All,

First post, but been using the forum for knowledge (superb thanks to all who recommended Jorily.com - Uncle lost his dipstick for a Mk 1 Felicia and they had one left in stock )

Back to my current conundrum - Spent £750 on an Octy I(pre-facelift) but the side flange split and engine overheated - replaced it plus thermostat (again, thanks to previous posts for how to replace this and save £100 as quoted from local stealership), but constant airlocking and now white smoke out of exhaust - local garage thinks head gasket gone - likely to cost £500-£600 to fix (had a Megane go same way cost £800 just to get back on road).

Question is, is it worth investing almost the value of the car if the head has gone (so car cost now £1300) - 113k on the clock and MOT until June (so cost may rise) - current float in bank - £550!

IYHO - would you cut and run (£100 for scraping, try and pick up runaround for £650 - inspection charge at garage), or would it be better to give the girl another bite at life (there may be some guitars and amps going on ebay soonish!)

Thanks ahead of any postings, and thanks to all those who fed into the forum (if I can help with side-of-the-road flange replacement advice, your welcome to a tutorial!)

Spanner out

Its always a difficult decision :(

You have to consider the whole condition of the car, will the gasket be it - giving you a reliable car, or just another patch to keep it going.

@ 113K there should be plenty of life left in an Octy, in theory anyway

That's the biggie, having worked my way through 3 golfs, on the whole it's a decently put together and cheap to "fix up", it's just the risk factor of more unknowns (I had asked the garage that after diagnosing that if it is going to be sorting the head, give it a pre-MOT to highlight any other nasties) - it's had 5 local owners, full service history with Skoda services, body work has scuffs but nothing major (elderly couple were last owners - must have had eye problems), all electrics work fine, and in comparison to other posts on the forum, it seemed a bargain for £750 (although only 20 miles in the reserve tank compared to the 70 I had in the Megane, so when the fuel light comes on, gotta fuel up pretty quick!).

We're big fans of Skoda, wife has had last phase Octy and now a Superb Elegance as company cars, to the green bird keeps calling out to me, it's just whether you good people in the know think that a 98 Octy is worth £1300.

Thanks for replying so quickly,

Spanner out

see if you can get them to fix it around other jobs, might save you a few quids

That's true - although having changed the thermostat and felt that the water pump impeller was still in one piece and spinning again saved £250 from what I was quoted for replacing the pump (taking the cam belt off and refitting new pump - £250??? Wish I knew more about cars than I do about computers!!!)

Still no word from the garage, hopefully they are leaving it until tomorrow when they have a clearer workshop...

Thanks again for speedy comment