How long should a head gasket last?

[Paddy_g46]

my mates head gasket has just gone after onyl havign it replaced 5 months and 6500 miles ago!

how long should they last? where does he stand with the garage?

 

[alexbleubolt]

longer than that, i would have thought they would have given him a yrs guarantee at least !!?

 

[Paddy_g46]

dnt the original head gaskets last about 50k miles! or more sometimes!

 

[christurbo]

You can only have the head skimmed so many times.....

 

[Fred@BTM]

sounds like they've fucked up and missed something else thats causing it, ie like a knackered fan, thermostat, water pump etc etc

 

[Paddy_g46]

^^ the car never overheats never gets past the top mark on the thermo, and the fan always kicks in at the right times! i mean 5 moths and 6500 miles! he has got 2 b kidding!

 

[Paddy_g46]

i have a suspision that the mechanic let 1 of the monkeys do the job! (they really are monkeys!) could it be caused by not tightening the head to the correct torx?

 

[Fred@BTM]

yep, incorrect torque settings would knacker it, if they didn't check that head to see it if was warped and just put it back on again, then it'll go again

 

[Paddy_g46]

they skimmed it the first time

 

[Paddy_g46]

the symptoms are very shaky idle and white "smoke" which im sure is steam on idle and wen u rev it the steam pours out even more. this is defo head gasket isnt it.

 

[RSTuning]

I have also seen some real bad skimming before, looked like it had been done with an angle grinder and finished with a bit of P20 lol

 

[Paddy_g46]

just unplugged the ht leads 1 by 1 and the 1 nearest drivers side made no difference to the car at all
while the other 3 caused it to nearly stall which leads em 2 belive that the 4th is alreayd useless bcoz its flooded!



edit: just spoken to the mechanic who did the gasket and he says he cant see it being the gasket but he reckons the head could be cracked!

 

[Paddy_g46]

^ bump

 

[Rich1.2]

strip it down and find out! deffo a problem if taking out a lead doesnt make a difference to running and a faulty lead doesnt cause white smoke