Hi there i think the head gasket on my 05 plate fabia has gone. Low coolant level indicator came on today and coolant has been bubbling out of the top of the coolant resevoir and the coolant bottle itself now has a dirty blackish film on the inside. This to me seems to indicate the head gasket has gone, has anyone else had problems like this? and roughly how much will it be to have a new head gasket fitted? (im guessing around £600) and finally can anyone recommend a VAG group specalist in the hampshire/basingstoke area?

Many thanks

Nathan

Hopefully the head won't need skimming. I've heard stories of skimmed heads losing power when refitted. I'd always be tempted to find one from a breaker.

JKM might be your best bet in Portsmouth??

Strange to loose power after a skim, usually the other way round!

I can only guess you would loose power if the head has gone quite badly and the valves havn't been ground back in leaving a very slight air gap letting it down on compression and performance

Yes, it is the valves thing. Heard about people losing up to 20bhp as a result of the compression drop!

Hi guys thanks for the tip about jkm in portsmouth going to give them a ring tomorrow! I didn't think you could skim the heads on the PD engines because it messed about with the compression ratios or do you have to fit a thicker gasket if you do skim the head?

I heard your not meant to skim PD heads. Am I wrong or fed bad info?

I'm on my phone so can't see what car he has but I actually just assumed it was a 1.4 petrol haha.

I've never heard about the problems with skimming pd cylinder heads but I've never had a problem with one!

I know you can get thicker gaskets, iirc it goes off the notches on the side of the gasket on how thick it is.

Usually if you have to skim a head a fair amount you use a Multi layered steel head gasket of the appropriate thickness to bring the compression ratio back to what it was beforehand. With the head being ally, I would have it skimmed regardless, they are so easy to go out of shape unlike a cast head which you can get away with most times.

Just got mine back from the same problem it was the head and it had to be skimmed 6 thou cost me 550 at a vw specialist

The last time someone quoted me that to do a HG inc skim I suddenly became motivated to do it myself.

If you aren't that way inclined phone round, someone will want the work and be willing to do a deal.