Oh NO head gasket

[IBD]

I would not be able to justify selling after putting that much money into it. If you are going for a brand new block, you have already changed the clutch, it must be a car that you will just have to keep after all that. It would be almost like a new car!

 

[mikesndbs]

I would not be able to justify selling after putting that much money into it. If you are going for a brand new block, you have already changed the clutch, it must be a car that you will just have to keep after all that. It would be almost like a new car!

That is a good point and I do like it.
It does drink petrol, but maybe with everything right it might do better on that front???

 

[IBD]

How badly does it drink, I struggle to get over 35 for my 1.8T
But I have had is down to 22.

To be honest my 2.8 golf VR6 was better on petrol!

 

[mikesndbs]

How badly does it drink, I struggle to get over 35 for my 1.8T
But I have had is down to 22.

To be honest my 2.8 golf VR6 was better on petrol!

I have never really measured it but I would think for a tank I'd get 450 miles?

Anyway her fate is set, she will get a brand new VW made block that includes all the moving parts, pumps etc so I know I have a almost new engine.
The engine specialist has checked my head over and says it really is fine!

Cost is going to be £2800 minus a 5% old customer discount and they are letting me pay it over three months.

He showed me the car all stripped down :-( but it was clear to see the damage on the old block, and in fact he spotted that it ran into one of the cylinders as well.
They all looked very black and burned.

Downside is that VW don't have the block at the moment but we ordered it today so with luck it will beat the VAT increase.

 

[h0tr0x]

just read this thread, sounds like a horror story!! I'd agree if you are going to stump up that sort of money to fix it, it sounds like a keeper. At least you know everything about it then and can treat it well from new, hopefully it will then last a very long time with minimal cost.

imagine selling it once fixed, replacing it and similar things happening with that??

 

[Rauer]

Tbh you can't blame all this on the previous owner as you carried on driving it! 450 miles to tank is pretty good I get about 550 out of my tdi, I used to get 400 out of our old 1.6 206 and my mate had a mk3 Ibiza cupra and said he used to use a tank after about 200 ( it was mapped) I think your just expecting too much

 

[mikesndbs]

Tbh you can't blame all this on the previous owner as you carried on driving it! 450 miles to tank is pretty good I get about 550 out of my tdi, I used to get 400 out of our old 1.6 206 and my mate had a mk3 Ibiza cupra and said he used to use a tank after about 200 ( it was mapped) I think your just expecting too much

Not sure how you mean that?

Of course I drove it, there was no hint of a big problem until Monday night, it came to light 2 miles away from my dad's house and I was going to him as he was in a state re the loss of mum this May.
Had no choice but to push on what what read as yet another sensor fault.
Even the AA chap did not spot the gasket until the end of the visit and only then by using a sniffer.

I then had to get home and as the AA needed 4.5 hours or more from 21:00 to get a relay home I had to drive, I did this under instruction from the AA man.
So I only carried on driving maybe 25 miles before she got to the garage.

The last owner took the car to a dreadful garage, who bodged things and really spoiled the car.

All of this I have sorted out using JKM and genuine parts.

Don't think I could of expected the engine block to be damaged, never heard of such a thing before :-(

If you check out the threads you will see all the stuff I had to get done.

Since buying the car, if you add what I am going to have to pay now I would say I have spent the best part of 4 grand on her.

Maybe I am expecting more MPG, but just maybe I'll get it now the engine will be like new and will be getting all its compressions etc???

Hope so LOL

 

[Rauer]

I appreciate you had to get home but you shouldn't of drove a 4 hour journey with head gasket failure, I think people fail to realise that the AA and RAC etc are there to GET YOU HOME nothing more nothing less! My mate works for the RAC and he said coming from a garage to doing that is a hard transition as you have to bodge things to get em back on the road! If you want better mpg than you are already getting I suggest you sell it and get a diesel

 

[Toledo Widow]

I have to agree with Rauer in that there is no way I would have driven home with my car in that condition. Saying that the 4 or 5 hours you would have waited for the AA to get me home seems like nothing compared to the 14 hour relay journey i had back from scotland this summer.

