Head skimming,necessary?

livinginhope

Hi there,head gasket on car went yesterday,covered under warranty thank goodness,I have it booked in at the main dealers at a cost of £400 (this garage was the only one who would touch the warranty :rolleyes: ) my question is,they say the head will not need skimming as on this particular engine it never does,so is it necessary to always skim the head? DH is adamant it will need doing,but dealer says no,who is right? and also is £400 a reasonable figure considering it's a main dealer?
Sorry forgot to add it's a Peugeot 206 1.4 auto.
Thanks
LIH

PasturesNew

If they say it isn't needed as this particular engine never does, then I'd take their word for it.

Personally, being told it's best to skim "in case" has always annoyed me.

It has traditionally always been best/done to skim the head because you don't know if the head has warped, so while you've got the whole engine out, it's best to just do it once and for all. However, I'd trust the main dealer - they have the experience of that particular model.

goldspanners

if its being done under warranty then fine,let them do it without skimming,im not sure if this model needs it or not,but if it comes back underpowered or in anyway not how it was originally then return it to them asap.

steveo3002

doesnt always need doing, they should be able to check it or have it checked at a local machine shop

make sure the reciept has some mention of it incase it fails again

Andy_Edinburgh

How far was it driven after the gasket went? If it wasn't driven far and didn't overheat, you're probably OK.

livinginhope

Andy_Edinburgh wrote: »

How far was it driven after the gasket went? If it wasn't driven far and didn't overheat, you're probably OK.

It was driven about 1/2 mile home after the horrible brown muck was noticed pouring out,the mechanics at DH's work told him it would be ok to get it home and topped it up with water,the car did not overheat and it didn't get that hot,the temp guage was only just registering over the half way mark.I noticed yesterday morning that the engine was getting slightly hotter than normal,but not much,I did mention it to DH,but as normal he said I was being paranoid :rolleyes: it is because the mechanics at work are insisting that the head should be skimmed,DH is getting a bit flustered as the garage have told him it doesn't need doing.
Thanks for the replies everyone
LIH

Reggie_Rebel

Just had mine done as well, £800 that was.

livinginhope

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

Just had mine done as well, £800 that was.

What car was that for? sounds like the quote for £400 is reasonable then :rolleyes: just hope they don't get it in then hike the price up :rolleyes:

needaspirin

I drove my peugeot 3 miles in heavy traffic panting like a steam engine after the head gasket blew on No 4 cylinder and the engine well overheated. After checking the alloy head was not warped I renewed the head gasket myself after decoking and relapping the valves. Total cost was about £25 including new timing belt. This was 2 years ago and it's still running well now.

livinginhope

needaspirin wrote: »

I drove my peugeot 3 miles in heavy traffic panting like a steam engine after the head gasket blew on No 4 cylinder and the engine well overheated. After checking the alloy head was not warped I renewed the head gasket myself after decoking and relapping the valves. Total cost was about £25 including new timing belt. This was 2 years ago and it's still running well now.

Thanks,sounds like it probably doesn't need skimming then,DH is quite capable of doing the job,with some advice from the mechanics at work,but he doesn't have the time and as it's covered under a warranty,there would be no point,I suppose at least if the main dealer does the job and something goes wrong after,we would have some comeback,whereas if DH did the work and it went wrong,we wouldn't have the warranty to back us up as the repair wasn't authorised.

harveybobbles

While they have the head off, they might as well skim it. Specially as it's under warrenty - I'm assuming you aint paying?!?!