[Sweed]

Well i took my vauxhall astra to the garage on monday... i myself told them that it was the head gasket.. then they started with that whole needs skimmed blah blah.. i said i aint really willing to pay to get a head skimmed that dont really need skimmed as the car hasnt over heated its just loosing oil so anyways they said we will book it in thursday(today) which i assumed was for them to replace the head gasket and ofcourse the timing belt. so i left them with my car and after 4 hours they phone back to tell me.. its your head gasket.. i was expecting ok your cars fixed or i would have took the car else where and had work done by now. anyways... so correct me if im wrong here. they told me it will cost £350 to £400 to be repaired.. i've only just bought the car and i aint willing to pay that for a gasket to be replaced so i queried why it was so pricey.. they said they would have to remove the cylinder head.. send the head off to be skimmed then put on a full gasket set.. with bolts etc. a full timing belt kit.. with pulleys etc which to me seems a little strange as the gasket is only leaking oil... it hasnt actually over heated or nothing.

so anyways i priced the parts.. worked out about £105 for me for the FULL gasket set bolts the lot.. the head being skimmed (£35) and the timing belt kit... so even if they were charging "garage" labour prices £44 would mean that they are charging me nearly 5 hours labour for a 3 hour job..

But anyhoo.. the main thing is would you say thats pricey.. would you say all heads should be skimmed before changing a gasket.. and should pullys etc be change..

having grew up doin mechanic.. i personally wouldnt skim it.. unless the car ofcourse had over heated.. or i found something while i was doing a self test nor would i replace the tensioner and pullys on the timing belt as for new torque bolts i wouldnt really replace them either.. what do you say? :mad:

[Jason]

hi
i agree with the garage im affraid. im a mechanic and i would never do a head gasket with out having a head skim, unless its a V6, V8 etc as you can not skim them as it alters the angle of the V. Depending on what engine size your astra is £350 -£400 seems very resonable for the job. As for the timing belt again i would never ever do a belt on its own without tensioners and where the water pump runs off the timing belt i would replace that aswell, especially on vauxhall as they do fail and then the timing belt fails. If its a ecotec engine (16v) then when the timing fails it normally damages pistons aswell and they then suffer from excessive oil consumption.

so recap if its a 16v engine price is very cheap, if is a normal 8v engine then the price is about right. It sounds like you have gone to a good garage, they seem to know what they are doing.

if you give a few more details of car like engine size i could advise a bit more on price.

hope this helps

Jason

[Sweed]

i just must be old skool.. it can also be bad for the engine getting the head skimmed in my opinion... if infact the head does not need skimmed. thats like fixing something that aint broke, would you respray your car if it never needed reprayed :) dont get me wrong if the car had overheated id have said skim it straight away.. but to be honest the thing is a 3 hour job.. even at £44 an hour labour.. plus parts.. to me it comes no where near £350 / £400 its more like 5 hours labour they are charging.. i've just got no time for lazy slow mechanics that drag jobs out the fact that id have to wait 4 days for a head to be skimmed is a factor aswell, whatever happend to garages doing what the customer asked for :D not what the garage wants to do to make themself an extra £200 quid.

[Marcusdarkus]

Originally Posted by Sweed

.. it can also be bad for the engine getting the head skimmed in my opinion...

I agree. Skimming the head is not a necessity.
If the surface needs regrinding because it is warped and is within the regrind tolerances then fine, But if it is done purely as a precaution, then should it not be crack tested at the same time?

Having a higher compression ratio can cause problems, as can the distance between cam centre and crank centre. Having the head skimmed will cause these two centres to be nearer each other affecting valve timing.

As for changing the pulleys, this is a good idea. Most premature cambelt failures are due to pulley wear IMHO.

And should the water pump be forgotten? If this is driven by belt, then surely this must be treated as a pulley?

[renaulthater]

If you dont agree with what the garage are saying to you you are within your right for them to put all the pieces in the boot and for you to tow it away, and fix it yourself,.. after all it would appear you know more about cars then what the garage do.......

[Sweed]

Well yes generally thats what id do.. do a self check with a flat bar and some feelers.. clean the head up and do a dye test to see if the head had any cracks even before i said to a customer look your head needs skimmed or.. worse, your head has a crack and needs replaced, but this garage said only cowboys do a head gasket without skimming the head we would just take it off and send it away to be skimmed.. so i told the garage id rather stick my car into a cowboy than a highway robber. I think i'll end up doing the job myself, i also think the guy at the garage was more annoyed that i actually knew what i was talkin about than just some joe public that they usually rip off.