Guaging interest - need advice quick

[Dan88]

Basically my car was up for sale, and somebody bought it, it then broke down on his way home and has been diagnosed as a cracked head.

Now he wants to take it to a garage and get it all fixed and us to split the bill 50/50. The quote that has come back is £1200 all in.

I sold the car for £1900, and minus £600 paying this bill means i would have got £1300 for the car. My for sale ad is here:

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Would i make more than £1300 by breaking it, based on the current market and people buying stuff at the moment. The only thing that wouldnt be available is the head and gasket.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
Dan

[SimonSW20]

I don't really know the market for spare parts in the UK but in Germany you would definately get more than 1300 out of it when you break it.

There are some nice parts on the car... if you break it let me know, would be interested in the front lip

[sticks]

it would take time but you should definatly make way more than 1300.theres a lot of nice extras there aswell that wud sell easy.

[sparkyturbo]

did you give him receipt of the sale....sold as seen....

[Dan88]

i did yes, but i went down the nice route thinking it wouldnt be too bad.

Im just putting myself in his shoes, if i had bought a car and 10 miles down the road it broke and wouldnt start, first thing i would do is go back and get my money back. then id be stuck with a broken car with full bill to pay.

Because the guy is also being nice and still wants the car, ive only got to pay 50%. i feel if i go the nasty route, it could end up back firing, because whats a hand written piece of paper against a broken car?

[mr2nut123]

i did yes, but i went down the nice route thinking it wouldnt be too bad.

Im just putting myself in his shoes, if i had bought a car and 10 miles down the road it broke and wouldnt start, first thing i would do is go back and get my money back. then id be stuck with a broken car with full bill to pay.

Because the guy is also being nice and still wants the car, ive only got to pay 50%. i feel if i go the nasty route, it could end up back firing, because whats a hand written piece of paper against a broken car?

Your doing the right, but painful thing. Anyone willing to do that to an IMOCer needs banning...simple as

[Martin F]

Breaking the car takes time but you should see a return of around 4k, in this instance why don't you just buy a second hand cylinder head and fit it yourself, you could pick up a head for £150 ish, new timing belt and gasket and your almost there

[Slarty]

If worse comes to worse, break it. You'd get £350 or there abouts for the NurSpec alone (assuming it's in as good a condition as the photo shows).

Also, and perhaps this is me being slightly sceptical, do you KNOW it's a cracked head? And £1200 for a head change? Seriously? There's more than one affiliate who could have that changed in a day and charge you a fair bit less.

Possibly he's trying it on that you'll just hand over the money and be done with it?

[Dan88]

i dont KNOW for sure its a cracked head, but theres nothing else i can think it would be based on the symptoms.

Is there a way of knowing for sure its a cracked head before i start having the engine ripped apart?

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of a good company as close to ipswich (as i will have to trailer/tow the car) as possible?

[RobCrezz]

i dont KNOW for sure its a cracked head, but theres nothing else i can think it would be based on the symptoms.

Is there a way of knowing for sure its a cracked head before i start having the engine ripped apart?

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of a good company as close to ipswich (as i will have to trailer/tow the car) as possible?

I occasionally use a toyota specialist in Maldon (Greenwells garage, 01621 850024).

But to be honest, I would probably get it taken to Luke @ Pacific works, near luton. Hes very good with his labour prices, and you know he will do a good job and get it sorted.

[Timsmr2]

Maybe try TGT (3S) in basingstoke. Not that near but they do high quality work and i'm sure they would be able to do the job alot cheaper than £1200 if you have the trailer anyway then worth the fuel cost IMO.

Pacific works are probably nearer to you and get good press. But I personally have no experience of them.

[jimGTS]

cracked head?
never seen or head of that on the 3sgte

cracked block yes, but cracked head?

also, £1200!


i wouldnt hand over anything until you know whats wrong, and i would be asking that diag from an affiliate!

[Dan88]

like i said before i have no idea what the problem could be. But its going to pacific works at the weekend to get sorted.

Im guessing a cracked block is a lot more work and a lot more expense than a simple swapping over of a head and gasket?

[sw20GTS]

sorry for thread hijack but I would really like to know the outcome of this.

I just bought a GT4 off a bloke and its now in the garage because the temps went sky high. According to him everything is fine on the way down. There's loads of steam coming from the plastic tube thingy attached to the radiator (there's a block hose leading near the rad cap into that tube) but it settled so that could also mean that the water level is low since it escaped as steam.

The garage told me it can also be a HG problem or worse a cracked block... I'm hoping its just bubbles, low coolant or even a broken thermostat.

Anyhow, I try to get in touch with the bloke but he is remaining quiet at the moment. Just want to know whats the deal when things like this happens. He seems like a nice bloke so I am keeping it very polite and civil at the moment but I am afraid I will be faced with a repair bill half of the car's value!

[RobCrezz]

sorry for thread hijack but I would really like to know the outcome of this.

I just bought a GT4 off a bloke and its now in the garage because the temps went sky high. According to him everything is fine on the way down. There's loads of steam coming from the plastic tube thingy attached to the radiator (there's a block hose leading near the rad cap into that tube) but it settled so that could also mean that the water level is low since it escaped as steam.

The garage told me it can also be a HG problem or worse a cracked block... I'm hoping its just bubbles, low coolant or even a broken thermostat.

Anyhow, I try to get in touch with the bloke but he is remaining quiet at the moment. Just want to know whats the deal when things like this happens. He seems like a nice bloke so I am keeping it very polite and civil at the moment but I am afraid I will be faced with a repair bill half of the car's value!

Be prepared that you dont have any come back really, sold as seen and all that. However if he is nice he might help out with repair?