I noticed my 1998 Honda Civic CX's temp gage was a little high the other day. The temp started moving erratically. I turned the heater on full and it seemed to lower the temp enough to get it home. I limped it to a nearby mechanic the next day. I hoped it was a thermostat, but he said it was the head gasket. The car has 202,000 miles on it. The water pump and timing belt were changed about 3k miles ago.

I'm handy enough with tools to change the head gasket, so my question is how likely is it that the block warped? I never saw it go into the red on the temp gage, but that doesn't mean that it didn't. I'm going to assume the head is warped...would it be better to have it decked or just buy a new head? Does anyone have a suggestion about where to get a head decked? If I replace it myself, should I use a slighty thicker head gasket?

Thank,

Windsor