Is £250 a good deal for changing a head gasket?

Question

its a VW Golf 1.6

Quote is £250 (labour) is that a good deal for changing a head gasket?

My local garage told me it will take them 2 days to fix it as he needs to strip the whole engine down. He also said he will change the timing belt for free if needed and also will change my fanbelt as i need a new one.

What do you think? Thanks

Answer 1

yeah its good enough but did he explain that it may still not fix the engine ??

Answer 2

yes thats a good price.

Answer 3

sounds reasonable.

its a big job

Answer 4

i think with the parts n labour including engine oil change it is worth £200. it is about 4 hours job. where the timing belt is concered, while changing the head gasket he will have to remove the old belt so he can just replace it with a new one.

it's just around five min job to change a fanbelt.

Answer 5

I've been following your posts about your Golf; You don't want a cheap job on the head gasket, you want a proper one.

The important things to ask are;

1) will the head been pressure tested whilst removed, and

2) will the head been 'skimmed' if necessary - effectively re - machined to ensure it's 100% flat.

Ask. They won't be offended if they're kosher.

As for the free cambelt, I'd say nothing's free, and it would be foolish to swap a head without fitting a new belt, so  that's to be expected.

At £250 labour, you'll be looking at £400 all in, possibly plus VAT, and that's a price for a good job - just make sure you're getting one.

If your garage is trustworthy, then that's your best guarantee.

Answer 6

yeah good price worth it if ur getting cambelt done and fan belt included  

Answer 7

£250 sounds pretty reasonable to me - its a ***** of a job - new cam and fan belt thrown in too I see - these are the sort of things that give me a very warm feeling when I hear them.

Shop around if you think you'll get a better deal but me personally I'd be very happy with that

Answer 8

This is a reasonable quote.