Tarantula

Tarantula

New Member
Driving to work this morning along a dual carriageway had a bit of a odd misfire feeling, juddering. Pulled over and soon as I stopped had white steam pouring out from under the bonnet, had a look and it seems to be coming from the right corner of the radiator as you're looking at it. Found a radiator plug had ripped it's threads through sitting on the radiator. Recovered to a mates garage, he's saying that it's the gasket :( Waiting on confirmation when he's had a look.

Sound like head gasket to you lot? Any idea how much I'm looking at for parts and how many hours? Well outside of my ability to do it. Trying to get myself prepared for it! :D
 
Did he say The gasket, or The head gasket.
Could be that it's as simple as a small gasket to seal the rad plug.
 
does not always mean head gasket if you managed to stop right away there is a chance you will be ok i had the same prob but the rad was broke every one i spoke to said ohhhhhhhhhhhhh head gasket however runs better now than it ever did and i didnt replace the head just the radiator hope its the same for you
 
Its not that bad a job because you dont touch the timing. Manifolds off, a few other bits and bobs and then whip the head off :)

Parts are dirt cheap as well, think I paid a tenner for my head gasket :D
 
dando44 said:
does not always mean head gasket if you managed to stop right away there is a chance you will be ok i had the same prob but the rad was broke every one i spoke to said ohhhhhhhhhhhhh head gasket however runs better now than it ever did and i didnt replace the head just the radiator hope its the same for you
Click to expand...

Well fingers crossed on that one, certainly was coming from the radiator..

Tuskenraider said:
Its not that bad a job because you dont touch the timing. Manifolds off, a few other bits and bobs and then whip the head off :)

Parts are dirt cheap as well, think I paid a tenner for my head gasket :D
Click to expand...
Which you would for other cars..? :D

A tenner?! I thought they were like 300 quid! Not what you know but who you know though I guess!
 
Seriously for the whole job? :eek:

Christ I was reading on another forum (while waiting for recovery, this forum doesn't load well on my phone) £300 for the part, maybe £1000 if it ends up being a new engine, then 8-10 hour job!

Have been looking at buying a £100-200 run around til I can stump up that sort of cash. Only thing I knew about head gaskets was that it's mega bucks, then what I read earlier!
 
may well be gasket but i would check rad is hot all over surface as is the usual reason for problems in the first place
 
Tarantula said:
Seriously for the whole job? :eek:

Christ I was reading on another forum (while waiting for recovery, this forum doesn't load well on my phone) £300 for the part, maybe £1000 if it ends up being a new engine, then 8-10 hour job!

Have been looking at buying a £100-200 run around til I can stump up that sort of cash. Only thing I knew about head gaskets was that it's mega bucks, then what I read earlier!
Click to expand...

You must have been on the wrong forum :D unless thats main stealer prices :rolleyes:

Probably looking at around £100 in parts and then a days work. If you want to head pressure checked and skimmed you are looking at around £70-100 and a couple of days lost depending how busy the place is.
 
Tuskenraider said:
You must have been on the wrong forum :D unless thats main stealer prices :rolleyes:

Probably looking at around £100 in parts and then a days work. If you want to head pressure checked and skimmed you are looking at around £70-100 and a couple of days lost depending how busy the place is.
Click to expand...
Yeah, clearly :D

Ah excellent well that shouldn't be too bad then. I'll hold off buying the battered metro!

Cheers! You've settled my mind somewhat. Well, that, or the several beers I've had to get over the annoyance :D
 
I didnt bother getting my head skimmed when it went because it looked like it had been done before.
Brand new head with all gaskets set me back about £350 plus some beers for my mate who helped me strip and rebuild it :)
 
That's not so bad then! Still waiting to hear... sadly although he's a mate he's still got a business to run so doubt it'll be free labour :D
 
I never skimed mine took some advice from here got new bolts and reset tappets after the change and now running great, only cost £150
 
Do a search on here a few threads for head gasket
did mine a couple of months ago, skimmed etc £200 tops

A few standard must do's

Laminated OE gasket, last a lot longer than pattern part
use NEW bolts on head - some on here say you can re use them, but for £20 would you risk it, false economy stuff
adjust valve gaps / tappets -what ever you want to call them, DO NOT think "they haven't moved they will be ok" - takes 1/2 hour max to do a proper job
 
Tarantula said:
Well fingers crossed on that one, certainly was coming from the radiator..


Which you would for other cars..? :D

A tenner?! I thought they were like 300 quid! Not what you know but who you know though I guess!
Click to expand...

Think you're thinking of the head itself rather than the head GASKET. I did mine last year, recon head, new bolts, new gaskets (oe spec) and about 4 hours, less than £300!
 
Well what a relief! It was just a radiator bung :D I got told by 4 mechanics it was head gasket. In the end was a £5 bung, result!

Feels great to be back in the disco, been driving a Porsche 924 for a few days (got a new brake servo while it was in the garage), bit of a different experience!!!
 
Yeah that's what I thought :D

On the second count, it's a very hot car, and electric windows are broken. Fan was too until I bodged that together. I kept having to pull over to cool down! Twin sunroofs and 4 windows felt like 5* luxury once back in mine :D
 
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