Sell or keep - needs new gasket :(

Brain

Brain

Brain

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Having just bought a car a few of weeks ago for about a grand, I discovered a problem I did not notice on the test drive/initial inspection. There is no heat coming from the heater when the car is idle [e.g in traffic or so]. I took it in for someone to have a look at it, and after much investigation and testing it turns out that the cylinder gasket needs replaced [and possibly needing skimmed at the same time]. I was quoted £500-600, which is expensive. I have yet to get a second opinion on this but it leaves me in a difficult position...

Seeing as I was lied to by the previous owner who must have known about the problem, I must make a choice:

  1. Get rid of the car. Sell it for a few hundred [I have no idea what its worth now but a guess would be about £600-700] and get another second hand car.
  2. Get the head gasket fixed and continue to use the car.
  3. Leave the head gasket? (How dangerous would it be to do this? I never noticed anything wrong, just no heat as described above) The car is only used lightly - i mean less than 30miles a week i would say.
  4. Go back to the seller - can I take the car back and say that they sold to me under false pretenses? What if they say they didnt know it had this problem?

In either of the first two cases I will have to spend say £500ish.

Car is a Ford Fiesta 1.25 '97, 80k miles.
 
Get it fixed, or it will let you down when you need it. If the seller was trade then you should be able to get it fixed for free by them really. If it was private I would ring up and have a massive go at the seller because clearly they knew what they were selling. What are the temps like on the car?
 
ah that was the other reason I took it in - the temp gauge does not work - which I thought was a simple problem to fix. I knew about the temp gauge already, but noticed the above problem shortly after.
 
Taking it back to the seller is a no go. As unless they guarenteed it, its down to wether its "fit for purpose"

You spent 1k, on a small car, few weeks later it goes bang. Seller will argue thats "fit for purpose". Unless you have proof they knew of the problem and sold it to you without telling you. Good luck proving that :p

Sounds like its been overheating and cooked the head gasket. If it is, Defo get it done. Otherwise, as said above, it will die on you. The temp guage not working might have been a cunning plan by the seller to disguise the problem. (but thats the cynic in me talking!)
 
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erm, im not sure how they can say its got a HGF just because no hot air comes out of the heater..

was any water getting into the cyclinders?
was it loosing a lot of water?
does the oil look ok?

and a HGF does not cost £500 to fix :rolleyes:, its gonna be £200 tops from a decent(non rippoff) garage.

i saw your last post as well, saying you get no hot air when the heaters on full, car heaters work better at lower speeds, pos 1 or 2 feels like it gets more heat, less air = hotter, although on full it should still warm the car up in a after a bit.
 
rip off garage methinks

find a nice friendly local garage :)

and shop around.

i did one recently on a 2l zetec charged the guy 160 quid all parts included
 
The head gasket is not all that much of a DIY repair, unless the head needs planing (skimming). It could be done in a day in a back yard with a good socket set and a torque wrench.

If you'd like more details, drag me on ICQ (5305805) and we can discuss it there. I can probably find you detailed instructions, and help out with what the instructions don't cover....
 
chopchop said:
and a HGF does not cost £500 to fix :rolleyes:, its gonna be £200 tops from a decent(non rippoff) garage.
Click to expand...

I was thinking this was expensive for just a HGF, but then they are apparently going to skim the head? I have no idea how much that costs.

Take other other posters advice and get it looked at by another garage :)
 
yeah ill have to get it looked at another garage. I think I'll get the yellow pages out on Monday morning before going to work...

[they discovered the problem after doing some pressure tests I think. Basically they thought it was the water pump, but turned out not to be that. Not the radiator either. The guy spent ages on this car trying to figure out what it was].
 
And they say its only rovers that have HGF....


Usually hgf would also be indicated by a loss of power and a very messy oil and water mixture, are you sure that the thermostats just not stuck open so the car takes forever to heat up? If you are just doing short journeys then you might not be able to get it to heat up enough for hot air to come out, which may explain the non moving of the temperature gauge.

At the very least I'd get it looked at by someone else because the price they are quoted indicates they are already trying to stiff you.

£500 would get the Head gasket on my 1.8 rover vvc changed (which includes removal and resetting of the VVC mechanism + skim + 2 cambelts + tensioner + water pump, which I would imagine is a lot more complex and time consuming than a 1.2 fiesta).
 
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wifes is deffo head gasket, AA man came and done some tests. temp gauge definitely moved, it was at the highest point it could physically go :D
 
I agree with the other posts that doesnt sound like the head gasket. A headgasket would stop the heater getting hot when the engine is ticking over. Sounds like the stat to me, those engines dont get that hot and in this temp without a stat they probably won't warm up to full temp without a long run. Even if it was the H/G it should be £250 tops with another £40 tops if it needs skimming.
 
Folks, he says he gets heat as long as the revs are above idle. Not that it takes forever to heat up. He gets heat, then when he pauses for a light and the engine goes down to idle, the heater matrix can't cope and it starts blowing cool air.

This sounds like a typical airlock in the heater matrix system. Either that or the heater matrix water passeges are clogged up by gunk. Or the actual air passages in the heater matrix are clogged by leaves, dirt, pine needles, etc.

I would do a complete flush of the cooling system using Prestone Super Flush or something similar. If that doens't take care of the situation, grab the Hanes manual for your car and take the heater matrix cover off and have a Shop-Vac handy.

If and only if the above two things do nothing to correct the situation, THEN have a mechanic start looking at other things.

It certainly does NOT sound like a head gasket failure. Have a shop you trust do a complete compression test on your engine and do a pressure test on your cooling system. If both those are normal, there's nothing wrong with the head gasket.
 
As above, but by all means dont just assume it isnt the head gasket ;)

When a head gasket PROPERLY goes, you will know about it... I lost a few litres of coolant through the exhaust in a matter of minutes ;) The whole car became surrounded by fog...

Thats when the engine is fuabr'd!
 
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