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Head gasket gone

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

Soldato
Joined
22 Aug 2010
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On the Wagon-East Angular
Hi all. Just venting really.

Head gasket has gone on my beloved Corrado VR6. Over the last 6 months, there has been a small leak from the expansion tank. The cap and tank both have been changed, and the leak has been getting worse. The other day there was a cloud of steam after a warm start up, and the coolant smells very much of fuel :/

So - seeing as the head is coming off, I may as well get the timing chains done at the same time. Engine out, head off, timing chains replaced, head skimmed and rebuilt/seals etc all changed, and a whole load of little jobs to be done such as water pump change (10 minute job if the engine is out, 3 hour job with the engine in situ, so a no brainer really).

Mechanic can't fit it in for a couple weeks and I've got a hefty bill to look forward too. Meh. Still - I've owned the car for 15 years and the old girl is a smidge under 160k so can't complain too much I guess. Bodywork is sound, except for a bubble that's just formed on one of the front wings.

I guess I just want reassurance I should bit the bullet and get the work done. Could do without it this time of year though, with Christmas round the corner - but yeah, reassure me it's the right thing to do!!
 
I had a similar job done plus a skim on the block and a second hand head on my Mondeo 2.5T. Cost just under £2k and have had 2 yrs/25k miles trouble free driving subsequently.
I debated whether or not to scrap the car at the time as it was probably worth £4k max, but I have no regrets - it was well worth it.
 
It's worth doing if it's a good car.

People talk about things like this being uneconomical, but if you know the car and it's good, then why not?

My car is worth probably a grand, and next year it'll need new timing belt/water pump, probably £300-£400 of work not including service and MOT, (normally would just service myself but as they are pulling the car apart anyway) so probably looking at £600 bill, but the car is good.

I done bit over 70k miles in it, I reckon it'll do the same again.
 
Had gasket/skim done on an older e36-6, similarly, I replaced the radiator+expansion tank that had been over-pressurized, got 4 years of additional use/fun
biggest challenge was identifying the garage/mechanic, someone who I could trust. .... but was worth it.
... suspension components were the next bill
 
well you've got to consider that your Rado is creeping up in Value its not a banger its an appreciating classic





thats what i keep telling myself with ym Omega,
 
As a fellow Corrado owner I obviously vote for getting it done :) As mentioned above this isn't just any old banger but something quite unusual nowadays. They are indeed creeeping up in value but not in a huge way yet (and I doubt they ever will to any large degree).

The previous owner of mine had the chains done about 6 or 7 years ago and that was about £1k. But obviously skimming the head would add some cost too.
 
If it's a nice/rare car, I'd much rather keep it going. Once it's fixed up it probably won't need doing again.

You could buy a 3 year old BMW and the engine blow up the next day, that won't be so cheap to fix.
 
I think it's definitely worth it on a cosmetically tidy VR6. They will continue to gain a bit of value and I know the state my plastic guide rails were on a much, much younger vr6 than yours so it's a good bit of preventative work whilst somone is in there anyway
 
233 said:
well you've got to consider that your Rado is creeping up in Value its not a banger its an appreciating classic





thats what i keep telling myself with ym Omega,
Click to expand...

What sort of Omega have you got? My dad had a few in the past - all estates (looked best for me) - had a CDX and then got a ‘Tourer’ in a rare purple colour - never seen another since and was apparently rare at the time. After the Elite he had in champagne colour his last was an MV6. That thing sounded gorgeous and was pretty quick too.

Man that was a great car. I actually have pristine Vauxhall marketing manuals for both the Tourer and Elite which I refuse to throw away lol.
 
VR6 Corrado value's are going up all the time, If it's as tidy as you say it's worth doing, Might be worth having the piston bores checked while it's apart to make sure they have worn evenly as a common issue is to wear unevenly making them oval, Its the reason mine had to go as back when it happened i couldn't afford to repair it, shame as it was mint.
 
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