Cylinder exhaust valve repair cost

[JohnnyBear]

A few weeks my Kia Sportage started to loose power. I took it to the garage they did all the standard stuff, coils, sparks, etc., as well as a compression test. Nothing in cylinder 3. They didn't want to go any further so I took it to another garage who confirmed a burnt exhaust valve in cylinder 3. The advice was an engine replacement costing £4k. I then had a conversation with a specialist engineering company who said that they could repair the head. It's a standard charge of £495 to receive the vehicle, remove the head/engine, diagnose and cost for repair. Now, the issue I have is that I don't know what we're talking roughly for a valve repair so I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of an idea as the mechanic from the specialist engineering place is keeping his cards close to his chest. The car is currently worth around £5k in the used car market. I don't particularly want to put thousands of pounds into the valve repair option. Thankfully for any info, thoughts, experience, advice.

[stevemcs]

I thought it was the bottom end on these, rings and worn bores ? £500 to remove the head, refurbish it and put it back together with new oil, coolant, head gasket set and bolts, new chain kit is stupidly cheap ....

[JohnnyBear]

It's 500 just to remove the head and diagnose, not do any work on it. If you don't like the price for the work, you get the head back disassembled.

[Krikkit]

stevemcs said:

I thought it was the bottom end on these, rings and worn bores ? £500 to remove the head, refurbish it and put it back together with new oil, coolant, head gasket set and bolts, new chain kit is stupidly cheap ....

It's 500 quid to recover it, strip down and quote. No fix.

[BunkMoreland]

If its a burnt valve as they suspect. They will do a "valve seat repair"

There's a few ways to that. But I wouldn't expect it to be too expensive. Maybe another few hundred to do at a place set up to do it regularly. Bit more if they have to outsource it.


In terms of value, currently you have an expensive paper weight. Less than a grand is only 20% of the value of the car, and should in theory last years and years. Assuming you arent about to throw the car away and get another, its the cheaper option.

£500 for investigation removal is fair. try and get them to give a rough estimate beforehand if it IS a valve seat repair (I guess they've used a borescope so far) And then once the head is off, get a proper quote in writing

i.e (rough figures)

Investigation is £500 to remove the head
Rough estimate to carry out valve seat repair is "£300" subject to their findings - Remember they cant make a proper assessment with the engine built up

Then when they get it off and find it needs a bit more work, final estimate to proceed is £400

Edited by BunkMoreland on Tuesday 16th July 22:21

[hidetheelephants]

A replacement valve shouldn't be much, even if they're taking the mick £100 tops; the rest is a gasket set and maybe lapping the new valve in if the seat has been marked by the damaged valve. OE gasket sets can be expensive if pattern parts aren't available, potentially £2-300.

[Krikkit]

hidetheelephants said:

A replacement valve shouldn't be much, even if they're taking the mick £100 tops; the rest is a gasket set and maybe lapping the new valve in if the seat has been marked by the damaged valve. OE gasket sets can be expensive if pattern parts aren't available, potentially £2-300.

Unless the seat is burnt out

[BunkMoreland]

hidetheelephants said:

A replacement valve shouldn't be much, even if they're taking the mick £100 tops; the rest is a gasket set and maybe lapping the new valve in if the seat has been marked by the damaged valve. OE gasket sets can be expensive if pattern parts aren't available, potentially £2-300.

Without commenting on Kia specifically. My gut is the valve seat will need replacing. I've seen someone try to bodge it and just fit a valve and lap the absolute fk out of a valve seat and its a total waste of time if the seat is in bad condition.

[Jader1973]

I’d be also want to know why it did it.

No point in fixing the symptom and not the cause.

[hidetheelephants]

It's possible, but impossible to know until the head's off. Depending on the size of the insert there may be enough meat to recut the seat even if it is burnt beyond lapping in.

[JohnnyBear]

This is all really helpful.

I think what I'm hearing is that it's potentially going to cost less than 1.5k.

[hidetheelephants]

Jader1973 said:

I’d be also want to know why it did it.

No point in fixing the symptom and not the cause.

A single burnt out valve is most commonly either a material failure of the valve head, perhaps an inclusion in the metal, or a result of valve spring failure.

[BertBert]

JohnnyBear said:

This is all really helpful.

I think what I'm hearing is that it's potentially going to cost less than 1.5k.

I'd take that with a pinch of salt. Most PH finger in the air estimates look woefully low to me as these do.

[Bobupndown]

BertBert said:

JohnnyBear said:

This is all really helpful.

I think what I'm hearing is that it's potentially going to cost less than 1.5k.

I'd take that with a pinch of salt. Most PH finger in the air estimates look woefully low to me as these do.

If it's a valve and seat I can't see how it could possibly cost a grand on top of the £500 strip down fee.
I bought a complete reconditioned head for s Td5 Discovery and it cost £600, diy'd fitting though.

[Decky_Q]

In these situations I always reccomend a 2nd hand head for £500ish. I have seen many times heads being skimmed, valves replaced etc and then the moment of truth and it starts with issues requiring the head off again to remedy.

[BunkMoreland]

Bobupndown said:

If it's a valve and seat I can't see how it could possibly cost a grand on top of the £500 strip down fee.
I bought a complete reconditioned head for s Td5 Discovery and it cost £600, diy'd fitting though.

Agree with you on prices.

I suspect you're right that a second hand head with a skim might be even more cost effective.

[stevieturbo]

Heads gonna come off either way, so not an unreasonable step if it has been proven there is an actual burnt valve.

Then ascertain whether a second hand head, or repair is the most viable option

[JohnnyBear]

That's the conundrum. I'm cool with paying the 500 to get the head off and a diagnosis but it's what comes following that that's creating the uncertainty. If I knew it was going to be less than 1.5k I would have it done tomorrow. I've asked the mechanic for an estimate based on different scenarios and I'm waiting to hear back from him. This will hopefully give me an idea of price range. I feel confident that if it's a valve repair/replacement I'll get another 3-5 years out of the car.

[JohnnyBear]

I'm going ahead with getting the head done. The unknown aspect of cost is terrifying, not gonna lie. To make that feeling worse someone said to me last night, "The head is usually given a complete valve job at the same time as replacing the dodgy one because the rest of the valves and guides probably need attention, too. If one exhaust valve has failed, the rest are probably on the verge of failure if they haven't already started to leak." I did not need to hear this!

Anyway, we'll see what happens. £495 gets it disassembled and diagnosed. Hoping for no more than a grand on top of that.

[hidetheelephants]

Do these things have a rep for burning valves? If the compression was ok on the other 3 pots then the valves are working even if they are on the way out; once the head is off changing more valves if necessary is not going to add much cost.