Head Gasket

Well if you shop around you'll find somewhere cheaper than that. & yes if you don't fix it it will just get worse.

Did he include fixing that in the above price?

Where's it leaking from? My Ka (same 1.3 engine) leaks from around the rocker cover, and it's just a case of unbolting it, putting in a new gasket (must cost less than a fiver) and then bolting it back down again.

Head Gasket would usually mean water in oil or oil in the water, or combustion gases in the water.

It is more likely that you have a rocker cover gasket leaking , It is unusual for a head gasket to leak externaly. If you are having to top up the power steering daily then it is almost certain that amount of fluid will find it's way onto the exhaust hence the smell. The quote of £600+ to do the head gasket is (I guess) a worst case senario main dealer quote? A more realistic price would be £200-£300 for a fiesta.

If it needs daily top ups, it must be leaking quite a bit. It does indeed make an odd smell when it burns. A nuisance that could be fixed for not a lot of money as it will probably be a washer, pipe or small gasket needing replacing. Anything more than this can be sourced from a scrap yard. Don't start looking for other things to fix until this leak has been put right.

BTW a cylinder head gasket takes more than 30 mins and less than 10 hours to replace properly. (I'd be intrigued to know how 10 hours work comes out to an £800 bill, unless they planned to tell you the head was split and had to be replaced - a common scam). A few pipes, leads and wires to unfasten, eight stiff nuts to undo, a trip to an engineer to get is skimmed (I'm not sure if you need remove the valves first), then with a new set of bolts and the gasket in place, fasten the bolts up carefully, in sequence, to the correct torque and refasten the pipes, leads and wires. It's a good afternoon's work.

Just found this page detailing a Saab 900's head gasket replacement in 3 hours. A bit more detailed than my last post...

I'm very sceptical that anyone other than David Blaine could change the cylinder head gasket in any engine in 30 mins. Even if he could, this doesn't allow any spare time for problems that might arise. Also, the head might need skimming.

Rob Graham

| > 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. | | It is more likely that you have a rocker cover gasket leaking , It is | unusual for a head gasket to leak externaly. If you are having to top up the | power steering daily then it is almost certain that amount of fluid will | find it's way onto the exhaust hence the smell. | The quote of £600+ to do the head gasket is (I guess) a worst case senario | main dealer quote? A more realistic price would be £200-£300 for a fiesta.

It was indeed a main dealer quote and I get the impression after doing a little more reading that they're including a huge amount of labour charges in there. I managed to get hold of the fitter at work today and spoke to him about it, he says it is probably the rocker gasket, I forget his exact words, which is a job I can apparently do myself in less than an hour :) Thanks for your info, much appreciated.

Jynx.

Wow, that sure is a lot of work, I was thinking of attempting it myself over a weekend, but I guess I would truly bust up the car if I did. It seems now it is likely to be the rocker thingumajig which I am more than happy to attempt myself, which will hopefully solve the problem.

Jynx.

Spoke to him again today, it was the rocker cover gasket, a much simpler job as I am learning. My worry appears to be over, for the time being at least :)

Jynx.

While you have your overalls on it would be worth looking at your power steering fluid. The Haynes manual will tell you how to overhaul it.

Good luck.

__

Ah, yes!!

Rob

Your 1.3 is a pushrod motor. It's a lot easier, don't have to mess about taking cam belts off and re-timing the engine. In fact it's so simple short of a BSA Bantam or B21 it's a very good motor to learn on.

Drain coolant. Remove inlet manifold - 6/8 nuts/bolts. Remove exhaust manifold - 6/8 nuts. Remove rocker cover. Remove 10 bolts, lift rockers off and then head. Find an auto engineer in yellow pages to skim it. If you feel up to it now would be a good time to pop the valves out and decoke the back of them, lightly grind them in, fit new valve stem seals.

A rocker cover gasket just needs the cover un-bolting, old gasket in bin, swipe sealing faces clean. put new gasket in place and put cover back on. No harder than fitting a fuse in a plug - just messier. Opening a tin of corned beef is more risky. Get a roll of kitchen towel and some swarfega or orange stuff with poly grains.

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