Sad now - Head gasket again

[mileshawk56]

I don't understand any of your comments, what are you saying or not saying? An explanation is needed, please. Oh and I don't know Kayleigh and wouldn't if I fell over Him/Her!! Chris S.

[victorgte]

This thread has gone down a few different paths. My main concerns are:
Too many assumptions, too many recommendations based on possibilities and too many expert opinions from other garages criticising other repairers work.
First port of call is the original repairer. Then the leak, as has now been established would have been found and repaired much earlier rather than another repairer using the Rover HGF excuse for major surgery.
The last repair on my 1.8T was not warranted by the repairer. This was made clear to me before the work started and was done at my own risk. It would be unfair to complain to them now or publish it on this forum. I'm just wondering how many more cases out there have had such conditions and the customer has chosen to forget them?
Just to be clear the repairer I mention is from Gloucester not Derby.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Arryhall]

Kayleigh, please allow me clear a few things up, as I didn't wish to cast aspersions on your company or work, but I communicated the issue badly!

The turbo was knackered, NOTHING to do with your work, and Mark pointed that out to me last year so I've been waiting for it to fall apart, which it did. I got the turbo but had a couple of things going on and I live next door to a garage, and as time became important, they said they could do it the next day, which is why I ended up using them and not calling you to arrange a fitting.

When I picked the car up, it was the things that the garage told me about the leaks that worried me, simply because I know nothing about engines, so was asking opinions of people who know these cars weather the garage was right, wrong, or ill-informed about these engines.

The water leak and the blown turbo were, are and always have been not your fault, nor were you ever blamed for them, but the list of issues the garage gave me included these things and they got lumped into one big question.

Please allow me to apologise! MGRR are in NO WAY being blamed, accused or insinuated in my present predicament of water loss due to the leaking radiator, nor are MGRR accused of, insinuated in or responsible for the turbo eating itself. I ought to have been infinitely clearer on this, and I apologise for the confusion.

I didn't call you to discuss the issues because of 2 reasons.
1) I didn't know if there even WAS an issue, other than what the mechanic said and the opinions I was after was more of a fact finding thing to discover if the guy was full of poo or how the engine is supposed to go together.
2) I really didn't know what to say to you! Without knowing if there was an issue to even discuss with no knowledge whatsoever about the cars. I didn't know how to ask you if the leaks are normal or not, as it is more of a weep than a leak.

As I said in one post, the car has behaved fine since the work was done last year, used no oil or water, but the rain water leaks from the sunroof, the pot hole suspension and wheel destruction, the seat bolster tear, the puncture, all of these stupid little things added up to make me question the usability of the car long term, and then to be told there MAY be an issue with a repair, in one mechanics opinion, all added up to make me ask other experiencies with the engine to see if there was something to worry about or not.

As I said, in the last year, the car has used no oil, or at least a negligible quantity of oil, and as far as I can tell, zero water.

I'm sorry the post seemed to be a criticism of your work. It genuinely was not meant to be. I just lack any mechanical knowledge and am at the mercy of people who make a living from fixing things I have no clue about. It's like the K-seal thing. I don't know if it is needed, if it is a belts and braces kind of thing, or if it is superfluous. Again, Mark told me the correct gasket for the 1.8T is the elastomer, the garage next door says it is the 2 part metal and something else version. I know not, so ask other people to get a general consensus. To be told K-seal is the devils work, then that my car has K-seal in, and not know what K-seal even is or does just fills me with dread the engine is about to fall out.

Again, I didn't and don't mean to say I was not satisfied with the work that was done on my car last year and that the repair hasn't been exactly what it was; a repair.

I should have called and discussed things with you, for which I unreservedly apologise, but the leaks and turbo were in no way implied to be in any way connected with MGRR, and I really ought to have the correct and clear distinction between the problem I had / have, namely the turbo and radiator leak, and the thing that the mechanic told me upon handing the car back and his observations / opinions.

[**Kayleigh**]

Originally Posted by Arryhall

Kayleigh, please allow me clear a few things up, as I didn't wish to cast aspersions on your company or work, but I communicated the issue badly!

The turbo was knackered, NOTHING to do with your work, and Mark pointed that out to me last year so I've been waiting for it to fall apart, which it did. I got the turbo but had a couple of things going on and I live next door to a garage, and as time became important, they said they could do it the next day, which is why I ended up using them and not calling you to arrange a fitting.

