1994 Chevy Silverado 1500

[misschevy]

i'm not sure if im even posting in the right section, im a 21 one year old girl and this is all freakin confusing lol..but recently i noticed i'm going through a whole thing of coolant every 3 weeks and possible coolant in the oil, with smoke out my duel exhaust. it's never broke down. once i had turned it off and realized some smoke from the hood, but it went away within 5 mins... my brother is a mechanic and said "probably head gasket"...if so, how much does it cost to fix it if he was to do it himself and not go to a shop? any other comments would be appreciated.

BTW. its really weird my truck is all of a sudden falling apart lol. i have had it 3 years (sister was previous owner)
had a new transmission 4 years ago and only thing i've had to fix on it was the master cylinder last year.

 

[zora]

One head gasket is about $50 to $60 plus antifreeze and miscellaneous things.

 

[VanGo]

You'll need a top end gasket set because the intake manifold and exhaust pipes have to be pulled off first. If it were me, I'd pull both heads and replace both head gaskets. No telling what shape the other one is in. Do a compression check first. If your brother is a mechanic, he will be able to tell if your valves are in good shape. You also want to be sure your head(s) aren't cracked.
I'm just saying this because if you want to keep the truck for a long time, now is the time to evaluate the condition of the heads, while you have done most of the labor to get there.