scottyfocus

Had my st170 in local garage pressurised due to it losing coolant, guess what, no leak. Its going straight in the engine. Over a grand for new gasket apparently. Can't afford to fix it so have put some stuff in to seal the leak and it has.

Lads in garage say get rid, but ive got myself in too much debt and went through far too much trouble to get this car! So pissed off as the lad i bought it off obviously knew about this, kunt!!!

Have a few options really, keep the car and run it for a year then sell. Or, sell now and buy another (its top spec full leather as well so would want that in the new one)...Im even considering getting a new engine in and floggin the old one on ebay..

I was wondering, what would be cheaper, new engine or head gasket replaced?

advice please and thanks!

coco16i

Find it seriously hard to believe its going to cost over a grand to repair !!!

Sounds like who ever quoted you that price is pulling your pants down mate !

What have you been told is actually wrong with the engine then ??

Cylinder head skim and new gasket should cost about half what you been quoted.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

engine swap is easiest option

but a gasket shouldn't cost that much

scottyfocus

Basically water goin into the engine as there is no leak (have had it pressurised) and have noticed water coming out exhaust. Guy held a bit of paper to the end of exhaust for a min, smelt it and could smell coolant.

Basically coolant into the engine. Apparently that is a head gasket?

Sorry if vague but i dont know much about this issue. Really am sick atm as i was going to get some bodywork fixed then in my eyes the car would be spot on, obviously not now though!

babscossie

Yep, the coolant is leaking into the cylinders. Probably headgasket failure.
While the head is off have it crack tested aswell.
Total job in my garage wouldn't come to more than Ł550 with crack test and reface.
Ł1000 is a JOKE.

scottyfocus

Would you say it is safe to run the car as it is or am i just asking for trouble?

Just to be clear they didn't quote me a grand, they actually said it could cost well over a grand to find out what was wrong, as they could do the gasket and this may not fix it :s

Seems to me i have to decide between new engine or fix the gasket?

babscossie

I would of said you would be asking for trouble driving the car with a fault like that. It will only get worse and you'll cause more damage and possibly break down/overheat.
They are correct in saying the headgasket isnt guaranteed to fix the problem but it is the most common cause of this type of fault.
Thats why i said to crack test the head aswell. A hair line crack in the head or bores of the block could cause the same problem but is much more uncommon.

CarParts Express

Ł1000 is a crazy price... Want me
To price job up for you? U not far away if u in Durham

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Take it somewhere else for a second opinion. You sure it isn't leaking from the bung in the bottom of the thermostat housing? They always leak from here. And IMO, there is no way in the world a bottle of rad weld would fix a blown head gasket....

dazliddle

which garage in durham was that mate

taz1787

iTrader: (8)

like said shouldn't cost anywhere near that for gasket and skim and crack test

but also like said radweld won't fix problem only make worse imho

i wouldn't drive like that tbh

scottyfocus

Will do mate. And im not sure, they seemed adament the water was going into the engine and out the exhaust. They had it pressurised and we got under the car couldn't spot a leak. If it was going into the bung would we spot it by looking from underneath? Or would we have to take a few bits apart and have a good look to find out?

I have refilled the resovoir about 4 or 5 times over about 1k miles though prior to the rad weld being put in. Does this help to rule anything in/out?

I think the radweld was to stop any more water going into the engine and causing any more damage, not to fix the head gasket as such.

Also, if i was to opt to getting it fixed, would you expect the previous adding of the rad weld to cause any damage? Or would all be well and good, assuming the problem is indeed the gasket.

Im considering getting it fixed and at the same time getting cambelt done as part of a major service. Just considering atm however.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

liam-rst

iTrader: (1)

it does sound like a gasket but if it was blown into a cylinder i would also expect the header tank (water bottle) to bubble over an smell exhaust fumes in there, i also fail to see how rad world would fix the problem even temporarily as the pressure would be way too much for it, its only designed to temp fix leaks in your hoses/rad an not wots actual engine

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

If its the thermostat housing plug you will see it on the top, it leaks on top of the gearbox. If you look at the top radiator hose, the black plastic block it connects to is the thermostat housing. On the bottom undernearh the hose is the bung that always leaks.

liam-rst

iTrader: (1)

also if your burnin that much water u would have loads of white smoke, i think that garage might be tryin to pull to wool over your eyes, take it to a decent garage an ask to have a sniff test done

scottyfocus

Any pics or anything mate as i dont know where to find it?

