Some advice please!

Jamesfindlay123

Hi Guys,

I have a 61 plate Vauxhall Corsa, registered January 2012, and four weeks ago the car broke down.

I was towed 180 miles to the garage where I purchased the car and four weeks later they ring me to tell me the head gasket has gone and requires £3500 worth of repairs.

My problem is:
The car is 4 years old - 50,000 miles on the clock
I have Motor Assured Warranty until 2018
Why did it take 4 weeks to diagnose?

What next steps would you take? I'm not going to pay the repair costs, the car is roughly worth that now!

Thanks,

James

Richard53

That's way too much for as head gasket. Either there's a lot more wrong than they are telling you, or they are taking your trousers down. You could get a new engine for that money.

Jamesfindlay123

This was the reply from the garage:
We have completed our diagnosis on your vehicle. We have removed the head from your vehicle & sent it away to be tested. The head passed the pressure & water tests, however the they have found a slight distortion to the head. Vauxhall recommend the head to be replaced at a cost of £3196.74 inc the £255 already authorised. The other option we could try is to skim the head, although this is not recommended by Vauxhall & not guaranteed to fix it, at a cost of £1241.13 inc £255 already authorised.

forgotmyname

Skim it and reprofile the combustion chamber = sorted.

Jamesfindlay123

How much would that cost me? I still feel I should be covered under warranty?

Strider590

15 years ago I had an engine fully rebuilt, bored, skimmed and the internals lightened/balanced for motorsport use. Full build from the engine block upwards, cost me £900.
Things are more expensive these days, but your dealer is taking the proverbial. Especially considering they'll be using a local engine builder and then slapping 100% profit on top for themselves.

Prothet_of_Doom

Jamesfindlay123 wrote: »

This was the reply from the garage:
We have completed our diagnosis on your vehicle. We have removed the head from your vehicle & sent it away to be tested. The head passed the pressure & water tests, however the they have found a slight distortion to the head. Vauxhall recommend the head to be replaced at a cost of £3196.74 inc the £255 already authorised. The other option we could try is to skim the head, although this is not recommended by Vauxhall & not guaranteed to fix it, at a cost of £1241.13 inc £255 already authorised.

How long have you owned the car ? I assume it's out of warranty?

I suggest you get it removed to somewhere less main stealer and more backstreet.

I had a head gasket fail a few years back on a vauxhall cavalier (and on an astra too) and had change from £350 including head skim, new water pump, oil change, cam belt.

I did an astra myself and had change from £100 - but it did take 8 hours as I'm a bit of an amateur. - Actual head skim cost me £40 IIRC

Prothet_of_Doom

Sorry did not read this

Jamesfindlay123 wrote: »

My problem is:
The car is 4 years old - 50,000 miles on the clock
I have Motor Assured Warranty until 2018

I'd be checking the small print on the warranty, and asking for the Vauxhall recommended option.

Bloke at work had an oil leak which was eventually diagnosed as crank worn to bug-gery, and warranty replaced whole engine with a warrantied NEW one. He had to threaten legal action (hence the word eventually) :rotfl:

konark

Does the warranty say you have to use a main dealer for the work?

Is the warranty even worth the paper its written on?
If you know for certain the warranty will cover the cost of the work then the price is immaterial, but warranties are worded to exclude almost every common problem that can develop on a car- and a blown head-gasket is pretty common.

If the warranty won't pay out get the car to a local mechanic because £3,500 for a skim and head-gasket is extraction of the Michael on an industrial scale!

Rain_Shadow

Jamesfindlay123 wrote: »

This was the reply from the garage:
We have completed our diagnosis on your vehicle. We have removed the head from your vehicle & sent it away to be tested. The head passed the pressure & water tests, however the they have found a slight distortion to the head. Vauxhall recommend the head to be replaced at a cost of £3196.74 inc the £255 already authorised. The other option we could try is to skim the head, although this is not recommended by Vauxhall & not guaranteed to fix it, at a cost of £1241.13 inc £255 already authorised.

konark wrote: »

If the warranty won't pay out get the car to a local mechanic because £3,500 for a skim and head-gasket is extraction of the Michael on an industrial scale!

Just as well they aren't suggesting that then. :cool:

motorguy

You;ve taken the car to Vauxhall and they're using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.


Getting the head skimmed will cost a fraction of that.


Any competent mechanic could have handled this for you - you've chosen the most expensive option sadly.