Well... almost!!

Started as a auto tranny service, and check for a slow leak of coolant somewhere.

the mechanic got back to me and said that it was definatly a head gasket, no doubt about it. $1400 in cluding a machined head. that was about 3 weeks ago. sat and mulled that over, crying over my poor money about to go walkabout!!

start of last week went to another mechanic, and he said $800 for same thing. sweet!! so i went back a day later to book it in, and he said he would run the compression tests and other things himself. fair nough.

woke up on monday morning to the phone ringing, and the mechanic said that he was positive that it WASNT the head gasket. so i went down and saw him, and he said the coolant was leaking out the right tank o rings proly, and the tank was just starting to crack. and the roughness was a dirty injector.

he sent me to a radiator place and got a quote from them today for $270 to put new side tank on, clean radiator, new thermostat and coolant change. booked in for thursday.

so all in all, the first place was happy to charge me $1400 for a job that doesnt (yet) need doing, and now it will be fixed on thursday for $270

shows what a good mechanic is worth then!!
bring on the whiteline works kit!!

Good you got it sorted. With the head gasket reputation of e-series it is understandable that sometimes mechanics jump to the wrong conclusion. You just hope they are smart enough to work it out and honest enough to tell you when they have the car in their shop.

BTW: my last head gasket change cost me $30 for the gasket from sprints and about 1 and a half hours to change myself.!

Anyone know of a good trustworthy, Falcon experienced mechanic in South Brisbane? I'm sick of dealing with no hoper f**k!

yeah, it is too hard to find a good mechanic. just a shame i have to move in 6 months for uni!! mheh, can alwaysd come home for my service!!

stockstandard: no doubt they did the same tests, and got the same results, i just get the feeling that one would have happily charged me lots to do the job anyway, and then "find" the problem elsewhere. they seemed to do that a lot with other things

if you can afford it i recomend you spend a bit extra and get a new 3 core with brass side tanks, $300 new from natrad.
it pays to get a second opinion.

Price around for a new radiator $270 sounds a little steep for a reco one. I pick up my new one for $175. I fitted it myself though.

depends on which radiator u get i paid $170 for new aftermarket one leaked just ova a year later (out of warenty) or $240 for a natrad one with 2 years warenty.

this is $270 for replace the side tank, clean the internals of radiator, new o rings and seals, new thermostat, gasket, new coolant (obviously)... and labour... and GST

spewijng if a whole new one is a similar price.

oh well, bit late now, it is booked in in 9 hours, so i cant pull out now. but i have been recomended to this place by quite a number of people, so i know that their work is good

im not in brissy but why not tyr one of the taxi service joints .they know alot about falcons

double post

Last edited by NC 5ltr on Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mine is Natrad $175 I shopped around I also was quoted upto $240

yeah i know, i go through this forum, and everytime someone mentions coolant loss, sluggish performance, or missing i imediately think head gasket.