Blummin 'eck!!!

[wannab-x]

Head gasket's gone.

Had the car serviced in September, auto box fluid changed, suspension fluid changed, new Citroen pads all round, cam belt done, full service. £550 it cost me.

The car was using more petrol than it should on the last tankful (but only when running), so filled it up again to confirm that the sender/gauge were okay, then it had a spell of misfiring a couple of times within 5 minutes, then stalled. Haven't driven it for a couple of weeks because of the petrol issue, checking the car over & the oil is now white & lumpy. Lovely. Had someone to have a quick look, & he confirmed my guess of head gasket.

What do I do now? I'm trying to sell my Herald because I haven't used it since January, but now it needs work on a front steering joint, the handbrake, rear driveshaft joint etc (although not welding!), my wife's Smart has got some broom handle installed in the turbo piping (garage didn't notice when servicing the car!!) plus the steering is stiff & entire column apparently needs replacing, plus my dad died in August & we have to keep going to Leeds to sort stuff out (last week - bankruptcy hearing... ) plus need to move his mother down here to live near us, and now this.

I'm getting tired of cars. The BX (Sleepy's old TZS) has only done 92k, serviced in September, but the guy who's just looked says it looks like the gasket (or the head, who knows???!) has been buggered for a little while (not before the service, obviously, but I've done about 2k miles since). Honestly don't know what I should do next, car-wise. Wanted to get a diesel when this one fell to pieces, but this wasn't what I had in mind...

[admiral51]

some of the guys on the FCF have used this stuff and had good results not sure how bad yours has gone may be worth a look think its about £25 a bottle on fleabay
http://www.steelseal.co.uk/

colin

[DavidRutherford]

That really is properly bad luck.

There's a couple of options, it all depends on how much cash/time you have. I've a feeling you'll need one or t'other.

You could sling it at a garage and have them do the head gasket. I'd expect another £300 bill. Alternatively you flog it for not very much and just buy something else that's in good order.

If you're trying to sell the Herald, I wouldn't expect the problems it has to make much of a difference to the price, as anyone buying a Herald must surely be able to do the repairs it will need themselves. Granted it might knock a bit off the price, but not a massive amount.

As for that SteelSeal stuff... Forget it. No chemical head gasket repair has ever worked in the history of ever. The £25 you'll spend on the bottle would be better spent on the head skim.

Is this a 16auto or a 19auto? and does the car still drive without boiling over?

[wannab-x]

It's a 1.9 auto & I haven't noticed any excess temperature problem. Considering my options at the moment - currently I've spent about £900 on the car overall, and it's now worth a packet of crisps.

[admiral51]

are you sure its the headgasket and not the oil cooler thats at fault
i have read that you can bypass the cooler and after draining refilling oil/coolant run it and see how the coolant looks then its a damm sight cheaper than a headgasket

as for the steelseal...........never tried it just thought id chuck it into the mix of options but if im honest i would be a bit unsure of using it myself

colin

[citronut]

if it turns out it is the gasket/head the the other option might be find a good diesel enginge/box and drop that in, this way you will have saved some of the dosh allready spent
regards malcolm

[DavidRutherford]

Does anyone know if the XU 16 and the XU 19 heads are interchangeable? Certainly they look the same.

Only reason I ask is I now have a pile of BX 16 engines here, and could whip a known good head from one of them, have it skimmed and do the swap with yours. I'm fairly sure you could have your motah back on the road for well under £100.

Where are you based?

[ken newbold]

Absolute bummer this one.

I don't know if the heads are interchangeable.

I suppose a lot of it is down to cash flow at the time. Whether you can afford to write off what you've spent already and buy something else. Or to spend more and get the thing up and running again.

Problem with buying something else is, you could be buying more of someone else's problems unless you know the car you are buying.

A very difficult decision. My sympathy.

[docchevron]

Does anyone know if the XU 16 and the XU 19 heads are interchangeable? Certainly they look the same.

Yes.
There are differences, but it makes no odds.
They are interchangable.

Bummer though mate.
K-Seal is actually pretty good stuff, but only as a short term, get you home / plod on till you have the money to do it kinda way.
Longterm fix? Nah.

[MULLEY]

citronut, i would take up David's kind offer, once done hopefully you will have a good reliable car even if it's cost a few quid to get there....

The temptation could be to scrap it & try & get another, however, as others have mentioned, you could be spending a load on getting work done on the replacment, i would persevere with yours...

Good luck with whatever decision u make...

[docchevron]

Better the devil you know really..

David is a top man, and very genorous. Very kind offer indeed, and he's a proper engineer, so it'll be done right.

[mnde]

if it turns out it is the gasket/head the the other option might be find a good diesel enginge/box and drop that in, this way you will have saved some of the dosh allready spent
regards malcolm

As David reminded me recently when I had this notion of making my dead BX16 petrol into a turbodiesel - what about insurance?

You can put a diesel engine/box in the car, but its identity is still a BX19 TZS ... so at the end of the day it'll cost more to insure as it's a modification away from the factory standard. One option is not to tell the insurers about the change.... but I wouldn't condone that. People on this forum who've done the diesel conversion: how do you deal with the insurance side of things

Cheers,

Mark.

[citronut]

if you notify DVLA as you are supposed to it would then be put onto the reg document. it usualy is cheaper to insure a diesel, would you feel you had to fit the TD lump then, my old 1.9 none tuboed used to have loads of get up and go, mind you i had had the head gasflowd
regards malcolm

[wannab-x]

Hello again.

Mr Rutherford, thanks for your offer – I need to find out the cost of getting the work done to see whether it’s financially feasible for me at this time (particularly as I need to tax the car at the end of the month). Is there any very nice person who’d be able to do the work for reasonable cost? Sadly, replacing the head is something I have neither the skills nor the tools/confidence to do myself, but I’d love to get the car driving again if I can afford it.

Otherwise, I might end up driving a V****w****…. ?


**Update: I sent a quick email to PTS Developments, who serviced the car, and Pete there says that it might be blocked engine breathers? From talking to someone else, this might affect the fuel consumption & make the juddering I’ve noticed on the last journey I did, but would it cause water in the oil? I’m sure that the oil shouldn’t be the colour it is, so hopefully the breather pipes are the issue & may cure the problems once the oil’s changed, but this is dependant on whether the breather pipe (potential) issue would cause the oil to go manky. I’m going to take the car over to PTS on Wednesday for him to have a look & see what can be done. **

[wannab-x]

Hello again.

Mr Rutherford, thanks for your offer – I need to find out the cost of getting the work done to see whether it’s financially feasible for me at this time (particularly as I need to tax the car at the end of the month). Is there any very nice person who’d be able to do the work for reasonable cost? Sadly, replacing the head is something I have neither the skills nor the tools/confidence to do myself, but I’d love to get the car driving again if I can afford it.

Otherwise, I might end up driving a V****w****…. ?


**Update: I sent a quick email to PTS Developments, who serviced the car, and Pete there says that it might be blocked engine breathers? From talking to someone else, this might affect the fuel consumption & make the juddering I’ve noticed on the last journey I did, but would it cause water in the oil? I’m sure that the oil shouldn’t be the colour it is, so hopefully the breather pipes are the issue & may cure the problems once the oil’s changed, but this is dependant on whether the breather pipe (potential) issue would cause the oil to go manky. I’m going to take the car over to PTS on Wednesday for him to have a look & see what can be done. **