Newbie car owner:
I've recently got a ford fiesta which has a small amount of oil leaking from the top of the engine block. Occasionally under heavy acceleration there is an odd smell (I've read about coolant leakage re head gaskets or something) but the coolant level seems to stay the same. To be on the safe side (I know very little about cars mechanics) I enquired about having a new head gasket fitted. To say I was shocked at being quoted between £600 to £800 to have the job done is an understatement.
The question is, what work is involved here? A friend reckoned he changed his gasket in around 30 minutes, the garage reckoned around 10 hours. Also, what is likely to happen if I don't have this fixed, how long is it likely to "last" before the car is useless? I'm loathe to pay that amount of money as I doubt the car is even worth that much.
Oh, another question. When I mentioned this to the garage, he pre-empted (sp?) me by saying leaking power steering fluid, which it is, is this a common problem with fiesta's? Its a 95 old style fiesta frascati 1.3 petrol. Could this be the source of the odd smell if I'm burning ps fluid on a hot engine? It does need daily top ups.