Blown head Gasket what to do!!!!!!?

Ok, I took my car to pep boys and they told me that I have a blown head gasket. they are charging me close to 1300 to get it fixed. These are my questions,



1.)what do they mean by rebuild the engine and is it necessary for a blown head gasket?



2.)They also told me that it would be better to get a new engine is this also necessary and what is the reasoning behind it?



3.) can i change the head gasket at home? is it difficult to change?



4.) is there somewhere that i can take the engine to get surfaced?



5.)do other places charge less to fix a blown head gasket?



Thanks to anyone that answers my questions.

O AND BY THE WAY I OWN A 1996 NISSAN MAXIMA WITH A V6 ENGINE.

Again any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!Blown head Gasket what to do!!!!!!?I cant say that I have ever worked on a nissan maxima before, but I have changed a few head gaskets in my day. And I did it at home. You will have to take the exhaust manifold off and most likely have to take the intake manifold off as well. For the details on your specific vehicle I suggest you go to the library and look for a repair manual for your vehicle. If they wont let you borrow it, copy the pages you need. Make sure to follow the torquing sequences. Most libraries have a full line of Chilton's manuals. As for resurfacing it you shouldn't have to unless you over heated it or something, but in most cases it should be fine. Could answer the rest of the question better if you had said if it had over heated or given more info.



You should ask them why they said that it should be rebuilt, or need resurfaced. They might just be trying to get more cash out of you. The resurfacing is called milling and it should not need it. that can be done at any auto machine shop if need be. If you have one head Milled you should do the same to the other.
Blown head Gasket what to do!!!!!!?
you might as well invest in a new car dude..seriously..if you've blown a head gasket..your engine is toast. it is impossible to change at home.
Blown head Gasket what to do!!!!!!?
well i would say that the quote they gave you is about right, you can call around and see about some prices from other shops, as for replacing the motor, did you drive it alot and did it overheat? if so you could have warped the heads and then a new motor would be cheaper considering you can get the vq30 which is the motor i think is in your car for around 1500. also as far as you replacing it, well are you a mechanic or are you mechanicly inclined? if not i wouldn't suggest it because there is alot of work that goes into it. I hope i was able to help you and if you have any other questions let me know
I believe that's 10.5 hours book time. So yeah that's about right. I always take the heads to the machine shop on every one of my customers cars. Once you have heated it up the heads get warped, and the price a machine shop charges to surface them and clean them up so I can inspect them is minimal compared to the price of dis assembly again after the job is done and the heads end up being warped. If you have the time and patience you can do the job yourself. Get a manual and step by step go through it. Might take you a few days if its your first time but you will end up spending about $300-$400 on parts and machine shop costs. Still alot better than the $1300 they quoted you at.