As for petrol consumption, I NEVER see 300 miles from my 70/80 litre tank cos I'm lucky if I get 24 mpg as the book states. Its the price I pay for the fun of driving my car and the mobility/ independance it affords me.

Sounds like you've had a really bad year this year and this stuff with the car is another straw on the camels back. Don't worry about the future right now. Get the car fixed and paid for, keep fighting on until you realise your head is above water. Then you can stop and think, maybe even plan for the mid/ long term.

The responsibility for making decisions on your own is a massive scary one if you dwell on it too long. If need be sit down, make a list of pros and cons. Whenever you think of something check if its on the list, put it on there if needs be then walk away from it. Carrying all this stuff around in your head will twist you in knots if you let it.

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[mikesndbs]

I have to agree with Rauer in that there is no way I would have driven home with my car in that condition. Saying that the 4 or 5 hours you would have waited for the AA to get me home seems like nothing compared to the 14 hour relay journey i had back from scotland this summer.

As for petrol consumption, I NEVER see 300 miles from my 70/80 litre tank cos I'm lucky if I get 24 mpg as the book states. Its the price I pay for the fun of driving my car and the mobility/ independance it affords me.

Sounds like you've had a really bad year this year and this stuff with the car is another straw on the camels back. Don't worry about the future right now. Get the car fixed and paid for, keep fighting on until you realise your head is above water. Then you can stop and think, maybe even plan for the mid/ long term.

The responsibility for making decisions on your own is a massive scary one if you dwell on it too long. If need be sit down, make a list of pros and cons. Whenever you think of something check if its on the list, put it on there if needs be then walk away from it. Carrying all this stuff around in your head will twist you in knots if you let it.

Hope this helps somewhat.

It does mate thanks! as some of you know I also lost the wife to cancer in August 09 then mum to it in May 10.
Not in the best of places for sure, in fact well messed up and this trouble, endless trouble with the car is just not needed.
I was going to use the savings for a holiday next year, now that is gone.

By the way it was not a 4 hour trip I made, it was about 30 mins and the head was not blowing madly or anything, just using a bit of water so that when I got home and let her cool the tank was half empty where it had been full.
And the car drove great, smooth no faults.
My garage told me that the burns and scoring must have happened over some time, maybe even before I got it.

Anyway, its done now, its getting a new engine really having replaced nearly all the other main parts I hope to god she will be now what I thought I was buying a solid VW based car I can trust.

 

[Rauer]

I was aware if your problems mate but no disrespect everyone has their own issues, ok yours a worse than most but others will still think the worst when this happened to them, personally I wouldn't of drove it full stop, as for the fault code readers- ever heard the saying " a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous"? Well I think this is a classic case! The reader will always be looking fir faults in the electrical system and unfortunatly will not detect mechanical failures! I'm not trying to be harsh buddy just telling it like it is without pu.ssy footing around it

 

[traumapat]

Idea for next year Mike, see if theres an evening class going on basic car maintinence. Not so you turn into a spanner monkey but just so you have a bit more confidence. Its not so crushing then when a problem arises.

When I joined this forum 5 years ago Id have struggled changing a bulb, now I can service the car and if she does grace the garage floor I know the ins and outs and dont feel panic like I used too.

 

[PSX]

Mike,

Sorry to hear of your troubles here, I'd certainly say it's a rare case for a 1.8 VAG lump to suffer in this way; Audi has built 1.8T units for years and years so are reputed to be one of the best in my opinion..

