Hi Everyone!
Well I've finally booked in at a garage to fix my head gasket. The price at first sounded great but in the end weren't sure of the final quote. I planned to do it myself sometime nextweek, but now have out the results of all my failed units and exams, 4 to be exact. So it's hard revision for now. Arrgh

Anyway I got the quote from a Fiat Specialist in Catford, SE London. Their called Gonella Brothers. I'm sure there was a recommedation about these guys from someone here. If so, please could you let me know how good they are, cheers. They quoted me...

£220 = Head Gasket change inc head skim, oil, coolent.
£50 = VAT
£60 = Timing Belt
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£330 approx.

The guy spoke pretty fast and was kinda hard to understand, but I'm going down there this Thursday and the Boss might be able to come to some sort of deal depending on what else I need when I mentioned the Timing Belt change and fan switch (reason for head gasket blowing)

Does anyone know whether the following is true, They said...
1. The spark plugs won't really need changing. If they've been contaminated then they can be cleaned using some method which I forgot.

2. The timing belt won't need to been changed as the car has only done 29k miles as well I'm not sure when the belt change is due. But as an extra precuation, I'm gonna get it done.

Cheers!

http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/azizulhye/album?.dir=/80f9

spark plugs -arse what for £10 in parts your gonna waste time cleaning em unless it only had a service in the last few thousand miles.
timing belt- may as well do it since the heads off BUT £60 seems steep seeing as they have to take the belt of the head anyway unless that includes belt tensioner being replaced,i change a timing belt whenever i have to disturb it.head gasket seems to be a fairly reasonable price

A Dog Is Not Just For Christmas
Sliced Thinly It Can Last Till Easter

sounds about the same price we would charge although i dont usually bother with the extras like plugs, belt, tensioner unless they do need changing (i try and keep it cheep).
the fan swich dont cause the headgaset too fail, they just fail regardless however if it has badly overheated most tech's would recomend a new thermostat although ive never had too do one myself.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

The plugs should be OK, and can be cleaned using a sandblaster, although I'd replace them anyway.
£60 extra to do the cambelt seems steep as they have to remove and replace the old belt to work on the head anyway; a new belt is only about a tenner so you'd think they'd just put it on.

Hey Everyone!
Got my Punto fixed today!
They changed the quote they gave me to £310 and in that quote they included the replacment of my fan switch and 6 month/6k mile garantee. So far everything seems to be running okay, although there was quite a lot of water in my fuel tank which made the car jerk a bit and lose power. My suggesting it was the previous garage that I used to go to.

Anyway I'd definately recommend...
Gonnella Brothers (Fiat & Alfa Specialists)
Catford, SE6.
020 8690 0060

Thanks for the replies!

well done sounds good if its got all that garantee, water in the tank could be condensation because its been sitting around for months,

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Hmmm... never thought of it that way. The garage did say it could be condensation but should be only a little, I think I should of mentioned to them that it was sitting in the same spot for about 4/5 months, lol.

Anyway I've noticed on my invoice that I've got to come back after 700 miles so that they can tighten the head otherwise I lose my garantee.

Originally posted by Aziz


Anyway I've noticed on my invoice that I've got to come back after 700 miles so that they can tighten the head otherwise I lose my garantee.

Click to expand...

don't want to worry you but thats not right, sounds like they don't know what they are doing, years ago when cars had iron heads you had to do that, but with todays alloy heads its diffrent,

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Please do not Email or PM me asking for support. Post on the forums instead. Your reply may help someone else. Thank you

Oh No! [:0]
Is it something major or minor, that would cause the car problems.

Thanks for telling me!