500 Head gasket repair cost??

[T14086]

Radweld wont fix a head gasket but is good for small leaks/radiators. Most 500's use the 1.2 engine which has been around for eons as is not exactly the most complicated. I stuck some Barrs in my 1.2 mk2 punto to keep me going until I could afford radiator but...I forgot and didn't replace the radiator until 3 years later. It never leaked since putting it in, I still own the car. I have used it on loads of Jap cars in the past and as long as you dont expect miracles it works fine.

Sometimes circumstances/situation mean you have to use such methods, when on holiday etc...IMO more chance of a rad hose coming off or getting rubbed through than radweld doing damage.

n.b. please note I do work for radweld and am the area salesman, I do good discount for bulk deals01267 244803

 

[Kara]

Forgot to mention it's a 1.4 engine, not the 1.2.

 

[grimwau]

I stuck some Barrs in my 1.2 mk2 punto to keep me going until I could afford radiator but...I forgot and didn't replace the radiator until 3 years later. It never leaked since putting it in, I still own the car. I have used it on loads of Jap cars in the past and as long as you dont expect miracles it works fine.

Back in the day when I worked for Daimler/Jaguar we used to add Barrs to all our cars, new and second hand. It was a recommended water softener/corrosion inhibitor for any car with alloy cylinder heads.

Corrosion around the waterways were the main cause of head gasket failures.

Of course this was long before antifreeze was used all year round and needed to be drained and the system flushed when winter was over.

 

[ahmett]

Quick question for you guys, I think my stupid indie filled the coolant with normal water instead of distilled water. Am I in trouble?

 

[bgunn]

Quick question for you guys, I think my stupid indie filled the coolant with normal water instead of distilled water. Am I in trouble?

No. Not really. If you're a perfectionist, then by all means (and that doesn't mean I don't), but on an engine that's done some miles, chances are there's some corrosion/sediment in there anyway. If your water is soft, then it'll be absolutely fine. Additive packages in Antifreeze are very sophisticated now, as the demands on cooling systems are much greater than they used to be many years ago.

 

[grimwau]

Quick question for you guys, I think my stupid indie filled the coolant with normal water instead of distilled water. Am I in trouble?

ahmett, as long as the correct spec antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor (Parflu or similar) has been added in the correct ratio then you should not have any trouble. To be honest I wouldn't imagine any normal garage using anything other than normal tap water for cooling systems.

 

[ahmett]

Thanks guys. Yes here in petrol stations and dealers they all seem to use tap water!

 

[goodgirl156]

Late to the party here but there is some worrying advice.

If its done properly, with OEM parts and to OEM tolerances you should not be able to tell the difference.

I did the head gasket on the Sci a few months back, a simple easy job, total cost for parts and getting the cylinder head skimmed was about £150

To bill out the work I would expect to pay around £500

HG are a consumable at the end of the day, they are designed to fail before anything else.

 

[Murano16v]

Late to the party here but there is some worrying advice.

If its done properly, with OEM parts and to OEM tolerances you should not be able to tell the difference.

I did the head gasket on the Sci a few months back, a simple easy job, total cost for parts and getting the cylinder head skimmed was about £150

To bill out the work I would expect to pay around £500

HG are a consumable at the end of the day, they are designed to fail before anything else.

Got to agree. I've done a few in the past, sometimes when they failed and other times with a head skim to raise the compression ratio. Provided everything is kept really clean and the head bolts torqued down in the right order then all should be fine. Having said that though there are certainly dealers out there you cannot fix even the simplest of things.

 

[Andy Monty]

Whilst these engines have been about years ensure the mechanic knows his stuff some of the newer engines use vvt and may not safe unlike the older lumps (a thread came up recently in the gp section)

 

[306maxi]

Late to the party here but there is some worrying advice.

If its done properly, with OEM parts and to OEM tolerances you should not be able to tell the difference.

I did the head gasket on the Sci a few months back, a simple easy job, total cost for parts and getting the cylinder head skimmed was about £150

To bill out the work I would expect to pay around £500

HG are a consumable at the end of the day, they are designed to fail before anything else.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with head gaskets being consumable items. My dad has a 1977 Peugeot 504 with well over 300,000 km's on it and it's never even had the rocker cover off in the 24 years my dad has owned it let alone the head. The water pump went a couple of years ago, but at 30 years old you can't complain.......

 

[goodgirl156]

I have to say that's impressive, the fact no one has checked valve clearances in 23 years is worrying however

 

[306maxi]

I have to say that's impressive, the fact no one has checked valve clearances in 23 years is worrying however

It's the sort of car that was built to be run in Africa with sod all maintenance and probably very little oil Not saying it wouldn't run nicer without the rocker cover being taken off and clearances being done, but it still runs nicely for an old dear

 

[goodgirl156]

Impressive engineering no doubt, exception rather than the rule?

With the fire engines headgaskits are not uncommon, same with the k series block. Even with maintance they will eventually let go.

A lot of it I expect is to do with engineering ... The they don't make them like they used to expression rings true to a larger extent with older design blocks

 

[jrkitching]

I'm with Maxi on this one - there's no excuse for HG failures on a properly engineered modern engine. I've not had one on any car built after 1970.

Well, almost no excuse. If you allow the coolant to run low or don't change it at the recommended interval, don't blame the engine if it fails.

If either of my cars blows a HG in the first 200000 miles, it'll be the last FIAT I ever buy.

 

[306maxi]

I'm with Maxi on this one - there's no excuse for HG failures on a properly engineered modern engine. I've not had one on any car built after 1970.

If either of my cars blows a HG in the first 200000 miles, it'll be the last FIAT I ever buy.

Definitely!

It seems that newer engines are a bit more prone to HGF than older ones, my 406 did it twice while I owned it, but it was a poor abused little thing when I got it so I don't really blame it, I put it down to the previous owner being a moron.

 

[james44422]

My corsas head gasket went at 70000 miles :/

 

[goodgirl156]

Really? Your opinion is as valid as mine and I respect that.
Agree to differ?

 

[SteveTDCi]

Its very common on the Pugs, the 206 i had was changed before i got it and started to fail again which is why it was sold as spares or repairs, i've got to be honest although i wouldn't class it as a consumable I wouldn't say that it should never fail.

 

[306maxi]

Its very common on the Pugs, the 206 i had was changed before i got it and started to fail again which is why it was sold as spares or repairs, i've got to be honest although i wouldn't class it as a consumable I wouldn't say that it should never fail.

On a decent engine they should never go. It's like how rear dampers on Panda's and 500's are consumable, but put decent ones on and they're not. The fact that some engines do it more than others suggest poor design rather than anything. K series engines are great for it, 1.9 Peugeot diesels, 2.5 litre Subaru engines.......

Whereas you get other engines which are closely related which don't do it all the time.