RE: white smoke, overheating, low coolant, poor MPG 30.

Hello,

I am going to attempt a cheap repair for a blown head gasket using a product called steel seal. Trusted mechanic has confirmed head gasket.

My question is that on my Panda 1.2 (2004) only 25K. I cant see the steel radiator cap. Just the coolant reservoir on left hand side. The bottle says pour into radiator.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Re: white smoke, overheating, low coolant, poor MPG 30.

Personally don't bother with any of that stuff. It'll just clog the coolant channels up and will only last a very short period of time whereas a headgasket (good quality with head skim) should last the a long time providing the coolant gets changed at regular intervals which probably has caused the gasket to go in the first place or over heating due to failed/clogged components. To answer your question it'll go in the expansion tank.

Re: white smoke, overheating, low coolant, poor MPG 30.

The Black Box said:

Personally don't bother with any of that stuff. .

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Either get it fixed properly or scrap the car - looking at it from a purely financial perspective, I'd say it's a close call on a 10yr old Panda with a book value close to what some 500 owners are being quoted for a first service.

If your pour that cr*p into the engine, it'll be scrap anyway.

If the car is otherwise decent, I'd say repair it properly. A good professional repair will be close to the car's value, but you'll have a known good car at the end of it.

If you can do a head gasket yourself, I'd say go for it whatever. If you can't, and if there are other issues, cut your losses and sell it on as it is.

Re: white smoke, overheating, low coolant, poor MPG 30.

As above, don't use any of that cack. If the car is otherwise fine get it repaired properly.
If you do repair it, have a think about what would cause the HG to go. Usually this would be caused by improper coolant mix causing corrosion.

Re: white smoke, overheating, low coolant, poor MPG 30.

if you want a cheap repair,
fit a £10 head gasket, intead of a £8 bottle of "snake-oil",

where are you based ?,
if it comes to it I could buy the car and fix it..,
not after you've added the crud to it though.., as others have said !!,

out of interest what did the mechanic quote for the Headgasket replacement..??,


Charlie - Oxford