The only thing I can relate this to is my first car, a 1.8 8v Vauxhall Cavalier; bought this at 82k miles and did all sorts of things that in retrospect might have been over the top; a new cambelt (and cambelt cover) and water pump after purchase in a service totalling around £800, new clutch at ~99k miles which "still had some meat on it" according to the garage even though 1st/reverse were impossible when clutch was hot.. several other comprehensive services and finally some welding work at ~125k (also not cheap, for a car that was by now worth approximately the same as the work being carried out)

HOWEVER despite ALL the work done, ALL the money spent on what is a dog of a car compared to the fine LCR I have the privelege of owning now.. I still deem it worthwhile.. I still own the car (and it still runs at 133k despite hardly any use)! And it only ever broke down on me once when the alternator failed; my mates push-started me and I made it back to the garage at the bottom of the red mark on the fuel gauge

So to sum it up; as I did with my trusty Cavalier; you know the rest of the car, you know its remaining niggles and whether or not the trim rattles, you know all the little fixes to common faults you've carried out that may or may not affect any replacement; at the end of the day you picked a Leon for a reason.. for as long as you like the car, I'd say it's worth keeping it on the road.

Hope this helps

Alex

 

[mikesndbs]

Mike,

Sorry to hear of your troubles here, I'd certainly say it's a rare case for a 1.8 VAG lump to suffer in this way; Audi has built 1.8T units for years and years so are reputed to be one of the best in my opinion..

The only thing I can relate this to is my first car, a 1.8 8v Vauxhall Cavalier; bought this at 82k miles and did all sorts of things that in retrospect might have been over the top; a new cambelt (and cambelt cover) and water pump after purchase in a service totalling around £800, new clutch at ~99k miles which "still had some meat on it" according to the garage even though 1st/reverse were impossible when clutch was hot.. several other comprehensive services and finally some welding work at ~125k (also not cheap, for a car that was by now worth approximately the same as the work being carried out)

HOWEVER despite ALL the work done, ALL the money spent on what is a dog of a car compared to the fine LCR I have the privelege of owning now.. I still deem it worthwhile.. I still own the car (and it still runs at 133k despite hardly any use)! And it only ever broke down on me once when the alternator failed; my mates push-started me and I made it back to the garage at the bottom of the red mark on the fuel gauge

So to sum it up; as I did with my trusty Cavalier; you know the rest of the car, you know its remaining niggles and whether or not the trim rattles, you know all the little fixes to common faults you've carried out that may or may not affect any replacement; at the end of the day you picked a Leon for a reason.. for as long as you like the car, I'd say it's worth keeping it on the road.

Hope this helps

Alex

AH! Cavalier now you are talking That was my first ever car! Dad got her when she was about 6 months old in 1982 and gave her to me in 1990 and I drove her until body rust finally did her in and that was 2006/7
I did all the work on her, nice simple engine and systems, she was giving me 38 to the gallon on the last day still!
What a solid car, if only I still had her.
The Leon is my third car ever, see I look after them, I have of course inherited my wife's little Subaru Vivio 600cc 4X4 1994 plate.

The Almera I had before the Leon was written off in a bitterly disputed RTC that happened in March 2010 leading me to the Leon.

 

[mikesndbs]

Just been told by the garage that my car should be ready tomorrow or the 24th!
VW delivered the new engine block yesterday out of the blue.
This is very good as I don't now risk the extra cost of extra VAT!

I assume with such a lot of new major parts I will have to run the car in for a bit?

 

[t0m]

Just been told by the garage that my car should be ready tomorrow or the 24th!
VW delivered the new engine block yesterday out of the blue.
This is very good as I don't now risk the extra cost of extra VAT!

I assume with such a lot of new major parts I will have to run the car in for a bit?

Good news mate! Pleased for you... especially the less VAT cost

I would run the car in gently as if it was a new car you we're driving away from the dealer as the block will feel like new!

 

[James_R]

specialist you work for

Yes very cheap indeed and soon to be a forum sponsor

Glad things are finally coming together with your rebuild buddy, just a pain with the time of year and the fact it's only a relatively young car.

 

[mikesndbs]

Hi all, first up seasons greetings to all of you and safe happy motoring for 2011.

The car is back on the drive now.
I have instructions to keep her to 50Mph for the first 500 miles then go back for a oil change after 1000.
Anyone wishing to examone the invoice and work detial can do so here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?xy9u9dylhe1mdcg


Cheers

Mike

 

[sambryant]

good news mike happy xmas, have a great new year
sam

 

[LEE69]

Bet your relieved now.
All the best
Can't see the file need to be registered.