Missus took her car into the garage today, over heating, cold air blowing in to the car – all tell tail signs of the head gasket going.

Quote – £800.00 (mechanic says there is erosion so when they take the engine to bits it will need skimming so the engine casing seals back together again properly).

Anyway, are there any mechanics on here who can say yay or nay to this rediculous f&cking price? Headgasket can't be more than £100 surely………8 hours labour, £87.50p/h……..I'm sure the job will be labour intensive if it does need skimming but 800 bangers?!

The car only cost me £1300 7 months ago – seemed an ideal purchase at the time for the missus to run about in with the bairn and dog in toe.

Anyway i'll be getting more over the phone quotes tomorrow but if anyone can give me any kind of heads up i'd appreciate it.

Nah, that's wrong. Get more quotes.

Just cost me £300 to get an MG 1.8 gasket replaced, but it didn't need a skim luckily. Garage said if if did need a skim then probs around £450. £800 does seem steep, is it a Vauxhall dealer, mine went to a proper backstreet place…?

Get a few quotes for definite, but if it does need skimming, you're gonna be lucky to see change from £500…

I know someone who could do it for a fair bit less most likely, but that's only if you live anywhere near me (Worcestershire)…

Nah Lister, this is a backstreet place mate, (maybe it's too back street)?

As our lass left the fore-court on the verge of tears the bloke shouted "i've got a nice fiat for sale over there love"………. 😯

Terry Tibbs alarm bells started ringing as soon as she told me that!

knottie's your man, he's a vauxhall mechanic, and should know the book time.

My 2p – if your car's that old, why are you taking it to a gargage with a labour rate of £87/hour? You should be able to find a backstreet garage (there are a few good ones around) with way cheaper than that.

My mechanic's labour rate is £25/hour.

He hasn't specifically given me that labour price – it is a back street garage – and thats what i calculated his hourly rate to be, hence this post.

School boy error letting the missus go alone obviously!!

many back streetand mobile mechanics are about £25 an hour

Is the scrappage scheme still on anywhere? Infact thats not a bad idea – probably the only way i'm going to get out of this one without feeling like i've pi$$ed a grand down the drain……

I'm off to google "scrappage scheme"……

School boy error letting the missus go alone obviously!!

Sadly, more than you'd like to believe, many car garages do still do the age old trick of trying to rip off a woman on her own, because 9 times out of 10 they know they won't know enough to doubt what they say.

That said, I've seen it happen to plenty of blokes too in the past.

I think the thing is that old cars are really only more economical to run if you know what you're doing, or at least what you should be getting charged for, when they go wrong. Otherwise get something newer that's got a warranty and is covered if it does go wrong!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder, any opinions – Clicky

The car only cost me £1300 7 months ago

sorry to throw a spanner in your works but the scrappage scheme and that Nissan scheme require that you've been registered owner for 12 months + 🙁

I know that mate, i'm thinking if we can get the work done for about £400, that will put me on until October, then potentially chop her in!

£1300, in exchange for £2k, leaves me with £700 to play with at the most to break even(ish) on investing in a new car that won't give me any problems, and if it does, it'll be under warranty.

I don't know what the f&ck to do to be honest, all i know is the missus aint happy, and if the missus aint happy, I'm not happy! 😯 lol

How much does a 2 litre vectra motor cost these days? Obviously got the cost and potential headache of the swap, and the long-term disadvantages, but I almost bought a whole 2 litre vectra with a perfectly nice 80000 mile old engine in it for £600 the other day… Nasty shell and interior but it still went.

ahh fair enough, spanner removed!

with around £700 to play with I'd buy a cheap run around with MOT/Tax for the few months then cash in on the vectra and sell on the cheapy again.

It does mean putting up with keeping an extra car on the drive way for a bit which maybe a problem if you haven't got room.

Pity you're not near Glasgow as I could have done it for you. I did one not too long ago and it cost me about £110 all in which included a few other bits and a full service kit.

Yeh we've got plenty of room, can you scrap in a none runner though??

Yeh you can pick these bad boys up from about £600 these days with a nasty shell/interior like you said but our's is pretty mint inside and out which counts for **** all really! Confident we'd get just short of a £1000 private selling if it was running……..

Pity you're not near Glasgow as I could have done it for you. I did one not too long ago and it cost me about £110 all in which included a few other bits and a full service kit.

That got me giddy then seen Glasgow………..sigh 😯

Calm down….

Off the top of my head you will need:
Gasket set £100
Head Bolts £45.
Cam belt and tensioner kit £80.
Oil and filter £30.
Thermostat and Antifreeze £20.
Machine shop work:
Head skim £25.
Pressure test the head £25.
De-coke and lapp the valves £80.

Labour £250.

So about £600 +Vat to do the job properly. You can of course cut a few corners – no pressure test, ignore the valves, ignore the thermostat. However do you want a guarantee with this? I would only guarantee it if you had all the above done.
Hth
Marko

The head gasket in the missus's Ford Ka went last month. A few weeks after we'd bought it… 👿

Local back street place (well recommended) charged £560 incl vat. That included having the head skimmed.

Re scrapping a non-runner, I got rid of my old punto last year on the scrappage scheme and it died on me the day before I was due to take it in! This was with local vauxhall dealer and they had no problem, even helped us push it into place in their lot!
Would probably be advisable to check first though if it won't run at all, I might of got lucky with a garage that was just desperate for a sale at the time and it died after everything was signed and sealed.