Clutch fault?

then it sounds even more dodgy.

get the car to a trustworthy mechanic, alternately set fire to it in a layby.

You are kidding, right?

I'd say that the only way it should go back there, is rigged up with a network of hidden cameras and the assistance of Trading Standards or one these "Rip-off-merchants-from-Hell" TV shows.

Then you might want to change your name and move house.

IanW ("IanW" ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

FFS, a compression test would have been quicker than the phone call.

"No water and the engine's leaking oil" is fairly crappy as the total diagnosis of an HG. The water's going somewhere. It's either going into the oil (in which case the oil'll be mayonnaise), into the combustion chamber (in which case there'll be clouds of steam out the exhaust) or out the side (in which case there'll be telltale stains). Same for the oil.

Well personally I'd like to be asked first if they were to do work that I hadn't originally asked for. Sounds like they might be right and that the CAR is a POS but the owner simply hasn't noticed. Having to top up oil and water every few weeks isn't a great sign.

Having said that, on a new clutch the bit point is usually lower down unless it has been adjusted. I'm not sure I understand what the OP is describing when he's talking about the gearchanges. If oil is leaking out the crank seal onto the clutch it won't give clean changes.

the water loss might just be a leaking water pump or radiator, the oil leak could come from any of a few dozen places, neither symptom say HG, if the garage had done a gas test to check for HG failure combined with unexplainable water loss then HGF would be a reasonable diagnosis. I would be very unlikely to do a compression test as part of HGF diagnosis unless it was only running on a reduced number of cylinders.

Mrcheerful

Well, my regular mechanic says there is nothing wrong with the compression - all 4 cylinders are at the correct levels. He also says there is nothing wrong with the head gasket and the oil leak is coming from the camcover gasket. He's going to check where the water might be dissapearing to, and the clutch and other things on Monday. So that pretty much confirms the other mechanic is a con artist and wouldn't be at all surprised if he didn't replace the clutch last October either!

Thanks for everyone's comments :)

Ian