Hi

My Octavia appears to have a blown cylinder head gasket, for which the dealer is quoting two different prices to fix.

One price is if the head is ok and just needs a new gasket,

the other (double price 1) is to fit an overhauled head if the existing head is bent.

The dealer claims that Skoda doesn't allow heads on turbo diesels to be skimmed due to the change in the compression chamber size in the head.

An overhaul company says the heads are flat and therefore can be skimmed without affecting any compression ratio or maximum compression.

Does anyone on the forums know what the real situation is?

Someone's talking ballcocks to you!

Even with a flat head, you can't always skim a distorted head, due to the level of distortion.

With a chambered head there are ways around the increase in CR using thicker or 2 head gaskets, machining larger combustion chambers, using lower deck-height pistons.

The head of my PD130 engine was skimmed, and that was allowed by Skoda. However as already mentioned, it can only be done in certain circumstances. A specialist should be able to tell you this