Head Gasket Problem

[Ste59w]

Hi guys,

I drive a Rover 25 - just after Christmas the head gasket went and i took it to a garage who quoted about £800 as the radiator also needed replacing.

I asked my boss who's best friend is a mechanic what price he could do it for and found someone to do it for £350 for me, as a favour. So i took it to be repaired about a month ago. I was told by the mechanic over the telephone that it looked as if the head gasket had gone before so he was having to take it to an engine specialist to do some sort of tests - he mentioned taking a mini camera through the engine to see if there was a problem ther.

Anyway after getting the car back and driving for about a month the same thing has happened, head gasket has gone in pretty much the same place it went last time and i've got water leaking from the hole.

The garage are wiping their hands of it, saying i had asked it to be done cheap and because of that they didnt test the engine block (which is apprently what the new problem is).

My first question is, what tests is this guy likely to have performed on the engine as he had mentioned to me - he told me it looked like the head gasket had gone before so had to check the engine - surely this would mean checking the block? When i phoned today he said he took it to an engine specialist to get the head gasket checked over properly.....is this him covering himself - im sure he told me it was fine to be repaired.

Secondly, even if i ask it to be done cheap, does this mean they should not have checked the engine block?

I'm in a really bad position as i paid the money to have it repaired only a month ago, and now im back in the same position. Any help really appreciated

 

[jimblowscash]

these engines suffer with head gasket problems , the heads go porous and the head gaskets are poorly designed, it is curable but to be honest it costs a fair bit to do it properly, and i suspect the car isnt worth spending another 7 / 800 quid getting this done ( no offence ) its far cheaper to have a cheap head gasket thrown on it and move the car along...

To do this properly you need the head pressure tested , copper water plugs fitted to the head, the head and block tested for straightness and skimmed / decked accordingly , a new multi layer steel head gasket fitted , new head bolts etc , a full warter system flush, a full oil flush / change and filter. This is not cheap , i would have thought that for 350 you would have got a new gasket fitted but i know the machiening of the head would have been about 150 on its own

 

[Ste59w]

Thanks for your reply.

I understand its not worth it to fix it properly now thats its happened again - but i suppose what i want to know is, shouldn't the garage be liable for fixing it again - considering i paid to have it repaired only a month ago?

As i said the person doing the repairs said he took it to an engine specialist to have it looked at properly due to him suspecting it had happened before. Any ideas what this would involve (i.e checking the block?).

I'm really annoyed that i paid to have something repaired and a month later it goes again....surely this is not right?

 

[Cuchulain]

Thanks for your reply.

I understand its not worth it to fix it properly now thats its happened again - but i suppose what i want to know is, shouldn't the garage be liable for fixing it again - considering i paid to have it repaired only a month ago?

As i said the person doing the repairs said he took it to an engine specialist to have it looked at properly due to him suspecting it had happened before. Any ideas what this would involve (i.e checking the block?).

I'm really annoyed that i paid to have something repaired and a month later it goes again....surely this is not right?

Get a reliable 3rd party to look at it before doing anything else.

 

[Semple]

If the mechanic took it to an engine specialist then surely the engine specialist would be liable for not checking properly. Big downside to it is you've got no proof that the engine specialist didn't check the car over properly.

 

[Ste59w]

Get a reliable 3rd party to look at it before doing anything else.

I have done mate.

The person/3p confirmed the head gasket is leaking next to the alternator.

My problem is i know nothing about cars at all - repairer tells me its being checked over by an engine specialist as it looked to have gone before, i obviously assume when they tell me its fine that the engine is not the cause of the problem.

As i said i've called the repairer today and they said they took it to the engine specialist to check the head gasket over......is this rubbish? Surely if he says its gone before and they're taking it to an engine specialist, they mean they're checking the engine and not just the head?

I suppose what i want to know ultimately is - is this something the garage should sort out, or is it my fault for asking them to do it 'as cheap as possible'.

 

[Dogbreath]

these engines suffer with head gasket problems

Yes.