When I picked the car up, it was the things that the garage told me about the leaks that worried me, simply because I know nothing about engines, so was asking opinions of people who know these cars weather the garage was right, wrong, or ill-informed about these engines.

The water leak and the blown turbo were, are and always have been not your fault, nor were you ever blamed for them, but the list of issues the garage gave me included these things and they got lumped into one big question.

Please allow me to apologise! MGRR are in NO WAY being blamed, accused or insinuated in my present predicament of water loss due to the leaking radiator, nor are MGRR accused of, insinuated in or responsible for the turbo eating itself. I ought to have been infinitely clearer on this, and I apologise for the confusion.

I didn't call you to discuss the issues because of 2 reasons.
1) I didn't know if there even WAS an issue, other than what the mechanic said and the opinions I was after was more of a fact finding thing to discover if the guy was full of poo or how the engine is supposed to go together.
2) I really didn't know what to say to you! Without knowing if there was an issue to even discuss with no knowledge whatsoever about the cars. I didn't know how to ask you if the leaks are normal or not, as it is more of a weep than a leak.

As I said in one post, the car has behaved fine since the work was done last year, used no oil or water, but the rain water leaks from the sunroof, the pot hole suspension and wheel destruction, the seat bolster tear, the puncture, all of these stupid little things added up to make me question the usability of the car long term, and then to be told there MAY be an issue with a repair, in one mechanics opinion, all added up to make me ask other experiencies with the engine to see if there was something to worry about or not.

As I said, in the last year, the car has used no oil, or at least a negligible quantity of oil, and as far as I can tell, zero water.

I'm sorry the post seemed to be a criticism of your work. It genuinely was not meant to be. I just lack any mechanical knowledge and am at the mercy of people who make a living from fixing things I have no clue about. It's like the K-seal thing. I don't know if it is needed, if it is a belts and braces kind of thing, or if it is superfluous. Again, Mark told me the correct gasket for the 1.8T is the elastomer, the garage next door says it is the 2 part metal and something else version. I know not, so ask other people to get a general consensus. To be told K-seal is the devils work, then that my car has K-seal in, and not know what K-seal even is or does just fills me with dread the engine is about to fall out.

Again, I didn't and don't mean to say I was not satisfied with the work that was done on my car last year and that the repair hasn't been exactly what it was; a repair.

I should have called and discussed things with you, for which I unreservedly apologise, but the leaks and turbo were in no way implied to be in any way connected with MGRR, and I really ought to have the correct and clear distinction between the problem I had / have, namely the turbo and radiator leak, and the thing that the mechanic told me upon handing the car back and his observations / opinions.

Thank you for your response & apology, I have the utmost respect for your honesty & can only apologise for the confusion /upset caused based on what this local garage have told you after they fitted the turbo unit.
As they also should have explained to you, oil leaks from the cam seal area are common on the k-series & can occur at any point in its life. With reference to the cam seal cover plate, if theyre not there now, its because they weren't there when we did the head gasket replacement over a year ago.
I am more than happy to replace the cam oil seals for you free of charge as a good will gesture & locate a second hand cam oil seal cover plate from our cylinder head supplier for your own peace of mind, if once you've fixed your radiator leak you want to have a drive over to us in Derby.
Again with reference to k-seal, remnants of this 'delightful stuff' will stay in the cooling system long after repair work or maintenance to the cooling system has been undertaken & can take a lot of costly flushes to eventually get it all out, be assured that alot ot it will have been removed from the system when the head gasket was done.

if you want to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards.

[Arryhall]

Kayleigh, thank you for your response. I don't know who had the car before me, but I do know they were even more mechanically inept than myself. The rear seat well was full of water from the leaking rear light clusters, the spare wheel well had holes drilled to allow the escape of water, but the leak itself hadn't been fixed. The Head gasket was leaking, Mark found a second thermostat fitted behind the engine block, the heater didn't blow cold on the passenger side and someone had snapped the valve off the water pipe so bleeding was a NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-. The can seal covers missing, I am completely sure, was also done by the previous owner, but it's something I wouldn't know should be there.
Again, my insinuation that it was Mark who had removed and not replaced them was entirely erroneous as there was no way for him to replace something that wasn't there in the first place. I also appreciate the offer you made to replace them for me, but I wouldn't expect anyone to repair something someone else had knackered for nothing as parts and labour cost money. As for the seals leaking, again, I apologise that it did seem like I was blaming your work for the seals leaking when a leak, as you rightly said, can occur at any time for a myriad of reasons, not least, the missing covers.

