Thread: is it the headgasket?

Also take the cap off when the engine is cool and let it warm up to temp with the cap off. If you can see a lot of bubbles in the radiator then yeah the head gasket is gone.

The fact that it needed to be topped up with water relativly regularly (fromt the sounds) would be the first sign there is something wrong

If there's no signs in the radiator, it could be as simple as a leaky hose.

Head shouldn't need to be shaved unless it was overheated badly.
Just a new gasket should be more then enough since I take it you wont be thrashing it.
Also if your planing on keeping the car for awhile then do the timing belt and water pump at the same time since they would only add another 15-30mins labor on top of doing the head gasket.

Price to get it all done at a garage id be expecting around 1K mark. Or if you were doing it your self $300-400 depending where you buy the parts.
But then again if the body of the car is really rough it might just be easier replacing the car since you can pick up some tidy ones now days for around 1.5-2K mark.

Possibly do a few more tests before assuming it is the head gasket and spending all that money. Maybe get someone to do a TK test on it? i thought i had a blown head gasket once but it turned out to just be a blocked radiator.

Radiators are prone to cracking on these, and generally fucking out, so water loss could be from hairline cracks.

If you need a shop to take it too
Ken @ KW Historics can pressure test the water, which will give you a good idea. Give him a ring on 09-2743020.

Originally Posted by s i r

Possibly do a few more tests before assuming it is the head gasket and spending all that money.

^^This!

Run a pressure test of the cooling system and a leak down test on the engine. If there is a problem make sure you check the head and block surface is 'true'. Chances are it wont need a skim but its stupid to assume that it wont .