headgasket on a turbo car...

You're right. Head gaskets are either good or not. Perhaps they meant the manifold or turbo which can rust away until a hole appears at about 10 to 15 years of age?

Huw

I bloody knew this would happen, the moment I mention Saabs and how reliable they are loads will appear with problems, sorry mate, how jinxed am I ?

Andy

change your garage mate....

Sounds very odd. If headgasket is really blown or marginally blown, then it should be fixed asap to prevent damage to the block.

Again, it comes back to taking care by warming up the engine properly before flooring it, especially with a turbo. However, there could have been batches of inferior headgaskets; check if there has been any recall for the model.

Extortion! A reputable Saab specialist near Heathrow charges less than half that!!!

Jinx

On Wed, 04 May 2005 00:56:11 GMT, "Mr Jinx" wrote: [" they also want £825 + vat to do the job.".

Well, as a Saab person in west London, do tell Good specialists deserve good publicity!

Not quite.

A local BMW specialist said the missuses 525's headgasket was on its way out because the rad hoses felt a little too pressurised. Told her to keep an eye on the water level and temp guage. Sure enough, a few months later it went.

Would that not indicate that it is already knackered?

Tim

yup it's either ok or leaking

It means they couldn't be bothered to do a compression test or run an exhaust gas sniffer over it and give 100% certain bad news now. Even though it may have got away with just a gasket change and not needed a skim. It means they didn't have to add the cost on a service bill. Basically suggesting they should start saving up for it right now.