Head Gasket

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Tue 21 Jan 2003 16:35
Head Gasket - Nick100
I have a K reg Renault Clio thats covered a pretty good milage at just over 90k but my garage tells me that the cylinder head gasket has blown which certainly accounts for the coolant loss and the oil like mayonnaise! The rest of the car is in pretty good condition but I'm wondering if it is worth getting the head off(beyond my competence by a long way), getting a rebuilt engine or just getting it crushed. Any advice or thoughts about cost effective solutions gratefully received!
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Tue 21 Jan 2003 17:31
Head Gasket - DavidHM
A K plate, 90k Clio is going to be worth a good £700 in working order, so it's probably not a candidate for the scrapper yet unless the rest of the car is complete pants too.

Have you had quotes for the work done? Even allowing for a complete oil and coolant change, and 4 hours' back street labour, it should probably be in the region of £200. (Unless the garage boys can prove me wrong). A rebuilt engine, fitted, will probably be uneconomic for the car unless it's worth more to you than it is on the market.

If you wanted to sell it after that, I wouldn't necessarily blame you, but don't let the car go for a pittance or scrap it, because Clios are popular first cars and make quite good money. Unlike, say, R19s... :-(
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Wed 22 Jan 2003 19:51
Head Gasket - MikeC
I had a 92 Clio that blew a core plug - coolant dumped all over the road & overheated. Local mechanic said cause was a slowly leaking head gasket - no obvious loss of power etc. Charged £300 for core plug, new gasket and cambelt change & oil etc. The guy said as the head had obviously been leaking for a while as the inside of the engine had started to rust due to air getting in the system (the coolant was a rusty brown as well). A few months later I got a leak where a metal pipe joins the engine block - again caused by rusting - and again it dumped the coolant on the road and overheated.

Amazing - the only car I have owned to have so many water problems and the only one without a water temp gauge.

Have since sold the car.
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