Head gasket blown! ( I think)

[TaylotS2K]

Posting on behalf of my brother in law. His car has only done 22,000 miles, has full service history etc. He took his car in for a service at Specialised Paintwork in Reading yesterday and they phoned him up with the bad news. They're stripping the engine today/tomorrow, so he;ll know for sure. It's a 2002 Sports Tourer.

What are the likely costs of this repair on average? and is it also worth having the cambelt done at the same time?

[noodleman]

About £500 tops.

[SeanyD]

+1 £500, and yes get the cambelt done - additional parts/labour is negligable to get it done at the same time.

[noodleman]

I'd be surprised if any decent mechanic wouldn't do the cambelt anyway.

[TaylotS2K]

Thanks everyone. They do seem to know what they're on about and seem enthusiastic.

Has anyone ever used Specialised Paintwork and if so, what was your experience?

[Phil. S.]

I haven't, but woud be interested to hear how much they charge. I thought the going rate for repairing HGF was £600+ depending on what needs doing.

[TaylotS2K]

I'll know more after the weekend, so will keep you posted.

[VTECMatt]

noodleman said:

I'd be surprised if any decent mechanic wouldn't do the cambelt anyway.

You would be surprised a very well respected specialist didnt do mine!

[TaylotS2K]

This is what he's been quoted at Specialised paintwork.

Total cost will be around £1500 inc vat

Head Gasket £650
Service £100
Cam belt £50
Window £25
Breaks and Pads £500

Edited by TaylotS2K on Monday 18th August 13:54

[Phil. S.]

It may be worth getting a second quote from Steve Williams at Maidenhead.

TaylotS2K said:

This is what he's been quoted at Specialised paintwork.

Total cost will be around £1500 inc vat

Head Gasket £650
Service £100
Cam belt £50
Window £25
Breaks and Pads £500

Edited by TaylotS2K on Monday 18th August 13:54[/footnote]

[footnote]Edited by Phil. S. on Tuesday 19th August 23:17

[Hollywood Wheels]

TaylotS2K said:

Breaks and Pads £500

Do you mean discs and pads? Just get some bog standard discs and pads from ebay and get a local grease monkey to fit them. Do the discs actually need replacing? I've lost count of the number of times I've been told discs are 'worn' on my cars, when there's still 10K+ miles left in them.....

[mr wiki]

Sounds about right to me, but pads / disks you could do your self.


Mintex £120
Disks £280
Fluid £20

[kambites]

The Lotus discs and pads are rather expensive. You can get better third-party bits for less.