Happy christmas...........Here's a huge bill...enjoy

[anubis 0]

Hi guys, as you may have already guessed from the title, I'm not in the best of spirits today after yesterday's soul shattering trip to AMD [none of it their fault btw], so feel free to ignore the sarcasm.

 

Basically, after months of p***ing about with the wheels and suspension I had the day booked to finally get it all fitted, drove up to Oxford, only to find out that the dozy morons who sold me the wheels only supplied 3 of the apparently unique hubspacer things, so the wheels are still not on. At least the coilovers were fitted. :roll:

 

All besides the point, really. I also got the delicious news that the Head Gasket has a leak, and that it's going to cost big money, with an outside chance of it requiring a new engine, depending on my luck. Better start saving.

 

Basically, I'd be really grateful if anyone has any experiences, advice etc about what this entails. I'm probably going to have to get it done at the local Stealers due to courtesty car for work etc...and that they may have to send the head away? :(

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[dr_mat 0]

How (and why?!) did they diagnose the head gasket?

Most likely it's just the head gasket (not the whole engine), which is a good few hours labour, but not the end of the world.

[Supercharged 2]

Go to Stealth for a second opinion...

[anubis 0]

Sorry, should have explained it. I've had a quite obvious Coolant leak, and lil bit of rough running, so I asked them to look into it while they had the car. Needs new leads as well, but they're cheap! They seemed to think it was £1000 for them to do, so I'm a bit worried about what the Stealers might charge.

[dr_mat 0]

AMD charge around £65/hr + VAT and charge by-the-book, as do the dealerships. But most dealers in the south of england (I note you're in Surrey) will charge around £85+VAT or upwards per hour...

Stealth are a long way from you..

[anubis 0]

Exactly......best for a local place, and I can get a courtesy car from the Dealerships. The guy at AMD said that they'd have to send it away to be fixed....is that not going to ramp up the price?

[kerrinmay 0]

Mine's having a new head gasket at the moment. Took it in yesterday as had coolant loss but it was running really nicely and it hadn't overheated at all. Anyway they say they have got it back together now with new gasket and apparently the cylinder head bolts had also been loose! They won't know until Friday when they get it running again if it really is ok as they have to wait for some parts - also needs a new radiator, but fingers crossed!

 

Mine is being done by main dealer Peter Cooper and they've quoted me £446.38 for doing the head gasket job.

[anubis 0]

That's a good price.....might be an idea to get a quote off the dealer before hand. Although my local Dealer is just the worst.....Drift Bridge Epsom. Avoid at all costs.

[kerrinmay 0]

I tried to get a quote off them yesterday when I took it in - but because of the nature of the problem - they couldn't quote me until they had it stripped down - although they did estimate around £500 if it was straight forward.

[anubis 0]

I find it's just always an absolute battle whenever I have anything to do with a Main Dealers.....it's like speaking to children half the time, I swear. Not that this was supposed to be a thread to have a go at the Dealerships.....but any excuse I suppose! :D

[h100vw 0]

I think I'll get into the headgasket game with those quotes. :roll: More money than working on airplanes.

 

Gavin

[kerrinmay 0]

Don't know if yours being a VR6 will mean it cost more for head gasket renewal? Mine's just a 2.0 valver.

[anubis 0]

Yeah, I'm sure they'll use any excuse to ramp up the price!.....I'll pay them a visit tonight on the way home.....I think this is why car mechanics tend to have a lot of friends!

[Phil K 0]

MCM in Millford, Surrey have just fitted my new engine... Danny is ex-vw and only charges £30ish an hour!!! You won't get a courtesy car but for the money you'll save you could hire a car for the day and still be better off!!!

[Storm 0]

MCM in Millford, Surrey have just fitted my new engine... Danny is ex-vw and only charges £30ish an hour!!! You won't get a courtesy car but for the money you'll save you could hire a car for the day and still be better off!!!

Phil Spot on :D , I was going to recommend a guy in Herts same M-O. Phils guy is a little closer to you.

 

AMD are sending stuff away, what for????

[Jim 2]

Don't don't don't chance it with the dealership. The stories that have come up on here about them not being able to put engines back together again, etc have scared me off ever going to my stealer for any mechanical work for life.

 

Good luck though - it wouldn't be a Corrado if it didn't crap you at christmas time. Hope you manage to find a less expensive way around this :(

[Phil K 0]

MCM are available on 01483 424815 ask for Danny (owner)

 

HTH

[craigowl 0]

A VW dealership did engine cylinder leak test and had head skimmed for my son's VR6. He had bills for between £600 and £1000 (he is too embarassed to talk about it and let me know true figure). Car deteriorated again a few weeks later and he had to trade it in as he needed a good runner for commuting. Got £2000 against Lupo GTI but lost a lot of money through not going to VWCorrado specialist in first place. The busy working person who really needs a car does not have time to look for the best solution and will often jump at the chance of getting the car "fixed" by anyone brash enough to say they can do it - including some dealers.

A lot of dealership "technicians" do not seem to have Corrado know-how. Has been said many times by better men than me on this forum.

 

 

http://www.forensicmet.co.uk

[anubis 0]

Cheers guys, appreciate the advice. Think I'll give MCM a ring tomorrow, and may have to bribe my friend who works at a hirecar company...

 

[storm] AMD said something about that they'd have to have the head sent away to be skimmed? and tested.

[h100vw 0]

AMD wouldn't have the facilities to skim a head and pressure test it. Only a £40 job around here.

GAvin

[don 0]

just a quickie, y not do the job yourself, is not that hard, honest. christmas is coming and with it a lot of time, you are lucky it only has one head, try doing quad cam v6 alfa :-)

nice job. worst that can happen it will cost you a new engine if you screw up, which is around what the dealer quated you any way.