Nissan Repair: Head GAsket?, head gasket, nissan maxima

Question
i recently have has my 2000 nissan maxima in the shop. i had a mechanic look at it after it was having some overheating problems and then after i experienced that the car shut off and then i would start it back up it would idle extremely rough and also if i would try to put it into gear it would just kill the engine the car has 170000 miles on it but is in great shape i have never had any other problems out of it and the biggest issue is the shop is trying to say that it will cost about 3000 dollars to fix the problem. how hard is it to replace a head gasket on this car , i am pretty technically inclined. thanks for all the advice

Answer
Hi Chris -

Seems awfully high for a head gasket job. Did you get a breakdown of charges? I would love to see that. I also am interested in the compression test readings.

Please let me know, I think you can get this job done for half this price.

Aloha
calvin