VW Passat head gasket quote

A local mechanic has diagnosed my coolant loss as a head gasket failure and given me a quote of £160 to replace it (as long as nothing else needs doing). Is this a fair quote, and since he's not a VW specialist could he come unstuck or is it a straighforward job on a diesel Passat??

Cheers Carlos

1999 VW Passat TDI (115BHP)
Reply to
Carlos
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sounds too cheap. has he done one before? is that just labour? is there a guarantee? do you know other people that have had work done by him? it is a 4.7 hour job (autodata) so at 40 quid an hour (good mechanic rate in the south) he will be losing money after paying for gaskets, let alone oil, skimming the head, belts etc. etc.

I think a realistic estimate might start at 300, but really you need to strip it, then quote.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

that's about the going rate for a good independant round here

Reply to
Nathan Lucas

Sounds low as you say. Guy at work had one go and was quoted £250-£350 by various independant garages in Leeds and area. He took the £300 on as it was close and it turned out to be a bit of a sod - the mech had to wait and extra day and get new head bolts due to excess stretch on the old uns but didn't charge extra.

Reply to
Chris Street

Can't comment on the price, but I'd expect to have a head skimmed if the gasket has failed.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

It is low if you include a skim, however, I had an Alfa 33 done, including changing both cambelts and a skim for £240, so it's not _too_ far away from what I'd expect to have paid for something a little less complex.

Reply to
SteveH

Too cheap, timing belt and tensioners should be replaced, along with a set of stretch bolts, and give the head a cautionary light skim. Should be £200 at the very least...

If this is a PD engine then at least its abit quicker to time up as you dont have to time the high pressure pump with a dial gauge...

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Hi Carlos:

I'm a Yank, so forgive me for doing a little monetary conversion. £160 is about $300 American dollars, and the typical auto repair rate in the USA for car repairs is probably around $100 per hour. Figuring two hours and 30 minutes to do the job brings the total to $250 plus the gasket, new oil, and new antifreeze. So that £160 doesn't seem too far out of line to me. Hopefully the mechanic does quality work. If not, you'll be paying for more repairs later on.

Regards

Reply to
Papa

Has your mechanic excluded the possibility of a faulty oil cooler they are know to breakdown internally allowing oil and water to mix?

John.

Reply to
John Glover

I think this was suggested by *mrcheerful* a few weeks back when I asked about possible causes of coolant loss. I will definitely raise this with the mechanic and get him to check it before he commits to replacing the head gasket.

Cheers all, I feel a lot more confident facing these bloody mechanics now ;-) Carlos

Reply to
Carlos

Sounds cheap, the head want's pressure testing & checking for flatness, they have atendency to start leaking so it doesn't really want skimming for the sake of it, unlike most engines.

Reply to
DuncanWood

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