Hi,

I am on the Verge of buying a Felicia 2000 1.3 with a blown head gasket.

It's a mates and hes gone and got him self a new car so i can have the skoda for about £100, head gaskets are only about a tenner I do beleive so is it worth buying it and doing the work?

I am sort of technically minded, have fix electronics and macanical things like tumble dryers before, but never done anything with cars (short of oil/fuse/wheel changes - the easy crap) so yeah i probably am a bit of a noob, lol.

Is it a good idea and if so, any recommendations?

thanks

Hello and welcome...

You will ideally need the stretch bolts too and some tools, including a long wheel brace and 10mm 1/2" drive hex key, torque wrench (screwfix do one for about £13).

On the 1.3 it is relatively easy to do as there's no timing to worry about. Just a case of disconnecting everything, removing rocker gear, undoing those head bolts in order. Remember to keep the push rods in order, you need a method of labelling like sticking them through a corn flakes box. Oh and putting it all back together and setting the valve clearances. There are a few threads here somewhere about valve clearances, it's a good idea to read those to avoid all the usual mistakes (Haynes manual does NOT describe how to do that job particularly well).

Grab yourself a Haynes manual, £18.99 in Halfords, or there is amazon. This describes the process. I would read it through a few times and ensure you have the correct tools and a little understanding of what they are telling you to do, bearing in mind most of it only makes sense as you do the job.

It's probably a good idea to try label bits up as you remove them to aid putting them together, although most things will only go on the one way around.

I think it's doable, but there is a little element of risk when being so involved in a job on a car. Easier to do on this than most other cars anyway

remember not to turn the crankshaft when the head has been removed otherwise you will push the liners out of the engine

i can have the skoda for about £100, head gaskets are only about a tenner I do beleive so is it worth buying it and doing the work?

For £100 it's still worth buying and getting a garage to do it

:)I'd highly recommend checking the liners protrusion while the head is off. It's not unknown for them to drop [especially 2 and 3] and cause the gasket to be less tightly sandwiched than it should be even if the head bolts are torued up correctly leading to premature gasket failue.

yeah, get it. i can do it and i started out with no technical knowledge at all. you'll probably not need a manual to be honest except for the torqueing order. and label the wires you disconnect!

It's nearly as good an engine to learn on as an A-series.

Just one question; is there a way of locking the crank cos of the liners issue?

kool well ill definatly buy it then, ill post how much i paid when we come to an agreement, hehe, i had a little look around elsewhere and it seems well worth the money, and time,

one thing more though

how would i know if the head needed skimming?

someone said it might need doing, but if it did i could just take it to a garage and they would do it for £30

it sounds complicated that bit lol

cheers

The traditional way of testing a head for warping is to put the casting on a piece of flat glass, and see if it rocks like a 3-legged table, or is proud of the glass at the ends or in the middle.

Skimming is a fairly specialist process. Whereabouts (town/city level where) are you?

northampton, im happy with taking the head to a garage and asking them to do it, apparently costs about £30 for them to do it,

i did ring a garage and ask about doing it all and they gave me an estimate of £600-£700 :eek:, i thought it would be more like £300 at the most for a garage though i would like to do it myself.

as well as a haynes manual, is there any guides/tutorials that anyone knows of anywhere that i might find useful?

thanks

Don't know any engine shops down that way myself.

I'd suggest looking in Yellow Pages under "Engine Remanufacturers"; they'll either can do it or will tell you who they send their machining work to.

i did ring a garage and ask about doing it all and they gave me an estimate of £600-£700 :eek:, i thought it would be more like £300 at the most for a garage though i would like to do it myself.

:eek: How on earth do they justify that? I've just completed a cylinder head gasket change, AND removed, reset the heights of the cylinder liners on a customers Estelle and the bill came to less than £500. It's no more difficult to do a head gasket on a Felicia than an Estelle.

"hourly rates"?

they wanted £700 to fix my old favs head.

It's nearly as good an engine to learn on as an A-series.

Just one question; is there a way of locking the crank cos of the liners issue?

There is a way of locking the liners down with a piece of flat metal say 2cm thick with a hole drilled in and a suitable bolt. This allows you to bolt on the block this metal to fit over 2 of of the liners to prevent any movement.

There is a way of locking the liners down with a piece of flat metal say 2cm thick with a hole drilled in and a suitable bolt. This allows you to bolt on the block this metal to fit over 2 of of the liners to prevent any movement.

Tackling the issue from the other end, but a good idea, and readily (well IMO now I see it and think it through) extensible to all 4 liners.

okay, these are all really helpful, im attempting to do it tomorrow

sounds a bit needy but can someone quickly write a step by step guide? lol not a massive thing just small few steps of the main parts really

quite pleased with the car overall though, £200, blown head gasket but apart from that good condition and only 43k on the clock, think i done well lol