Hi,

my son bought a Ford Fiesta 53 plate at the end of October. Unfortunately it appears to have blown it's headgasket. Not so bad we thought, warranty covers that.

First garage confirmed it was head gasket but didn't want the job due to warranty being involved.

Second garage have quoted £1000 for repairs.

This seems rather steep to me, anyone had a gasket changed recently?

Even if we persuade the warranty company to pay (which I don't think is likely given all the stories I've heard about then!) they have a limit of £500 per claim so still leaves a big bill for him :-(

cheers

A

Had one done about twelve years ago. Dismantle, skim head and reasemble £600

ok, thanks Mordey.

A quick google of value of money over time shows £600 would be around £830 now. So £1000 still seems a little steep but then again, don't know where you are in the country or what you labour rates would be.

Had this happen to my old Saxo around a year or so ago..

My dads mate did that one (although I fully trained mechanic) for just over £600 I think.

It helps to shop around though, hopefully you'll find some quotes closer to that mark, let us know how you get on!

I was looking a few years back when thinking of getting an mg tf, they were plagued by gasket problems. You can search Google for mobile ones like one below. Although they specialise in rover engines they may be able to help or point you in the right direction

http://www.mobilegasketrepair.co.uk

which fiesta are we talking about...petrol/diesel/engine size?

will have a look at that mobile service, thanks Matt.

Wase16ll , it is a 53 plate petrol 1.4

£1k seems excessive...would shop around as should be able to get far cheaper

allowing approx £300 for parts/head skim, which for a straightforward head gasket repair is more than enough, then your looking at 6-7 hours labour, which is more than enough for anyone that has done more than one of these, works out at over £100p/h labour...you can do better than that,

should add that dealing with warranty companies is a nightmare, they'll squeeze every last penny from the repairer..so understand the reluctance of anyone taking that on.

just spoke to a mobile mechanic, seemed very helpful, says it will probably take a couple of days but would skim the head, replace cambelt (and water pump while it's off, said it's behind the belt so may as well do it) and should be 500-600! Much more reasonable and I guess partly down to less overheads.