All being well, I ought to get the replacement rad part today or tomorrow, I have soaked the bolts in about 3 litres of Plusgas to help them come out without breaking anything further, and then I ought to be on the road again.

Please clear one thing up for me though:
Which gasket is the one that is the best for a 1.8t? I've heard the 2 part metal/something and I've heard elastomer. I've heard this from several different people and several different opinions. No-one, however, has given me an explanation as to why one is better than the other or why one won't work and the other will.

[T-Cut]

Originally Posted by Arryhall

Which gasket is the one that is the best for a 1.8t?

This will help in answering your qustion: https://www.dmgrs.co.uk/pages/choosi...ead-gasket-kit


TC

[**Kayleigh**]

In my opinion the best gasket for a turbo is an elastomer gasket, we've only ever had good results when using that gasket.

[Nick Greg]

I used Kayleigh once for HGF and thought they were excellent is thats any help.

[trikey]

The type of gasket depends on how proud your liners are from the block.

If it meets mgr specs then fit the mls one, if it doesn’t then fit the elastomer gasket as it’s a bit more forgiving.

[Dawn]

Originally Posted by **Kayleigh**

I have been directed towards this thread by a returning customer and I must say how upset I am to be reading this. Firstly, after the conversation I had with the op about his turbo failure, I have not heard anything since. The op clearly states he hasn't lost any coolant since we did the work, so a damaged radiator and snapped bleed screw? someone please explain why the leak only appears after the local garage have done the turbo? If this was something we had done during the gasket repair, the coolant level would have been dropping continuously over the last 14 months. If I was asked to take a look, or even given the opportunity to look, I can assure you all, as many of my customers will tell you, even out of warranty I would have sorted it free of charge if it was one of my parts or due to my technicians work. Yes, we will have the odd customer who is unhappy but unfortunately we cannot please everyone no matter how hard we try, and we all have issues, of course we do, but we do sort them when given the chance.

Dawn, a little communication from you would have gone a long way, time and time again we collected your car free of charge from your home address and delivered it back, time and time again we helped you out and went the extra mile, always were as kind to your circumstances as we could be. we put ourselves out for you out of hours and when we did the original head gasket change we advised you that the block was pitted and could cause issues down the line but you couldn't afford the engine to be replaced or the block to be skimmed so we put it back together at your request and still gave a warranty on it. If I remember correctly, the last time you used us was for an mot test? Nothing else? I'd appreciate if you could email me or private message me to discuss further as I am really disheartened with your opinion of us after everything.


To the op, please do give me a call if you want to discuss, i'll do my best to help.

Kayleigh - that is a lie!!! At the time of this repair my mother was still alive and I had more money than I did later as I hadn't taken the house on. I clearly told you if the engine was bad to replace it - you quoted me £650, why would I go on to pay you £700 if I didn't have the money????? and you told me I was better off fixing it. Please don't make me put conversations on here - I STILL HAVE THEM. I would not have minded any of that but I contacted you to tell you it was using water and you kept telling me it was the rad cap, I replaced that, I told you it didn't work, and I also told you it was steaming, and you told me it was THE WEATHER!!!! I have those conversations too.

Don't even mention the debacle of an MOT I almost scrapped my car for - you told me it was going to be at least £600 and that if I didn't have it waxoyled it would be so rotten by the next MOT it would want a load of welding doing!!!! You wanted to take the interior out to "weld up" the hand brake actuator, you told me it probably needed a lamda sensor, should I go on???? You know what that car needed???? It needed ONE coil pack, the handbrake shoes fitting correctly as they'd been done wrong, and a tyre repair from a nail. The underbody had surface corrosion which I have done myself nothing that is going into a hole any time soon, and if you want I will bring it to your ramp and we can discuss it!!!!


A friend on here did it for free, but did warn me your MOT had missed a seriously corroded spring which in his, and the new MOT'ers opinion wouldn't last long.


Why do you think I didn't come back any more? I had considered this done with and had not posted anywhere or sullied your name, I only posted in this thread as it was me who directed the OP to you.

While we are on the subject if you're so dang good how come you posted all over Facebook that Mark no longer works for you, btw????