 weeks and said that there is nothing wrong with the car.

The problem recurred.

This time around the mechanic says that the head gasket is
gone/blown/broken. He says it would cost a minimum of $500 to a
maximum of $1500.

Are the symptoms really indicative of a head gasket problem?. Would it
cost so much to fix it?.

Being a graduate student I really cannot afford to fix it spending so
much money and then later realize that the problem was something else.

The mechanic also says that when the head gasket is fixed one has to
replace the timing belts too. Is this necessary considering that I
just recently changed the belts.

Need advice. Thank you.

Pravin Nair.

 

Take it to another mechanic to get a second opinion. I once noticed that
my oil was really black even after an oil change. I later learned that I
had a bad head gasket. The mechanic said the oil was black since water was
mixing with it as a result of a bad head gasket. The oil was a normal
color after the head gasket was fixed. Is your oil after an oil
change--the normal color of new oil or black?