Anybody have experience of repairing a cylinder head gasket and how easy is it?

My girlfriends car (Seat Ibiza 1.4 S Reg) has blown the head gasket. It's an old car and not worth a lot of money so we are not sure if it is worth getting it repaired at a cost of £500.

I'm not too bad with a spanner and a socket set when it comes to old Ford engines, but more modern stuff with fuel injection and loads of electronics scares me.

Does anyone out there who has done the job feel that it was easy enough for a home mechanic with a Haynes manual??

Any advice would be appreciated.

depends how bad it is, if the head needs skimming then it'll need doing professionally.

cambelt may as well be changed at the same time.

seems pricey though, i think i paid £300 to have it done on my wifes 106.

Get an Haynes manual, its strightforward. But bear in mind, you may be repairing just one bit of a car worth £500. You can buy cars for that much which may not need any fixing for a year.

I spent years buying cheap cars, like disposable rasors, chuck them when they dont work. Some lasted years and only cost a few hundred quid.

It'll be an easy enough job, electronics shouldnt worry you if you're careful not to damage sensors and cabling and FI makes no odds to the job difficulty. Crack on with it, check for warpage and get it skimmed if needed.

Jam bo – why if the head needs to be skimmed would the whole job need to be done professionally?
IMO you'd want to have the head checked for flatness regardless.. – for the sake of 20quid for a poential skim then you'd be silly not too…

Can't see it being too dificult if you are handy with cars as is.. – but, as said you would want to change the cambelt (maybe tensioner too), then its going to (normally) be headbolts, headgasket kit (so inlet / exhaust gaskets), and you'd be advised to do a coolant / oil and filter change on it too..

I've done a 1.8 Zetec head before.

Started off with the Haynes manual. But, after much scraping of knuckles, soon decided that down there is the gasket – forget what mr haynes has to say – *anything* that was between me and my target was coming off, labelled, and put away in the shed until it was needed again.

Easy enough to do – just make sure you remember where all the bits came from! I did that one over 2 weekends at a lesiurely pace.
No need to be scared of the modern bits – most of them just unplug or come off in nice big bits.

I was lazy tho, and didn't bother with a skim, just slapped a new gasket on and rebuilt – but I did return it to working condition (if only temporarily). I was quite pleased with my efforts nonetheless. 8)

I meant the skim would need doing proffessionally.

just collected the wife's punto, 2000 model 1.2 whose gasget went.
Damage was 660 quid!

So her goes.
Gasget
Cam belt plus tensioner kit
Water pump
Head bolt set
re-skim of warped head.
7 hours work.

I really wouldn't mind knowing how to do them but re timing a car is totally critical or your'll ben the head and I've never had the confidence to try. Still if it's worth nowt what's the worry. Try if you fail scrap it.

where are you? Pretty simple job really. why do you think it has blown?

I know someone who used this stuff.

http://www.steelseal.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=1

It was used as a temporary fix over christmass,but it held for 18mths untill he sold the car.

tip re taking apart – use a digital camera to snapshot/video everything as you go

You will need a tool for holding the crank while you undo the pulley bolt ( VAG T20018 ). Normally this means the bottom pulley bolt if FT so will need gunning off with an air gun. So if you have access to a compressor and an air gun then it shouldn't be too much of a job.

Whereabouts are you?

Tool

I would be Interested to know why the head gasket has "gone",Have you been topping the coolant up over a long period? If so did you use the Manufacturers coolant or an aftermarket one

Its vital to use the right spec to maintain reliability,if you do the job yourself i would use origional parts and get the full seat/vag kit including new cylinder head (stretch)bolts.
and get or borrow a decent torque wrench and follow a haynes manuel.

Freezer bags are your friend. Just put bolts, nuts, bits in bags and label the lot up properly.

Photos are a damn good idea.

Tip no1. Make sure you have all the tools you need _before_ you start work. Going out to the local autoparts shop with an oil-stained copy of the Haynes book of lies and asking for "that socket adapter that he's got" is a good recipie for hilarity. On their part.

Other than that, it's easy, well straightforward. Unless you choose a V6 to start on. Which I did.

Oh yes, get new head bolts and _DO NOT_ put oil in the holes they go in. Just a smidge on the threads.

Thanks for all the advice.

I ended up going to Keswick on Friday to pick my GF up and have a look at the car. Decided to try and limp back home (about 70 miles) at the ungodly hour of 5:30AM Sat morning to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

After about 15 miles and two stops to fill the car with water I was beginning to give up hope. Couldn't understand why the car was boiling over so I decide to feel the temp of the radiator and the hoses. COLD!!!!

Took the thermostat out, filled her up again and made it home with only one more stop to check everything was still in place and have a coffee. In the final 50 miles, the car didn't overheat, seemed to be running perfectly and didn't skip a beat. The only thing I did notice was that the heater wasn't working.

My conclusions (and quite happy to be shot down in flames) are that the water pump and the thermostat are knackered. There doesn't appear to be water circulating even with the thermostat out as the radiator didn't get more than warn and heater matrix isn't getting any hot water.

Now that we've got the car home, we've decided to let the professionals have a look at it. It's worth an hours labour to get their opinion so I can decide if I'm going to attempt the work myself. And with all your advice, I'm a lot happier to have a go and save myself a bob or two.

BIG thanks to STW

What you find happens with the blowing head gasket is the exhaust gases are going into the waterways which then prevents the water circulating properly, so although you'll find the water pump and thermostat ok its due to the gases in the system causing you problems