Well the problem started yesterday and i took my car to the shop that has worked well before but that i have used only once before in Santa barbara, CA. The car was running poorly and when i would let off the gas at stop signs and such the rpm's would drop to about 500 then shoot to about 1600 and then settle close to where it should running normally (800) but very rough. The idle was rough at that speed and i had much less power and acceleration. It is my first car and is a 1988 740 turbo sedan with 163000 miles on it with the manual transmition.

The shop just called me back this morning to tell me what they found and they told me it was a blown head gasket and was leaking between the #2 and 3 cylinders and that with the amount of miles on the engine they would have to remove the valves and check the valve guides and then reseat the valves. they would also be putting new valve stem seals and then resurface the head.

Does all this sound like it is all the right work to be done? I'm not a mechanic by any means yet but would it be possible for me to do any of this work myself? The shop quoted me $1300 including parts and labor, is that a fair price for all the work mentioned? Any advice or just knowlegde of this type of problem would be much appreciated and if there is anything i can do to save money that would be great. For a college student $1300 is a lot of money and i would be paying it off over the next few months.

Thanks in advance for all the help.
Misha Stapleton