If it is the rear head gasket you CAN do it on the car. I have done many of them. But sometimes it is easier to do it with the engine out if you run into a problem with some exhaust bolts on the back side. The engines in these cars are one of the easiest engines to plug and play with.
Frankspangle, I have never had to remove an engine to replace a head gasket. I also don't know of anyone else that has had to either. Replacing the head gasket with the engine out certainly would make the job easier but that is just a lot of extra work. I'm sure that you don't want to pay for the extra labor involved to do the job this way. Good luck with this.
If it is the back head, it just is easier to remove the engine by dropping the engine cradle and working on the engine outside the engine compartment, but it does not have to be done that way-removing the hood and the wiper motor assembly gives enough room to do this without dropping the cradle. It is a matter of preference, personally I'd do it without dropping the cradle. If it is the front head, removing the engine would be stupid.
The engine does not need to be removed to replace the head gasket on your engine. More than likely it is an intake gasket that failed and showing the typical symptoms of a blown head gasket. If the intake gasket repair is put off long enough, it can turn into a blown head gasket and I've only had about a 50% success rate replacing the head gasket. They usually work fine for a few months, but the oil and water mix causes the oil to lose it's lubricating properties and even after fixing the cause of the problem, the damage may already be done to the engine bearings and the engine may knock later on down the road. You may want to get a quote on a used replacement engine if you plan on keeping the vehicle for a while and compare to the price of fixing it. In the long run, it will probably be a better solution.
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