Sad now - Head gasket again
 

Well, last year, I had the dreaded HGF which was fixed by MG Rover Repairs from Derby. They came out and did the repair work in the drive but did tell me the turbo was loose and would fail at some point.

That point arrived!

I called MG Rover Repairs and got a quote and asked their advice but found a second hand, low mileage turbo on eBay for £100 delivered, which was good. As I kind of needed the car done quickly, I took it to the garage that I live three doors down from in order to get the thing done quickly. I looked at doing it myself, but it seems the entire front of the car has to come off, so I do NOT have the ability to do that!

Unfortunately, the garage took its sweet time doing it, and I got the car back today. The report the mechanic gave was that the Head Gasket that was done, was done really badly! This is his list of problematic things from last years repair:

New Head Bolts weren't fitted
Head wasn't skimmed
There's an oil leak from the head to the block
Cam shaft oil seams leaking
Cam shaft closing plates missing
Radiator has a leak at the top left.
The turbo manifold gasket hadn't been replaced and the bleed nipples were snapped off.

Depressingly, the guarantee I had with the car is 14 months ago, so no guarantee on the work done.
Now, the thing is, I love the car, but with the repeated leaks and engine repairs, it's getting on my wick a bit. I know nothing about cars, so can't comment on what was done right, wrong, what should be done or anything, but the mechanic says it needs the head gasket doing and the head shimming and everything that MGRover Repairs did last year at another £400+. But do I trust him? Last year, the guy that did the work was really nice, seemed to know what he was doing and was quite happy with me standing over his shoulder watching and "helping". I don't want to cast aspersions on anyone, but I have a guy that came and did a bunch of work, and another guy saying the work was done badly and needs redoing, but I'm in no way qualified to know either way! Do I call MGRover Repairs and talk to them, but what would I say, and what would I ask? They are hardly likely to come out just to have a look at something they wouldn't even remember doing or do I just accept the fact that it seems like I need to have the car expensively repaired every year?
It's very depressing as I do love the car when it works and doesn't smell of damp and sloshes internally. I also need a new handbrake thingy as the handbrake holds less than me sticking me foot out the door.

Thanks for listening. I just really needed to moan to someone who isn't my long suffering wife, or someone who isn't instantly dismissive of Rovers.

Get a 2nd opinion

Get a second opinion. I’ve heard good things about those MG guys in Derby but worth getting another opinion in case this garage is trying to pull a fast one to try and get some business out of you.

I did think of the garage as getting work out of me, but I told them to replace the turbo and leave everything else as it ought to be covered under warranty. Not that it was, but he didn't need to know that, so he was just telling me what he found.
To be fair, the garage has a good reputation. They are generally good, relatively cheap (turbo replacement including gaskets and oil/water replacement for £120) but are a little slow and a little...I don't know, rough and ready? Not a sparkly, free coffee and magazine reading area kind of place? Everything is covered in oil and engine dirt. A proper mechanic looking kind of place.

Problem is, in order to get a second opinion, I'd have to pay again to have someone pull things apart to see what needs pulling apart.

At least it doesn't smoke like a steam train now. 'Twas rather amusing when the old turbo fell apart, the quantity of smoke that it threw out. Give me a chuckle. AND made me cry!

Clean up the engine and look for the leaks described, should be easy enough

A proper garage then, getting rarer these days.

You might want to get member Dawns view on that Derby Garage!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

'Twas Dawn that told me about them last year when I first had the initial mayonnaise oil and water loss issue.

In that last 12 months, the car appears to have used no water or virtually no oil (according to the dip stick) so I figured everything was hunky dory, other than the ticking time bomb of the rattly turbo.

Poo.

+1 for a fast one. I used MG Rover Repairs to do the HG on my 25, and it never went wrong again.

In fact last time I checked it'd just passed another MOT.....

New Head Bolts weren't fitted.

If they were changing out a turbo then I can’t understand why they would have taken of the camshaft cover, as that is the only way you can see the bolts. The bolts do not normally need changing.

Head wasn't skimmed.

If it’s flat then there is no need to skim, skimming for the sake of it is stupidity and means that they do not understand basic engineering.

There's an oil leak from the head to the block.

Big deal. Sounds like a/some camshaft seal/s are/is leaking, a simple enough repair to a trustworthy source.the camshaft seals may have been leaking before the repair or after, as I said they are not normally terminal issues

Cam shaft oil seams leaking.

Same as above.

Cam shaft closing plates missing.

Perhaps, poor attention to detail tbh but not terminal, the seal should be protected from road grime/dust, but perhaps they were not there before?

Radiator has a leak at the top left.

Could have occurred just recently, I don’t know why you can attribute this to the head gasket repair

The turbo manifold gasket hadn't been replaced and the bleed nipples were snapped off.

Bleed nipples?