Is this worth fixing?

[N3vins]

I am after some opinions on wether you think I should repair my car or scrap it and look for another one. So I bought a Volvo s40 T4 in December for only £800, it had 80,000 miles and FSH.

While I was out on my first long drive the radiator started leaking quite badly so I stopped and got recovered home. I replaced the radiator and gave the car a full service including spark plugs, pads and tyres all round. Since starting it up after this I have now realised that the head gasket is blown which was confirmed by a pressure test.

I really like the car and it currently stands in at around £1100, should I spend another £1100 getting it fixed or cut my losses.

This is the first "powerful" car I have owned so I don't know if my attachment to it is clouding my judgment but I want to fix it.

[Muncher]

I would probably scrap it and buy another.

[sheepman]

£1100 for a new head gasket?

[N3vins]

Yes, I have had 3 quotes all around the same price... That's including cambelt, water pump, skim and new head bolts

[johnnyBv8]

Stick it on eBay with fault stated. Buy another one. Actually, buy a T5!

[bracken78]

I would say you have 2 options

1) repair it and by the sounds of the work already completed should have a car to last many years with minimum work
2) buy another Volvo and keep this for spares.

If the car is solid then I would keep and repair (seems to be going against the grain!

[xRIEx]

Difficult to say - if you'd owned it for a while and put many trouble-free miles on it I would have agreed with this

bracken78 said:

1) repair it and by the sounds of the work already completed should have a car to last many years with minimum work

However, as it's throwing these problems now, how many more things are going to come out of the woodwork in the next thousand miles?

The flipside is buying another car for e.g. £1100, who's to say that's not going to have problems just as costly?

[andym1603]

Keep it and do the job yourself. Fairly straight forward to do and would cost less than half you have been quoted. If the car is otherwise good it will last for a good time yet.

[Northernchimp]

That sounds about £500 too much, were the quotes from main dealers?

[TTwiggy]

I can't advise the OP on his head gasket issues, but that picture has got 'dogging site' written all over it.

[N3vins]

Thanks all. Another car for £1100 could be riddled with faults too so I agree with bracken on that. Otherwise the car does look very clean and solid and appears well looked after so I think it is worth saving. I also think £1100 seems steep but the quotes I had were from: independent volvo specialist, local indecent garage and a engine rebuild specialist. So I was surprised at how similar the prices are

[jamieduff1981]

xRIEx said:

Difficult to say - if you'd owned it for a while and put many trouble-free miles on it I would have agreed with this

bracken78 said:

1) repair it and by the sounds of the work already completed should have a car to last many years with minimum work

However, as it's throwing these problems now, how many more things are going to come out of the woodwork in the next thousand miles?

The flipside is buying another car for e.g. £1100, who's to say that's not going to have problems just as costly?

Better the devil you know most of the time.

[aka_kerrly]

jamieduff1981 said:

Better the devil you know most of the time.

OP: do you have any mates that are into DIY mechanics? Armed with a hanyes manual an £100 worth of parts it should be a days work to have it back up and running again.

[Krikkit]

sheepman said:

£1100 for a new head gasket?

Agreed, for a reasonably accessible single-head engine that's a ridiculous sum.

[N3vins]

I do have a couple of mechanic mates that I would trust but something is making me think it's a bit too big of a job to be done on driveway properly. I would like to keep the car for years to come so I am swaying towards a professional job

[N3vins]

Does anyone have any recommendation's of a garage in Bristol I could try?

[jkh112]

N3vins said:

Does anyone have any recommendation's of a garage in Bristol I could try?

Price bros. in Avonmouth. Over the years they have fixed a number of cars with failed head gaskets/ skimmed heads for me.

[Mr2Mike]

I'd always repair rather than replace, but £1100 sounds way too steep (unless the design of the Volvo happens to make this a particularly labour intensive job?)

[N3vins]

Thanks, Price Bros are one of the garages that quoted. One garage said that the computer estimates 12 hours

[Spangles]

N3vins said:

Thanks, Price Bros are one of the garages that quoted. One garage said that the computer estimates 12 hours

My book says 9.2 hours for head gasket, cambelt and water pump. On something 13 years old adding a couple of hours is often prudent.