HELP!! Advice needed urgently!!

[Jonny Chee 0]

I have just bought a G60 with full MOT (a week ago) and decided to get it into a garage for a service. I was recommended to go to a guy who used to work for VW and now has his own little garage by himself. The total service cost came to £140 as I had to have new brake cables fitted to the rear (apparently the rear brakes were binding really bad - can't say I noticed).

 

The garage also inform me that the head gasket is on its way out. The car is running quite hot (I thought G60's did anyway)? They did something called a 'sniff test' (correct me if I'm wrong) whereby the mechanic shoved a container with blue liquid into my water inlet and run the engine for a while. Eventually(after a good few minutes) it started to turn yellow and froth a bit. This he says means that the gasket is on its way out. They have quoted me £370 to have it done in a couple of days time (replace the head gasket, bolts and valve stem). :(

 

I am really sceptical as I know nothing about engines and the last thing I want is to be ripped off by somebody taking advantage of my lack of knowledge.

 

Please advise urgently as I have had to break the bank to buy and insure the car!!

 

Thanks enormously.

[Red=Fast 0]

well, i dont know about the 'sniff test' to find out about a head gasket going. (i dont know much about how to find out if a head gasket were going) but that seems a bit questionable to me. g60's run pretty hot, so you are right about that.

 

i have no idea what MOT is (sorry i am from the US) how old is the G60? how many miles are on it? any idea how hard it was driven before you bought it?

 

hopefully someone here will be able to help you find out what the deal is.

[Jonny Chee 0]

Its a 1991 G60 with 101k on the clock. I have no idea how hard it was driven but I suppose being a Corrado they are all driven hard??!!

 

I have just found out that the 'sniff test' just checks for air leaks or something like that. My car does have a slight water leak which the mechanic could not locate (he thinks it is down to the head gasket being on its way out).

 

Somebody has suggested I use RAD WELD to fix the problem?

 

PLEASE HELP! I am tearing my hair out! :(

[Henny 0]

MOT = ministry of transport... it's a yearly road worthyness test that all Mainland UK cars have to pass to be allowed to use the road legally...

 

I've never heard of a sniff test... I tend to know when I've killed a head gasket by it throwing oil or water (or both) where it shouldn't be! :oops: :lol:

[Red=Fast 0]

ah the MOT is like the SMOG check we have here.

 

about the head gasket thing, how does your car run? if its running fine, personally,i would nto worry about it until something is really noticable, oil flying around and what not. (but this is coming from me, when my charger exploded it took my motor with it. =P even though i was getting 9.5-10lbs of stock boost until the min. it exploded.)

 

its really up to you. do you trust the shop enough?

[Storm 0]

They have quoted me £370 to have it done in a couple of days time (replace the head gasket, bolts and valve stem)

How do they know a particular valve stem has gone???? Sounds like alot of dough for a headgasket. Arent Stealth Racing in that neck of the woods? I'd take it there for a second opinion.

 

http://www.stealthracing.co.uk/

[coolrado 0]

ah the MOT is like the SMOG check we have here.

 

 

 

the MOT is quite a comprehensive vehicle check the brakes, steering, tyres, wheel bearing play, emmisions, headlight alighnment and more are all checked oh and you sometimes get some spanner monkey whacking your chassis with a small hammer to try and find any rust holes :roll:

 

my brother moved to canada and couldnt belleive the amount of cars that where basically rust on wheels and where actually legal to drive he said most people over there just buy a car and drive it untill it falls apart :lol:

 

oh and dont use radweld i found that out the hard way when the radiator on my bug had to be replaced as some of the veins got blocked by radweld :mad:

[Henny 0]

G60's (and most VW engines of this age) are an utter git for waterleaks... just 'cos you've a slight weap somewhere DOES NOT mean you need your head gasket doing... :roll:

 

Stevemac wrote a thread about waterleaks on Corrados.... worth a look HERE... ;) :mrgreen:

[stevemac 0]

I had to have new brake cables fitted to the rear (apparently the rear brakes were binding really bad - can't say I noticed).

Binding rear brakes is usually caused by seized handbrake adjusters on the rear calipers - cables are very rarely the cause. Be prepared to replace the rear calipers fairly soon.

 

The garage also inform me that the head gasket is on its way out. The car is running quite hot (I thought G60's did anyway)? They did something called a 'sniff test' (correct me if I'm wrong) whereby the mechanic shoved a container with blue liquid into my water inlet and run the engine for a while.

Rather unreliable way of testing a headgasket. More accurate way would be to check the oil & water for cross contamination (oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil) also a compression test would be a good idea.

 

Try the common water leak locations in the thread Henny gave a link to & make sure the engine is HOT while you look for the leaks.

[stevemac 0]

My car does have a slight water leak which the mechanic could not locate (he thinks it is down to the head gasket being on its way out).

Mechanics should never assume - I suspect he will be incorrect.

If your car is running well & only using water, I doubt the headgasket will be to blame (nice little earner for your mechanic though :wink: )

 

Somebody has suggested I use RAD WELD to fix the problem?

Noooo - don't do it !! Radweld is crap & won't solve your problem. Only way to find water leaks is the hard way. Get your engine nice & hot first - most likely place for the leak will be the plastic water housings, 1 on the front & 1 on the passengers side of the engine.