blown head gasket

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:38 pm

Thanks for everyone's advice so far. My BX does have a blown head gasket. Typically, it went completely while driving to pick up a Hayne's manual for it. It is a 91 BX 19 TGD. I have very little mechanical abilities, so will need to take this to a garage to get it done. The first two have suggested prices of around £500. Is this about right? Is it worth doing at that price?

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:48 pm

What garages have you quoted ? Citroen or indies ?
$500 seems a bit over the mark.

Tell them its a Peug405 -1.9 engine. That may give them a clue.

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:05 pm

indies. no citroen specialists yet though. still looking for one close enough to drive the poorly beast to.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:06 pm

Sounds a heck of a lot of money for a reasonably straightforward Job!

Post by **docchevron** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:20 pm

Sounds like we need a STICKY or bit in newbies corner on head gasket replacement.
Duno where you are in the country mate but I can do N/A diesels in about 3 hours, not including the head skim!
Cheers
Chris G

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:56 pm

gloucestershire/worcestershire border. Only one said a time scale, and they seemed to think it would be 6 or 7 hour's worth of work.

tom · Post by **tom** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:08 pm

Even allowing for a head skim and a pressure test,(Both of which I would advise on a 1.9 motor,) that is a costly job. They don't want to mend an old Citroen and are pricing you to bugger off and quit bothering them. £350 from a specialist who would do the job properly sounds like the top end of what you should pay to me but If you took the plunge, Skim and PT
about £40. Head bolts and Torx driver £15(NOT OPTIONAL!). Gasket set £25. New oil, filter and coolant. £20 £100 all in. GET your garage to change the oil, filter and coolant and get the radiator checked out, again, this is not optional. A blocked radiator has probably caused the problem in the first place.

artic-steel · Post by **artic-steel** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:20 pm

Have you seen the specialists map on the homepage?, throws up 3 candidates, if my geography is correct, which it should be i was down there this morning, (saw a nice blue estate on the A38 between Gloucester & Tewksbury), you have Barry Coombs in Malvern, Chris Jacobs in Gloucester & Wyvern Garage in Lydney, & i have no idea were Lydney is.

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:21 am

Chris Jacobs no longer exists. Well, he has left, and the garage has become a chain (something like Auditeknic or similar), but there still is a mechanic there who drives a BX given him by Chris Jacobs. They have quoted 'around £380' just for the head gasket. So thanks for that. I will try the other two on Monday.

Can you drive a car with a blown head gasket? If I keep slow and let it cool down every ten minutes?

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:59 pm

dunx.wantok wrote:Can you drive a car with a blown head gasket? If I keep slow and let it cool down every ten minutes?

Yes sure -
No need to let cool down. The engine does NOT get more hot than usual.
Just be "cool" on the pedal and the engine revs - to keep down the engine temp.

What you really need is to carry lots of water with you for frequent topping up - as the coolant is expelled by overpressure from the blown headgasket. If your coolant low level warning light is working OK - then stop and top up every time the warning comes on.

You could do a simple trick if you need to move the car a longer distance - by its own power :
Remove the thermostat. That will keep down the engine temp and help a bit on water expelled.
Of course you should stop engine every time you come to a halt, traffic light etc.

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:15 am

Thanks for that. Today is phone round the garages time, then, armed with the list of specialists on the web site.

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:12 am

now I am confused. One person on the "BX specialist" list quoted £500 to £600 if the head had no problems, another has quoted £275. One says pressure testing involves the complete stripping of the head and will cost around £400, another says pressure test and skim would be £70.

Who do I belive?

(by the way, the phone number for one of the 'specialists' is wrong, and some poor lady is getting rather p155ed off about getting called about BXs, who is in charge of that section so I can send them the correct phone number?)

tom · Post by **tom** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:05 pm

£70 is quite enough for a pressure test and skim. The other outfit should be named and shamed. They don't belong here. £275 sounds fair. £5-600 if the head has no problems is TAKING THE PISS! Name him, please.

dunx.wantok · Post by **dunx.wantok** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:29 pm

29 Barry Coombs MIMI
Unit 3 Spring Lane South
Malvern Link
Malvern, Worcs
tel 01684 565500

Quoted the high amount, and said it would be better to scrap the car. Others did quote similar. His phone number is wrong, as well. But I guess that doesn't matter if you are advising people not to use him.

tom · Post by **tom** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:38 pm

Which is why we usually resort to doing it ourselves.