New Car Broke - Head Gasket

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staffitaxi

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Andrea
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Didn't want to take over inaredstripe's thread.

Interested to hear what people think about this one.

Got new car begining of April, it was held up for two weeks because of a recall so I got a hire car for that period.
Was told the recall was something to do with coolent.

A couple of weeks ago my heater stopped working, good ol' pa suggested I check my water level. It was pretty much empty. Got it checked out the next day, they couldn't find any leaks so couldn't diagnose a problem.

A few days later I was still a bit unhappy and spoke to the garage I bought it from who said they would like to see it. Managed to get it to them on 10th May.

10 mins in garage they said I have a water pressure problem. Sorted me out a hire car.

Went to pick it up on Friday it still wasn't ready, asked what the problem was. Head Gasket! Won't be ready till Monday just keep hire car.
They also told me that was what the original recall was for so what went wrong when Vauxhall checked it the first time in the recall?

They have said mine if the first one in that has supposedly already been checked for the fault.

I'm back in my car now but worried about problems which might occur down the line.

Sorry if this is a bit long winded but can anyone put my mind at rest.

Ta

Andrea
 
I'd reject the car and ask for a new one, with you keeping the hire car until they sort you out a new one.

Sale of goods act would be your friend here. Speak to Trading Standards if any problems :)

Mate of mine got a brand new Navara, did 700 miles in it before the turbo expolded, which pretty much killed the engine. He rejected the car and got a new one (after a bit of a tussle with Nissan)

:)
 
suspect it must have been a build prob at the engine palnt. not torqueing heads down correctly maybe.
if heads been off , and a new gasket, its likely to be ok.
i,d still be after em for a one off payment for agrovation though.

at least a free service or something.
 
kmlc said:
Sounds like a rover :LOL:

I agree with above :D
good luck
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I had a rover 200, ...... head gasket went and the engine seized! sold the car for £200 (6yrs old and only done 60k miles) :shake:
 
All i can say is next time dont buy a Vauxhall!! German Or Jap.. thats all.. there are no other cars... :shrug:
 
Ladybird said:
I had a rover 200, ...... head gasket went and the engine seized! sold the car for £200 (6yrs old and only done 60k miles) :shake:
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Ah, the old K series engine......you could pick one up for £3 :LOL:
 
if your car ran out of water so much so that you couldnt get the heater to work, then its not suprising that the head gasket went! The engine has probably over cooked itself so much that the head has warped and blown a hole in the gasket!

PS nothing wrong with Rovers. I thrash the crap out of my MG and its never let me down once.
The 75 / ZT came 4th in the driver satisfaction survey this year and beat a shed load of BMWs and Mercs.
It was also the only European car in the top 5 in the 2001 JD Power Survey
 
badgerbaiter said:
if your car ran out of water so much so that you couldnt get the heater to work, then its not suprising that the head gasket went! The engine has probably over cooked itself so much that the head has warped and blown a hole in the gasket!
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The head being warped would be my main worry, especially if it hasn't been replaced or skimmed.
 
At the very least I'd want an in depth report from the garage doing the current repair, or get an independent examiner (AA/RAC?) to check it out so you have some ammo if needed.
 
Hi there

Not meaning to sound pedandtic, but all I've gathered about your car is that its a new Vauxhall. What Vauxhall is it exactly and when you mean new I assume you mean '08' plate?

How many miles have you done? How many miles have you done driving it with issues? Whats the exact work carried out at the garage and have you got any official release from Vauxhall about the issue?
 
Hi

You don't sound pedantic at all.

My car is a brand new Corsa Breeze 1.3 cdti 75bhp with nearly 2500 miles on the clock. I only picked it up on the 1st April. It was two weeks late as all the 1.3's were recalled due to a problem I have since found out was head gasket related. Mine was released with supposedly no problem.

The day after it lost all the water I took it to the sister garage of the one I bought it from and they did a pressure test forcing water through to look for leaks and couldn't find anything wrong. The AA also came out and told me they could find nothing wrong.

I probably drove 500 miles with the issue, however I was checking the water levels each day and although they fluctuated slightly it wasn't obvious there was still a problem. I only took it back to the garage on the 10th May to double check all problems had been sorted at their request. Within 10 minutes of it going into the workshop they new there was a problem.

As far as I know Vauxhall have completely replaced the head gasket? I know the parts arrived on the Thursday, it was still in bits on the Friday morning which is when they said to keep the hire car till Monday, which I was happy about as I didn't want them to feel pressurised to rush the job.

It seems to be running fine now, but apart from the water it seemed to be running fine before so what do I know!!

I'm not prepared to knock Vauxhall at this point, my last car was also a Corsa but petrol 1.4 she would have been 11 years old this month and had 179,000 miles on the clock. I never had any major breakdowns in fact the only things that went wrong were a new battery, handbrake cables and a CO2 valve problem the latter my normal garage cleaned and didn't charge me and she was back to normal again. I never even had a new clutch.
Best car I have ever owned, hence buying another.

The garage have given me a print out saying that they have replaced the head gasket and said I should have no further problems. I am only hoping they are right.

Andrea
 
Once it's done it should be fine. If you are worried then go speak to both the dealer and trading standards / CAB. Maybe push the dealer for an extended warranty?

