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Hi all,

The missus has just informed me that as she was driving her 1.4 back from work, there was a loud pop and smoke billowed from under the bonnet. She managed to get a few hundred yards down the road until she could find a place to park it up, but it was chugging very badly by this point. Does this sound like the Head gasket has blown or anyone have any other ideas?

I drove it for about 300 miles last weekend and aprt from rattle from the exhaust area it was running sweet.

I haven't seen it myself yet but if this what's happened anyone have an idea of cost to sort this out?

Cheers,

Neil.

Well it was the head gasket it turns out.
Also the expansion bottle had welded shut and I couldn't get the cap off!

The garage who I asked to look at it proceeded to do all of the work without authorisation and lumped me with a £600 bill (new water pump, timing belt change, cyl. head check and skim and new gasket etc. etc.)

When it cam for the thermostat to go back in, the car always overheated when removed it was fine. So the car is currently running without a thermostat.

Now, it has also started to lose coolant about 1/4 litre every 3-4 days. The garage wouldn't guarantee their work because in their words "due to the
extreme temperature, we don't know what else may have gone wrong!!"

I can't see any visible leak of coolant anywhere and the oil doesn't look emulsified - has anyone got any ideas?

Any help would be much appreciated!!!!

First thing to check is whether it's leaking coolant out of the cooling system or if it's leaking into part of the engine.. leave the car parked over a sheet of cardboard overnight and check the cardboard for drip marks in the morning. If there's a wet patch you'll be able to work out roughly where it's leaking from and patch it up, if not I'm afraid it's a bit beyond my expertise

did they skim the head?
if not then its prolly warped
up-side: when skimmed it ups the compression

did you pay the bill?

anything they do without your say-so is considered a gift by law, i think?