Rover 214 Head gasket Blown :(

emily_h_2

Hi all

My car has blown its head gasket recently and wont start on the key but will if you bump start it.
Its losing water and getting a little hot.
My questions are, why wont it start on the key but bump starting it will start it?
How long is the car likely to run without cutting it out?? I have 60 mile trip I have to carry out, I do keep topping the car up with water on the way and stoppig to do this, will this help?

Inactive

I hope that you are not seriously considering a 60 mile journey with a blown head gasket.:eek:

blue_haddock

Do not drive the car until the repairs have been made. You will turn what is a relatively straight forward repair into a new engine job. it WILL kill the engine if you drive it 60 miles.

steveo3002

yep its not fit to drive , you will make it worse

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

A 60 mile trip in a taxi will be cheaper than a new engine.

reevsy

A rover with HGF, surely not!

cyclonebri1

The Taxi journey is also likely to cost more than the value of a 214.

The car is effectively dead. let it RIP, :A

Seriously, it's a gonner.,:whistle:

helenp1981

I have a W reg Vauxhall Astra, on Monday 4th Jan I was driving home from work & my blowers were freezing & the car was starting to overheat, I pulled over well before the temp got anywhere near overheating cos didnt want to screw my engine. Got some coolant from the garage & filled the rad as was nearly empty!
Car was going into garage on Tuesday anyway for new tyres so when my hubby dropped it off he asked the garage to investigate it, they called him later to say car was ready, he asked if they had checked & they said yes it's absolutely fine. I picked it up & drove it home - only a 2 min journey so no time to test it. My husband then took it to work which was a 15 mile journey - by the time he got there car was overheating & all the coolant had boiled away! Took my hubby over two hours to get home as he had to keep pulling over before the car overheated to let the engine cool & refil the radiator. He drove the car straight to the garage (this was 5am) I rang them in the morning & explained why it was back in their car park - asked them to look at the water pump as dad had said that & also hubby's boss, garage said yeah no probs.
Hubby rang Weds afternoon & they said car was ready- had replaced thermostat & bled system - they had taken it out a couple of times & was blowing warm air now, my hubby specifically asked - so it wasnt the water pump? was the water pump ok then? to which they replied "yes absolutely fine"
I drove the car home, the blowers although not freezing were far from being warm & tempo was creeping up - rang hubby who rang the garage - they said well it was fine when we took it out, so they agreed maybe that it was because my trip home was too short, so hubby took it out for a drive that evening with a friend following & surprise surprise same problems! Overheating & frezzing blowers! I was sooo annoyed I took it to my diesel garage the next morning(the garage hubby uses not diesel specialists) he checked while we were there if the HG had done - at this point seemed ok, water pump however was fooked fan had sheared off! My mech replace the water pump, he did warn me then that although HG seemed ok then it could have been weakened by the overheating - that wouldnt have happened if we hadnt 1) been told the car was fine then 2) told the car did have a problem but was fixed now when actually it wasnt!!!
After the water pump had been changed the car was no longer overheating, in fact temp gauge wasnt really moving, blowers were warmer again still not hot hot. Car was still lsing water - going through anti freeze like nobodies business so I took it back to my garage & he checked the thermostat - again we stood there while he did it - he pulled out our allegedly new thermostat from the other garage - it had been deliberately bent to stay open!!!
My garage then replaced that & hey presto I had warm air! Absolute heaven!!
Then on way to my parents the next day my head gasket went - got to folks ok by keeping radiator topped up etc.
Now I am anticipatin a huge bill for the work - cant help but think it is the fault of the first garage for 1) not replacing the water pump or even checking it in the first place & 2) putting in & deliberately jamming the thermostat open!
We still have the water pump that was taken out of the car - we dont have the thermostat cos the garage took it back when we demanded (&got) a refund - b4 HG went!
Where do we stand??

hartcjhart

by the side of the road basically


hang on something smellls a bit like kwik fit to me

anewman

helenp1981 wrote: »

Where do we stand??

This is what's crap about cars and garages unfortunately. I understand it's annoying as all these problems seem related, and appear to have been caused by the garage, but you will have a hard time proving they are to blame. They did the work they did and those were individual jobs. If you want the headgasket replaced then unfortunately you will have to pay for parts and labour for that job which is likely to be quite pricey. The right thing to do is to never go to that garage again, and find one that charges a reasonable rate but can be trusted.

The headgasket may have gone once it got the back pressure in the coolant system from the new thermostat.

trets77

reevsy wrote: »

A rover with HGF, surely not!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

only a matter of when not if .