, the heads go porous

No they don't.

and the head gaskets are poorly designed,

The newer gaskets, both MLS and elastomer type are fine.

it is curable but to be honest it costs a fair bit to do it properly,

It's not expensive, you just need to find a mechanic that knows what they are doing. Many (possibly most) do not. Rover engines that repeatedly suffer from gasket failures are most always suffering some underlying problem such as a soft head (due to serious overheating) or uneven/sunk liners. A reasonably skilled mechanic will measure the liner heights prior to assembly and will discard any head that shows signs of becoming soft (e.g. grooves in the head around the gasket fire ring).

 

[Cuchulain]

I have done mate.

The person/3p confirmed the head gasket is leaking next to the alternator.

My problem is i know nothing about cars at all - repairer tells me its being checked over by an engine specialist as it looked to have gone before, i obviously assume when they tell me its fine that the engine is not the cause of the problem.

As i said i've called the repairer today and they said they took it to the engine specialist to check the head gasket over......is this rubbish? Surely if he says its gone before and they're taking it to an engine specialist, they mean they're checking the engine and not just the head?

I suppose what i want to know ultimately is - is this something the garage should sort out, or is it my fault for asking them to do it 'as cheap as possible'.

Cheap does not mean that the job shouldn't be done properly. I doubt he told you "I'll do it badly for £350", you need someone to look at it properly and give you an unbiased opinion on why it failed, not just THAT it failed.

 

[Ste59w]

Thanks for your time guys - appreciated.

Ok so i guess i need to get someone to confirm it definitely is the engine block - as i understand from what some of you are saying it may not be that, and could be some other problems - what im hoping for is that they didn't repair it properly, so they'll sort it out again this time (hopefully properly) or i get my money back. I'm understand correctly when some of you say it could just be the head gasket wasnt repaired properly?

The garage seem to be sticking by the fact that they were told to repair head gasket cheaply, and because of that didn't check the engine block. So am i also right in thinking if it turns out to be the engine block (or some other problem) the garage havn't done anything wrong? i.e they fixed the head gasket as promised, just some other problem caused it to go again.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Matt82]

does the garage you use offer a warrenty on their work?

 

[dalin80]

well £350 is far too cheap to do such a job properly so your bound to get shafted somewhere along the line.

 

[mattyprice4004]

£350-£450 is about the going rate for a head gasket job on these engines, it's pretty simple.

 

[Danm54]

It was a while ago now but it Cost me over £200 to do my vectra head gasket and i done that myself.

Skimming a head is not £150, forget what it cost me but it was no-where near 3 figures.

If the head bolts are stretch bolts it'll need a new set, it'll need a set of head gaskets, if its been skimmed a lot or a few times you'll need a spacer gasket else your co,pression will be too high.

Tbh, i read Rover 25 and thought scrap it, if you cant do it yourself its not worth to cost paying someone to do it. My Vectra was quoted at about £700 all in, that was by a family friend, depends how easy the head comes off i suppose.

 

[jon.bda]

My Vectra was quoted at about £700 all in, that was by a family friend, depends how easy the head comes off i suppose.

£700???, please tell me its a V6 at least?.

 

[Fuzz]

Head Gasket Problem
Hi guys,

I drive a Rover 25

I see the problem already!

As said really, if I was asked to do it cheaply then it would be through getting pattern parts and doing them at cost price.
NOT cutting corners on the job itself.
As a professional you'd at least check for possible underlying problems in ALL areas REGARDLESS of doing the job on the cheap.
They sound like a bunch of chancers if you ask me. !

 

[Gribs]

The last time I did a head gasket, about 6 years ago on a 1.6 astra, it cost me about £60 in parts including new oil and other fluids.

 

[chumpit]

Tbh get the head gasket replaced with the "freelander" upgrade kit if you can, had this on a 1.8 worked a charm.

 

[dalin80]

£350-£450 is about the going rate for a head gasket job on these engines, it's pretty simple.

Simple, yes but its still closer to £500/550 more if you need a cambelt kit, fanbelt and a radiator, all of which are fairly likely. You could easily be paying a good few hundred in parts alone. Hell we have had some fail so badly that they had to be fitted with new cambelt covers, rockers cover, radiator and heatermatrix, pressure cap and several coolant pipes.

£700 is also pretty close for a ecotec engine, they can be fairly time consuming jobs due to the shape of the inlet manifold.