My head gasket is leaking and I don't trust the engine its on because it was supposedly rebuilt less than 10,000 miles ago but its out of warranty. I figure if the head gasket is bad already, the rest of the rebuild can't be trusted either. So replacing it with a JDM seems like the only smart way to go. A used domestic engine only saves me a few hundred bucks.
The problem is cost. They won't let you replace the head gasket on a JDM, that voids the engine warranty. In order to get the head gasket warranty and a partial warranty for head gasket labor if it does go bad, their requirements knock the installation cost up to nearly $3000 plus tax at Toyota, plus the engine and warranty costs which will be well over a thousand.
How can I reduce the cost without increasing my risk of having to do it all over again? Should I shop around for a cheap shop that may or may not know what they're doing? The best foreign auto shop in my area (based on reviews) gave me a great price but then said they wouldn't do the job. If I lived where there were Previas for sale I would just set this one aside for the the future and buy another one, but I don't.