[Mk2] [Turbo] The worst night of my life, diagnosis needed

[Dan88]

My Rev 2 was up for sale and someone bought it today, they came and picked it up and drove off, him very happy, me very sad.

About 20 minutes later i get a phonecall saying its just cut out on him. i drive out to meet him in m y daily runner, jump start him and off he goes (the battery must just be flat as its only been driven a week ago and has sat out in the cold etc).

I get another call from him a short while after and its cut out again. This time the battery is flat again, hook it up to my car to give it power, but this time there is a burning smell coming from the engine bay. My initial thoughts was the alternator.
Called the RAC and they came out, tested the battery which came out fine while it was being charged, tried it again and it was just whirring over and over, but not firing, then it started to try and fire, then with a bit of throttle it fired up and was running again. We carried on our trip to get it back to his.

Then it cuts out again, this time, there is no heat coming from the blowers and we take the rad cap off, no pressure, coolant pipes in the engine bay are cold. So we fill up with antifreeze as we guessed it might have been low on coolant. Left the cap off before we fired it up (so it would have a quick bleed before we carried on) and as soon the key was turned, the coolant shot out of the filler neck about 4 ft in the air. This was before the engine had even been started.

The RAC man used the phrase 'Hydraulic Surge' that caused that and said the engine had no compression and therefore the headgasket had gone.

However, a year ago i replaced the headgasket with a MLS one from a Rev 3, along with all the other gaksets etc etc. So i cant believe that the gasket has gone in one hit like tonight.

What do you guys think it could be? coult the head be cracked? or could it be a simple case that the coolant has frozen somewhere in the system?

I feel so bad for the new owner, and as a person for potentially selling a broken car (even though this has never done it to me before, and i was totally unaware that it would happen!) its bad luck the time its happend, i just need to find out the problem.

Thanks in advance (and sorry for the long post, i wanted to explain everything from start to finish for you)
Dan

[HighwayStar]

Hmmm tricky one. I can't help with the fault diagnosis but have sympathy for your position. The question is perhaps how far do you intend to go with your help.... if it needs say £600 ultimately to be put right are you willing to pay it? Legally I don't believe you're liable for anything so you really need at this point to quantify what you're prepared to do... help and advice of course is fantastic but I'd also be wary of promising or even offering any financial help.... do what you feel you have a moral right to do whatever you think that will be... 50% of the repair or whatever. The only person who can answer that I'm afraid is you. For a diagnostic suggest the new owner gets it to an affiliate.
Hope you get it sorted though and that the new owner both enjoys the 2 and ends up happy with your help.

R.

[Dan88]

looks like its a cracked head. The garage that its at have quoted £1200 all in to fix it. Does this sound about right? the labour came out at approx 15 hours.

The buyer wants me to go 50/50 as thats the fairest option. I really dont want to as ultimately it means ove sold the car for £1300, which is criminal and very disheartening for me.

- I could go for this, and take it as a hit and still get something
- i could try and break it for parts and make money that way (although that takes time as not everyone will want everything at once)
- I could be super harsh and turn around and say sorry mate, your problem now.
- or I could give him his money back, repair it myself on the driveway, and then readvertise it?

What option would you guys choose? (on the basis that im nice person and could never tell him to deal with it)

[HighwayStar]

Depends on your finances I'd say fella and only you know about that so sorry but ... your decision.

[T.F.S.]

£1200 to fit a head is too much IMO

[dazzz]

Seems a coincidence the car kept breaking down with battery issues and now has a head gasket blown.

Have you seen the car with the head gasket blown?

I would get it back and check it out? Do you know the buyer personally?

[Dan88]

not personally, but sitting in the car with him for 2 hours and we soon got to know each other, and he is actually a top down to earth bloke

i havent seen the car broken, as i havent said yes to the guy to start work on it, but it hasnt got any compression when you turn it over and wont start at all. last year i replaced the HG with a Rev 3 metal one, and this is the first time its ever had anything go wrong with it, so im pretty sure it wouldnt have blown the gasket. Ive read on here that with a metal HG, you will sooner blow the head rather than the gasket.

The thoughts are that the antifreeze mix was weak and it froze in the head and blew it.

The car had sat for a few weeks before the guy picked it up, so i would understand the battery to be flat.

But im not definite its the head, but thats what ive been told by a few people and not having the time to look myself means thats all i can go on

[Chris]

15 hours Has the guy got no fingers or something. Complete rip off. Cracked head sounds dubious to me too..

I'd just get the car back, give guy his money back and fix it. Sell it again and cut your losses. As said, by rights you could just fook him off. You are not a dealer, sold as seen and tested.

[ashley]

I'd just get the car back, give guy his money back and fix it. Sell it again and cut your losses.

+1

[DavidM]

I'd just get the car back, give guy his money back and fix it. Sell it again and cut your losses.

+1

Agreed, fairest thing to do.

[RyanRs]

15 hours Has the guy got no fingers or something. Complete rip off..

Lol i could probally remove the engine, build up a forged engine, re-install it and have 50miles on it in 15 hours lol