Blown head gasket

andy444

I got my car serviced last Thursday and there were a few faults that needed to be rectified. This Sunday I had my car head gasket blow up and I found out today that it's going to cost me a lot to get it fixed.

My question is, is there any way that what the guys did during my car service cause the car gasket fail just a few days later? I'm not very mechanically minded and I just want to check that it's just a coincidence that my head gasket would break so shorty after having my car looked at for a service.

Mickey666

Obviously we don't know what the garage did during the service, but I'd say it was very unlikely they did anything that would cause the head gasket to blow.  Was it just a service or were any repairs also carried out?  Nothing in the service schedule should cause such a problem.  About the only thing I can think of that would cause a head gasket failure would be if the head bolts were loosened for some reason - but that wouldnt be a service thing as there's no need to loosen them except to remove the head itself.

Unfortunately, coincidences do happen, but even considering the worst case of deliberate tampering, I can't see how it could possibly be proved.  We are pretty much forced to put our faith in the garage we entrust with our cars.

AdrianC

If the service included a coolant change, and they didn't bleed it properly, there's the possibility of airlocks leading to localised overheating, but that apart...

andy444

This is what was included in my service.

AdrianC

So there is a coolant change in there...

mattyprice4004

How many miles between service and the failure?

Edit: Also £7.40 for a 501 bulb. Nice work if you can get it!

foxy-stoat

For the head Gasket to blow you would of had to of driven it with no coolant and it needs to overheat - you would of seem temperature rise to the maximum and cold air would of blown out of the vents even when it was set to hot.  

What happened shortly before you broke down, and how do you know the HG is blown, what tests have you or a garage have done?

Wait a minute, you took it to Kwik-fit - there's your first mistake.

DiddyDavies

foxy-stoat said:

For the head Gasket to blow you would of had to of driven it with no coolant and it needs to overheat - you would of seem temperature rise to the maximum and cold air would of blown out of the vents even when it was set to hot.  

A total loss of coolant doesn't always mean that the engine temperature gauge will show an increase.
The temperature sensor will only give an accurate output if it is immersed in the coolant so no coolant means that the sensor is measuring the air temperature and not the coolant temperature.

KimJongUn88

£47 for two wipers!

foxy-stoat

KimJongUn88 said:

£47 for two wipers!

Halfords prices.  

m0bov

£40 for wipers that you can get online for £15, a bulb you can get for 50pm rather than £7. Did they put ANY coolant in it? How do you know its blown?