Guy at work has overheated his 1.4i Mk5 Escort. It's lost compression.

According to the garage he's taken it to it needs a new head gasket.

He's been quoted £250inc and the garage are now saying it'll need a head skim at an additional £100.

Any idea if these are reasonable West London/Heathrow rates?

To me, that much for the skim seems too high. I'm not sure about the £250.


Thanks,

James

[Edited on 10/1/05 by James]

may be debatable if it needs a head skim, how much did he use the car as/when the gasket went. might get away without the skim. most work like that is just labour. however long it take to get the head off at £40 or whatever an hour. is this a main dealer or a friendly round the corner type place?

Ned.

My last head skim (cvh) was about £35 , 2 yrs ago.........

Gasket set could be £50 or more ..........

[Edited on 10/1/05 by Surrey Dave]

head skim 2 yrs ago on a 6cyl toyota supra £25 cost quoted by main dealer £100. man who skimmed mine laughed when i told him, and said he did theirs at £25 a go.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but looking on the Ford system, a remanufactured 1.4CVH head with valves costs £312.84 inc, with a £50 surcharge. (Finis # 1029263) and a headgasket costs £21.60inc (Finis # 6918548). May be of use as a comparrison.

HTH
James

[Edited on 10-1-2005 by Donners90]

... recently, I had both of my two RV8 heads acid dipped, skimmed, the seats recut AND the valves reground, all for £100(cash) over here in Essex!!!

A little bit of realism. When you take your head to be skimmed it costs say £25. When a garage takes a head to be skimmed the man taking the head to the machine shop has to be paid, the fuel and van has to be paid for, and the machine shop will charge vat on top if the garage wants a receipt, and then you have to pay the employee to go get the head back as well as pay for the fuel again. Hence £100.

I think it's wise to skim the head as a matter of course given the relatively small additional cost when compared to having to do the job again.
£100 sounds expensive for a skim but the overall cost of £350 inclusive actually seems very reasonable.
It recently cost me £400 to have the head gasket done on a 2.0 Mondeo by my friendly neighbourhood garage. That included a skim and new fluids.

This was the cheapest price I got. Most expensive was £750

Not in London though.

Regards,

David

Also take into consideration that a Mk5 Escort is only worth £350 anyway. I think £350 is a bargain wherever you are.

Ok. Thanks everyone!

He's had the car done now and will find out the final price later today.

It'll keep you informed...

James