Robert,
      this is easy.    Change the gasket as soon as
possible after you determine that it is loosing
coolant at the gasket.   The coolant loss location can
be a bit of a sticky wicket.     gary
--- robertmstewart <robertmstewart@MAC.COM> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I noticed that when I purchased my Van from the
> Florida owner that the
> gasket seals around the heads head caked on dried
> oil. The compression test
> on the van came out very good considering it has
> 150,000 miles on it.
>
> My  question is when should I replaced the head
> gaskets? The van is running
> great so right now I don?t see it to be a priority
> but I do plan on a cross
> county trip from NYC to Los Angles California.
>
> How much should it cost to replace the gaskets?
>
> And how long should it take?
>
> When would the engine need to have the heads redone?
>
> I have thought of putting in synthetic oil in
> instead of the 20W50 I
> currently use but I wonder if that will cause the
> slow leak to get worse,
> any ideas?
>
> Thanks for your advice in advance,
>
> Regards to all.
>
> Rob
>
> NYC
> 89 Auto Carat

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