Head gasket dilema! will it be a hard job?

a garage has told me the head gasket on my fiat brava has gone caused by the waterpump failing, they also say that the timing belt and tensioners should also be changed with this and have quoted 拢670 if the head isnt warped. ok i have done many home diy projects but not on heads, how hard/time consuming will this be and will i need any specialist tools? i dont want to scrap the car but it is not worth paying nearly 700 quid. please help.
by the way yes i know what fiat stands for (fix it again tommorrow!)

Almost as bad as Found On Road Dead or Fix Or Repair Daily. Both long time acronyms for FORD used by old time Chevy guys. The biggest problem changing the head gasket is making sure the head isn't warped. You can always have an automotive machine shop check it for you after you remove it. You will need a torque wrench and a shop manual ( to get the torque specs from). Don't know about the UK but here the wrench can usually be rented. Other than that changing the head gasket isn't a very difficult job. Just make sure you drain the coolant first so it doesn't come pouring out into the cylinder bores when you remove the head bolts. Good Luck.

How familiar are you with motors? Its quite a task replacing the head gasket even with experience. With replacing the headgasket your essencially pulling off the entire top half of the engine and rebuilding it.

When you do this, your going to have to make sure your springs are good as well.

If your not very mechincally inclined I would highly recommend a shop to do it!

if you dont know how difficult the job is you wont be able to do it
you will make it worse than it is
changing the head gasket your playing with the timing and all sorts of things also as someone else said youll need loads of tools like a torque wrench and torque keys

It isnt an easy job.


Replacing the Timing belt is standard practice, and well worth doing.


You will need a Haynes manual for your car.


You'll also need, a good rachet with all size fittings.

Tourqe wrench, and any other tools required in the Haynes Manual.

any number of things can go wrong with this kind of repair. the worst of which would be putting it back together out of time. could make it un-runnable or even do some mechanical damage that is worse than the gasket.

do you have a friend that has done this before?

doing a diesel head isnt as simpl eor as easy as doing a petrol one.

and 700 is cheap. its a days work at 80 an hour, plus vat.

get yourself a haynes work shop manaul and follow the instuctoins failing that hunt around and see if you can find some one a bit cheaper

It IS too easy to get this wrong, there are a dozen ways, if you are a 'virgin' at this. Even head-gasket jobs between differing cars can involve certain tricks the novice won't be aware of.
You can price all the gaskets, belt, tensioners and sundries you need. Get a Haynes manual, and see if you think you can do it. If you proceed, do so with a camcorder running, and give a commentary. Label EVERYTHING you remove! Have the head skimmed flat, this will be about 30pounds, 40 at most. Your key problem will be making sure that the engine is 'timed' correctly, to Top Dead Centre, as the workshop will do that with the head, to close all the valves. You might want to call a professional mobile mechanic to re-assemble, but you should be able to cut that 'frankly unreasonable' bill by a few hundred quid! You may need a special tool to lock the camshaft sprocket in place, but there is a chance you can hire this from a tool-hire centre.