I've been having problems with my Fiat 500 losing coolant. It was losing coolant and needed topping up every couple of weeks, I took it to a garage and I was told it was the water pump leaking so I had that replaced in January. Since then it continued to lose coolant so I added Radweld to the coolant tank. Now the coolant levels go up and down and need topping up but less often. I took it to back to the garage and was told it was the head gasket and it's going to cost about £1000 to fix. This seems very expensive, does anyone know how much this should cost?

Cheers.

Did they do a sniff test on the expansion tank ? I've read the onto has issues with the head gasket oing but don't remember seeing much on the 500. The headgasket went on my 206 (was a banger) and that didn't lose coolant. I would check the hoses for leaks, the oil cap for mayo and a film of oil in the coolant tank. Also look to see if it looks like it is swelling up.

Cost ... I would have thought 500 would be more than enough, that would include skimming the head too. 1000 is taking the wee wee, get a second opinion.

Get it fixed as cheaply as possible and then get rid of it. Putting radweld into a car is possibly one of the worst things you can do. To do a proper job of it you'd need to completely flush the engine, the radiator and the heater matrix. Get it repaired somewhere that doesn't charge silly money and then get rid and NEVER ever put radweld in ever again.

Engine size/year of car?

I have used radweld loads of times and Barrs, never had a problem. Some like it some hate it.

T14086 said:

Engine size/year of car?

I have used radweld loads of times and Barrs, never had a problem. Some like it some hate it.

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Granted you won't always have problems, but some cars are more susceptible to getting bits blocked up that you don't want blocked up by Radweld.

Radweld is great for chucking in an old car that you only want to keep for a short length of time, but I wouldn't dream of putting it in a newish car like a 500, I'd just go ahead and look for the actual cause of the leak.

Head gaskets are very expensive to repair, and imho the car is never the same after having it done, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I've had the head go on 2 of my previous cars, cost me about 2k to fix in each case, and the car never felt the same afterwards and I was constantly paranoid it would go again (which it did, twice, after repair, in a Peugeot 306 I had years back) - Radweld, no chance in a new car

Recently had the head done on my cinq and that cost £300. That included a new water pump, cambelt, tensioner, new belts, all new gaskets, head skimmed and all flushed out and its been spot on since.

Not sure if it was cheaper due to ease of access to everything on the cinq with it being pretty simple to work on?

Steeleal is another version of rad weld which is supposed to be better, you have to follow the instructions to the letter though. But like maxi I would rather just replace the gasket. The 1.2 isn't a complicated engine the bits are cheap and it's not exactly a difficult job. I would have done mine on the 206 but it was the wrong side of Christmas and too cold.
stevep, 2k .... Did they just replace the engine unless it was a gti and loads of other bits needed replacing the pug engine is very common for cooking the gasket,I priced mine up at £100 for parts inc waterpump and gasket and then my time,head skim would have been around £50 although I'd have got it for free

I'm assuming now that the problem really is a leaking head gasket (garages have been known to make mistakes), but since you've already added the radweld, the damage is done.

If the car is still running OK, then being pragmatic & disregarding ethical considerations, what I'd do is to top up the coolant & sell the car to the trade immediately for the best price you can get. Don't continue to use it - it could fail outright & then your best option will be to pay £1000 to get it fixed & then sell it to the trade for the best price you can get, which will likely be less since it'll probably be obvious to anyone who looks under the bonnet that the engine has just had major work done to it.

Personally I would not give even a second's consideration to keeping the car.

jrkitching said:

it could fail outright & then your best option will be to pay £1000 to get it fixed & then sell it to the trade for the best price you can get, which will likely be less since it'll probably be obvious to anyone who looks under the bonnet that the engine has just had major work done to it.

Personally I would not give even a second's consideration to keeping the car.

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Firstly, if done by a good reputable place, the job should never need to cost £1000.

Secondly, if you do repair the head gasket, and the job is done correctly (i.e. what caused it is identified and repaired), then there's no reason why the car won't do many thousands of miles without issue. So it would be highly foolish to sell it after carrying out this work. The only reason you'd want to carry out a distressed sale is immediately prior to it failing.

Radweld isn't that hard to remove from a cooling system with a good strong solvent - the necessary chemicals are available in the trade as this is not a new problem.

Personally, I don't see how the job should cost much more than £250 + parts.

Where are you located?

What's with all the doom and gloom on here? It's a head gasket for crying out loud - hardly the end of the world.
Over the years I've done the HG on my own cars as well as those of family and friends & never once had a problem & the repair has given many years of good service afterwards.

OK, so the stealer might want to charge the thick end of £1k, but their prices are based on labour costs into three figures (and I don't mean £9.99 !), oil at £50/pint (when it probably costs them £5) and other parts (which the stealers always charge more for anyway.
OP, any half decent garage really shouldn't be guessing the fault. A pressure test on the cooolant system takes seconds to do and costs them nothing, this will determine where the coolant is going - pressure loss with no obvious signs suggests HG, ie coolant being forced into the pots.

