Pontiac Repair: engine overheating, head gasket problems, coolant leak

Question
I have a 1994 Pontiac transport with a 3.8 L v 6. I have just purchased this van it only has 47,000 miles ( yes actual ) on it. The old owner says that he was told the head gasket needs to be replaced and this is what is causing the engine to overheat and that the lack of use is the problem. Does this sound legit? How much does this cost on average to fix ? Could there be any other problems I should know about or expect?

Answer
Hi Jennifer:

I can't give you a cost for the reapit My job is just to fix em. The labor time I would venture to say would be about 10-12 hours times the labor rate and the cost of the parts.. I'd be leary about this van. As a rule these do not have head gasket problems unless they were overheated prior to the gasket failing. And if that were the case who knows what damage overheating the engine could ahve done.. there may be a underlying coolant leak issue that started the while thing in the first place. lack of driving doesn't necessarly cause the issue but if it had the original coolant in it since 1994 then the old coolant becomes corrosive and that can cause gaskets to fail. Good luck :)