Would there still be water there as the resovoir hasn't emptied at all over the last 6-800 miles, after the radweld was added.

Im going to get the car taken to another local garage too, for a second opinion.

rapid3door

that would be my advice as well its the best option

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Look at the radiator at the front of the car, the top black rubber hose on the right hand side as you look at it. Follow it back to where it meets the engine, it attaches to a plastic block. Under the hose on the plastic block is a bung. They always leak from there, you will notice water staining around it and on the gearbox where it drips down.

If you take the oil filler cap off, do you have any white sludge on the bottom of it? If not, and it has stopped using water then to be honest I'd stop worrying about it....

If it was a failed headgasket then the rad weld would not have fixed it at all. IMO the garage you took it too were just trying to get money out of you for a job that didnt need doing!

scottyfocus

I will check now and get back to you.

As far as the garage doing this or that and im not sure about this to be honest. Its kind of i scratch your back you scratch mine. My family have done alot of work on their garage and in return we get cheap rates when we take out cars there, only pay for the actual cost of the part, low labour rates etc...I just get the feeling they were sick of us (me) taking the cars there all the time (last 2 months have been hell with the cars, one thing after another absolute hell!)

They have been nothing but good to us. Just the way they handled this particular issue didn't seem right to me, so will get second opinion.

Thanks for the help everyone!

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

There are easy ways to tell a headgasket, it will loose the coolant very quickly and will mix with the oil and vice versa, this is why you get 'Mayonaise' on the oil filler cap. Sometimes you will get alot of steam if the gasket has gone bad enough, NOT to be confused with colder weather!

1k is expensive but in any case it will be expensive for someone to do, the price comes from the labour, the gasket itself isn't that expensive.

What he ^^ said really, if it's stopped losing coolant then it's more likely to be a small leak somewhere.

As said radweld will not cure a head gasket!

A compression test could show a head gasket failure.

Martin

scottyfocus

Ok, there is no white sludge around the filler cap, and hasn't been at all since i bought the car and the whole time ive noticed the coolant going down.

Although the oil was clearly new.

And i can see evidence of water leaking where you asked me to look. Hopefully this was it but one thing that concerns is would this not have become apparent when i had it pressurised?

Hopefully its just a case of running for the year then selling as i cant afford the insurance for an mk1 RS quite yet (im 20)

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

If your thermostate is leaking then generally they only leak when the car is hot and the thermostat open so maybe it would not show up. From what your telling me i very much doubt your headgasket has gone. Is the car overheating?
ST170's losing coolant is quite common and 9 times of ouf 10 the reason is as Rich says the thermostate. If it is dont be told that the whole thermostate needs changing either which will cost you a couple of hundred, the problem is caused when the o-ring on a bung goes, you can buy a replacment bung from ford for a few quid

scottyfocus

Thanks pal, like i say i will get a second opinion from a garage just in case. Hopefully though it will only be the thermostat

Just as a sidenote i was cruising around with a pal in his new 58 plate 1.8 focus and he was keeping up with me ha! Hopefully i wont need to spend any money on the gasket so can concentrate on some mods as i cannot be having that

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I know that's why I flogged my st170, was horribly slow! Mate of mine in his remapped 1.8 diesel focus could keep up no bother!

If it has stopped loosing coolant then just forget about it for now. Do keep an eye on it though.

scottyfocus

You driving an mk2 st? How does that compare to the 170 power and handling wise?

I'm kind of in limbo between an ST or an MK1 RS as my next motor. Shouldn't really be thinking about that though, ive only had the 170 nearly 2 month!

melinamotor

Mk2 ST is a nice steer and rapid with mods but lacks the agility of the Mk1 RS without a doubt,its a close call really. The 170 is pretty poor on performance in todays mega hatch stakes, a shame it came out when the Honda CTR was already a year old.

Hope you get your issue with the 170 resolved.