Head Gasket question - ours has a crack?

Question

I had asked earlier about an oil leak, now I have another question.

We've been leaking oil for awhile - car needs more oil about every month and a half, to two months. Not really sure where it's leaking from - somewhere in the front of the car. It's NOT the plug; oil change guy ruled that out the other day.

At our last 30,000 mile tune up (which was about 30,000 miles ago) the mechanic said we had a crack in our head gasket, but didn't need to be replaced right now. So I'm guessing that could be the cause of our oil leak? Haven't had any problems with the car overheating or anything...

Going to take car to mechanic here in the next couple of weeks to figure out exactly WHAT is causing the leak; will be mentioning our head gasket of course. Not sure exactly when they determine the thing would need replaced.

If it does need replaced, how much does that run? Also, what problems/symptoms can a cracked head gasket cause?

We have a 2000 Saturn with 120,000 miles on, if that matters at all (I don't know a lot about cars).

Trying to learn as much as possible before I take the car in.

Answer 1

it could be like my car. mine leaks oil at the end of the intake gasket, around the rubber gasket.

Answer 2

is your car overheating? loosing coolant? is your oil milky colored?  these are the signs of a head gasket or cracked head.....the oil may be dripping from a head gasket issue but that would be very unusual for the engine you have...either there's more to this story than you relayed to us or you need another mechanic....30,000 miles on a cracked head or bad gasket......i cant believe that...in 39 years of working on cars that would be a first time i have ever heard of  any engine going that far with a serious issue like this.....seek out a profession,qualified mechanics advise ,before paying for any repairs

Answer 3

Oil can leak if the gasket has failed where oil is forced up to the cylinder head, Vauxhalls in the UK often develop this problem, as long as you keep an eye on the oil level and don't mind oil drips on your driveway it isn't a serious problem.

To cure this you will need to replace the gasket.