Bought car, head gasket blew 29 days later

Silent_Dancer

I'd sell the car for scrap. If the head gasket has gone the repair will be more than the value of the car.

motorguy

Silent_Dancer wrote: »

I'd sell the car for scrap. If the head gasket has gone the repair will be more than the value of the car.

No it wont.

It was a £1600 car. A full head gasket set could be around £40. Even allowing for a days fitting it could / should be done for around £300 labour tops. Allowing for the cost of a check that the head isnt warped and at worst a skim isnt going to add +£1000 to that.

Silent_Dancer

Check the value of the car first although you paid £1600 the trade in or private sale will be less.

Then whilst the gasket set may not cost a lot the reality is an engine rebuild is more likely to cost closer to a grand and then there is always the risk that there is more wrong with the engine than just the head gasket.

greendoor665

I was expecting the repair to be more around the £500 mark. I'd rather we spend that (and get the cambelt done at the same time) than scrap it and roll the dice with another used car.

greendoor665

Update:

We spoke to a friend of a friend who is a solicitor. They agreed we had a case but did a little digging and advised it probably wasn't worth taking to court. They were of the opinion that the dealer wouldn't pay and we'd find it difficult to enforce the debt as they thought the company was a shell and the cars/assets would be registered under another name. Basically the dealer is a low life scammer.

Very frustrating that the law exists to protect people like us but it's not possible to actually enforce it. We did get a letter from the bank showing in writing that they had used the 'sold as seen' defence so we will contact Trading Standards with this at some point.

So to draw a line under this saga and move on, we decided to pay for the car to be repaired. We were quoted £850 by a mobile mechanic to replace the fanbelt and head gasket, and also to replace the cambelt and water pump at the same time (might as well while he's in there). I then got a quote from a local garage I trust at £650. As it was only a mile away, I topped up the coolant, charged up the battery and drove the car there without an issue.

The garage discovered the alternator had seized which is what caused the fanbelt to snap, so replacing the alternator added another £150 to the bill. They also confirmed that on this car the water pump is driven by the cambelt, so us driving the car while the fanbelt had snapped didn't cause the head gasket to fail. They are 2 separate problems. After fixing all of this the engine was good to go.

However, the garage also noticed it was missing a wheel nut from each wheel, probably because someone had lost the locking wheel nut at some point and not replaced them. More fool me for not noticing this when we bought the car! That necessitated a quick trip to Halfords (as cheaper places such as Euro Car Parts weren't open on Saturday afternoon) to buy a new set of locking wheel nuts and a wrench, as I didn't want my partner driving around all week with a nut missing from each wheel, even though she had already done so for the first month of owning the car.

That means the total cost to return it to full working order was £848, plus around £400 in extra commuting costs during the time my partner couldn't drive the car. A painful lesson learned for both of us. On the plus side, nothing else major should go wrong with the engine for a long time!

pinkshoes

All you can do now is leave factual reviews online for the garage to warn others of their shoddy practice.

If it even puts 1 customer off then consider it a success!

Glad you have managed to get it all fixed!

m0bov

Def get some reviews up online. However id still go for SCC for 50 quid as youll always wonder... Id also contact the Banking OB about the sold as seen thing!

Jumblebumble

bobbymotors wrote: »

99.99% it will be driven by the fan (auxiliary) belt.

NEVER driven by the cam belt, and I cannot think of any vehicle where the water pump is driven by anything other than the fan belt/ auxiliary belt (may cars have 2 belts, one for the fan, one for the alternator / pas pump / water pump / aircon)

EDIT: I stand corrected. On more modern cars it appears the the timing belt can drive the water pump. Whether it does so on the op's car i have no idea.

Could I ask how helpful it is to tell the OP you have no idea? I should think that he/she doesn't need to ask a forum but is able to have "no idea" on their own

Lots of cars drive the Waterpump from Cam belt and it is always worth changing the waterpumb when a cambelt is changed as a new cambelt which is tensioned tighter can take the bearings out on an old waterpump very quickly

oddjobbpb

The poster has merely given an opinion, discovered they were wrong, and said they didn't know in the case of this particular car - admitting they were wrong, and correcting themselves.

Could I ask how helpful it is for you to be so pedantic?