My uncle had a brand new Discovery drop the auto box on the motorway having just picked it up after they 'forgot' to fill it with oil LOL.
 
Hmmm, I guess it will depend on what sort of job has been done to rectify the head gasket problems.

I don't know the specifics of your car (or even what model it is) but a lot of modern cars have aluminium heads and these don't take kindly to the kind of heat generated by head gasket failure and can warp. As part of the HG replacement, the head should have been skimmed and pressure-tested.

If this has been done, and assuming that the mechanics know what they are doing, the car should be as good as new.

If it hasn't, then it's a potential candidate to go again and as such I would reject the car.

Cheers,
James
 
It sounds like your car probably wasn't corrected in the initial recall/fix or it wasn't solved properly. So they had a 2nd crack at it.

Head gasket design is quite important. Its job is to contain all the combustion and hold it back, whilst also the design of the holes in the gasket will dictate how the water will flow through the block and then the head. I would find it hard to believe that its an issue with them torquing the bolts up incorrectly.

It might be worth checking if this is a new engine released with the Corsa (it probably is). It does sound like Vauxhall are well aware of the issue, I would request from Vauxhall a covering letter explaining why yours needed repairing or it is was missed off the original recall, whether the warranty was effected or could be effected if it blows again a few years down the line.

However, it does sound like they know what they're doing, so I'm pretty sure you won't hear nothing more of it
 
Moos3h said:
I don't know the specifics of your car (or even what model it is) but a lot of modern cars have aluminium heads and these don't take kindly to the kind of heat generated by head gasket failure and can warp. As part of the HG replacement, the head should have been skimmed and pressure-tested.

If this has been done, and assuming that the mechanics know what they are doing, the car should be as good as new.
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The mechanics would have an allowance for how warped the head would be, they would measure it and decide that it would need skimming. Some aluminium heads are awful they can just warp with them being removed let alone with a HG failure. I'm sure they wouldn't have just stuck it together at a main dealer without checking what most people would deem as the basics.

Phil & Ricky from under the arches at Eastenders would just stick it back together though I'm sure.
 
Agree with that, I have a 17 year old Mitsubishi Shogun 2.5 td it has 174000 miles on the clock and has been up and down most European passes with a large German caravan on the back, still has original clutch, pads and shoes (yep, I know it's hard to believe but it's absolutely true, never been to a garage since it ran out of guarantee at 3 years) I do all the servicing change oil and filter religously at 2500 miles, also have a Rav 4 which is 5 years old and has 52000 on the clock with no probs (y)

I'm sure a lot of problems (not all) come down to driving style, I always use the gears to slow and it's amazing if you drive a 4 x 4 diesel how little you need to brake, anticipation and gears are all thats needed until you need the brakes :shrug:

Best of luck with getting your problem solved(y)

fraggle101 said:
German Or Jap.. thats all.. there are no other cars... :shrug:
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30psi said:
The mechanics would have an allowance for how warped the head would be, they would measure it and decide that it would need skimming. Some aluminium heads are awful they can just warp with them being removed let alone with a HG failure. I'm sure they wouldn't have just stuck it together at a main dealer without checking what most people would deem as the basics.

Phil & Ricky from under the arches at Eastenders would just stick it back together though I'm sure.
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Don't you believe it....most garages will get away with the bare minimum....or at least the chain I used to work for would!

Cheers,
James
 
Yeah I used to work at Honda. The issue really isn't the mechanic as such, its normally the budget of the job. So it becomes more important (to the garage) to finish that job in 10 hours regardless of whether certain steps are missed.
 
30psi said:
The mechanics would have an allowance for how warped the head would be, they would measure it and decide that it would need skimming. Some aluminium heads are awful they can just warp with them being removed let alone with a HG failure. I'm sure they wouldn't have just stuck it together at a main dealer without checking what most people would deem as the basics.
Phil & Ricky from under the arches at Eastenders would just stick it back together though I'm sure.
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:LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:

Can tell you've never worked at a main dealer.......

(not intended as nasty, but light hearted humor)

Dont worry about me, I'm bonkers :bonk:
 
What is it with FIAT and an apparent inability to design an engine that doesn't throw head gaskets?

Their 1.1 / 1.2 8v Petrol engines have been doing that ever since the Uno!

Cheers,
James
 
There is a modified headgasket for the 1300 cdti's now hence the big recall due to the waterleak problem. We have had pages of cars we have sold/sat on the forecourt/in the PDI compound which we have to rework. Its quite a time consuming job :( Wouldnt worry about it going again unless you drive your car very hard
 
romper stomper said:
There is a modified headgasket for the 1300 cdti's now hence the big recall due to the waterleak problem. We have had pages of cars we have sold/sat on the forecourt/in the PDI compound which we have to rework. Its quite a time consuming job :( Wouldnt worry about it going again unless you drive your car very hard
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Thanks for that. Am still a bit fed up that mine went through the recall procedure and still had a problem though.

I can appreciate that it must be quite a problem at the Vauxhall dealerships though. Especially if cars that have already been checked are going to end up coming back as well.

Had to laugh about driving my car hard. John, the chap on the service desk at my garage asked me what mileage I was getting out of my car as he had the same engine in his. I said "I got 515 up to the light coming on on the last tank", he looked rather down and said he was only getting 400 out of his. I told him he was driving it too hard!!

Andrea
 
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