Cost of a blown head gasket?

Hi,

Sadly after a weeks ownership my head gasket has blown in style completely destroying my expansion tank and nicely denting my bonnet.

Anyway what should it cost to get this done, the head definately needs skimming. I have been quoted ?500.

cheers

Ash

?500 quid is steep,the parts are cheap for mk1 golfs nowadays,a head skim is 30 quid,i would do a head gasket for about 250 which would include a timing belt and tensioner,and oil and filter and antifreeze etc.
Bert

Hi Burt,

If you could come to St Albans I would quite happily pay you, plus your travel expenses to get here. Sadly the car isn't up to getting up to Birmingham but im in no huge rush to get it done.

Let me know

Ash

Hi mate,it would not be a good idea for me to travel to you,i would need so many tools,and would probalby forget some and the head needs checking for rotton water ports and then skimming,i would need it for a few days at least.
shame you are so far away,typical eh
Bert

HI Bert,

That's a shame. I had a good look at the car last night and the expansion tank is dead and it the temp gauge goes crazy pretty quickly so sadly it's not realy driveable.

Thanks

Ash

have you got AA/rac recovery?????

get them to take it to bert  :wink:

Or send the head to him - check the post office web sit for special delivery - may cost less than you think?

Just for info

I'm in the process of replacing my own head gasket at the moment.

Parts are not expensive - neither are most of the tools (budget ?50 for pretty much everything, if you've got a reasonable tool kit already). It's getting all the bits taken apart, fixing the bolts that you inevitably shear (some wont have shifted in 20+ years….) and then putting it all back together that's the hassle.

If you're in no rush (as in you can live without the car for months), you can DIY quite a lot, leaving the really involved stuff - like head skimming - to the experts.

It took me about three weekend's work (with frequent tea breaks, and only working on one day each weekend) to get the head completely off. And what a gunged up, mucky, oily piece of  uch:  it looked.

I'm planning to test how flat the head is (using a steel ruler), what the valve clearances are (using feeler gauge), and how well they seal (spray WD40 in ports - look for leakage) myself. Then I can hand the head to an expert knowing roughly what needs doing that I don't have the facilities/mental faculties for.


Ali Cabrio

Don't know if I'm stating the obvious or not but should always replace all of the cylinder head bolts when putting head back on :wink:

Also, you could always buy another head, then get it skimmed and sorted before you start, that way you haven't got the engine half stripped while you wait for it's return (forgetting those vital screw locations etc..)

that's what I'm doing but something else always comes up that needs urgent attention

"something else allways comes up"

Tell me about it.

Replacing the head gasket is one of those "while I've got that bit off maybe I could just….." jobs that can go on and on forever.

You've got to pull the injectors…. and that's bound to make you want to clean up or replace at least one….   :y:

then you have to get the intake manifold off - it's bound to be grubby and you'll be just soooooooooo tempted to give it a clean.  8)


pretty soon you'll be getting your spark plugs chromed….  :mrgreen:

If you manage, eventually, to bolt it all back together, you wont dare drive it in anything other than tinderbox dry weather.  


Ali Cabrio

Also, possibly stating the obvious here, but don't run the engine while it's in this condition - it may lead to serious damage (e.g. coolant in oil / oil in coolant / exhaust gas leak in oil or coolant / warped head / etc…)

You'd be much better using another car to transport the bits around

HTH

Rich