In short here is my experience.

The head gasket went on one of my old cars. It broke down a mile away from the stealer. They wanted £1000 and recommended a new engine.

Towed it to an independent garage. They fixed it for £300

EDIT: Should also mention they did skim the head gasket

sludgeguts said:

What's with all the doom and gloom on here? It's a head gasket for crying out loud - hardly the end of the world.
Over the years I've done the HG on my own cars as well as those of family and friends & never once had a problem & the repair has given many years of good service afterwards.

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bgunn said:

Firstly, if done by a good reputable place, the job should never need to cost £1000.

Secondly, if you do repair the head gasket, and the job is done correctly (i.e. what caused it is identified and repaired), then there's no reason why the car won't do many thousands of miles without issue.

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I've no doubt that either of you could cost-effectively repair the OP's car in such a way that it continued to work satisfactorily for the rest of its service life.

The problem for most folks is finding somewhere that will work to the required standard for a fair price. Over the past ten years, I know personally of 3 folks with HG failures repaired by the local trade. They paid between £400-£1200; two had the head skimmed; all 3 failed again within 12 months; in each case, the garage doing the work didn't want to know :bang:.

My (admittedly pessimistic) comments have nothing to do with the technical issues involved in doing the job; just a pragmatic take on the real-world difficulty in finding a decent garage when you need serious engineering. Without contacts & knowledge, it's a lottery in which the OP is more than likely to get a losing ticket.

A final thought (though it's sadly too late for the OP): Many head gasket failures are caused by running seriously low on coolant; the 500 (& Panda for that matter) is prone to weeping from the bleed on the heater hose, so checking your coolant level more than once in a blue moon is a sensible precaution to reduce the chances of this happening. An obvious sign that the coolant is dangerously low is that the heater will stop blowing hot air; if this happens when you're driving, stop as soon as it's safe to do so & check it (without unscrewing the cap!).

jrkitching said:

I've no doubt that either of you could cost-effectively repair the OP's car in such a way that it continued to work satisfactorily for the rest of its service life.

The problem for most folks is finding somewhere that will work to the required standard for a fair price. Over the past ten years, I know personally of 3 folks with HG failures repaired by the local trade. They paid between £400-£1200; two had the head skimmed; all 3 failed again within 12 months; in each case, the garage doing the work didn't want to know :bang:.

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Which was my point. The cause wasn't found, and isolated.

jrkitching said:

My (admittedly pessimistic) comments have nothing to do with the technical issues in doing the job; just a pragmatic take on the real-world difficulty in finding a decent garage when you need serious engineering. Without contacts & knowledge, it's a lottery in which the OP is more than likely to get a losing ticket.

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Tis true. Most 'garages' are just parts fit places, they don't actually often know how something works, and how to repair it properly. Which is why I asked where the OP is located.

The other variable is the radweld, has it already blocked up the heater matrix or the radiator or the internal waterways of the engine? My 406 had a hgf and did the same again months again

306maxi said:

The other variable is the radweld, has it already blocked up the heater matrix or the radiator or the internal waterways of the engine? My 406 had a hgf and did the same again months again

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Granted, but there are products that are capable of breaking it down.

306maxi said:

The other variable is the radweld

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That was the final straw which tipped me into recommending the OP gets shot of this car now.

Whilst it can be cleaned out, it definitely raises the bar on getting the job done properly.

If the OP can get full trade-in value without having to spend anything on the repair, they're up £1000 on the deal & have put the uncertainty of their current car firmly behind them.

jrkitching said:

That was the final straw which tipped me into recommending the OP gets shot of this car now.

Whilst it can be cleaned out, it definitely raises the bar on getting the job done properly.

If the OP can get full trade-in value without having to spend anything on the repair, they're up £1000 on the deal & have put the uncertainty of their current car firmly behind them.

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My thoughts also. If the head hasket went on my car I'd probably just buy another engine off eBay. Obviously the radweld can be dealt with, but it's an uncertainty i wouldn't want in the equation if someone else is doing the work.

Hi, thanks for all the advice - I won't use Radweld again in future!

The garage I took it to was in Chippenham, they said they used some coloured liquid that changes colour to check for emissions, but they said it took a long time for the colour to change.

I've got another quote for around £400 to do the repair (from a garage in Wales that my parents use), but he has also said he will take a good look at it to see if it really is the head gasket first. I think I will take it to him and see what he says first. Will get a couple of trade quotes just in case but hopefully I won't have to sell him as he is a lovely car.

Cheers.

Kara said:

The garage I took it to was in Chippenham, they said they used some coloured liquid that changes colour to check for emissions, but they said it took a long time for the colour to change.

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Was it the Fiat garage in Chippenham, or just an independent place? If it's the Fiat garage I've always found them to be very good, but they don't usually charge over the odds, which is making me wonder.

Also, I assume it is the 1.2 petrol 500 and not another engine? I don't think I've seen anyone confirm it is the 1.2.