Im after a little help

 

First off a little story... Last october due to a radiator leak, my engine overheated and blew what looked like the head gasket and a few of the pistons stopped working.

 

It was at a friend of the familys garage (not a jap specialist with limited 300 knowledge) and being worked on as a background task to keep the cost down. After the first month i was told next week it'll be ready, next week, until last weekened (3 months later!) they turned around and held their hands up and said they cannot fix it.

 

What they have done so far is fix the radiator and replace head gasket but cannot get all the pistons working.

 

The other option when it happened was a 2nd hand enigne replacement at the cost of about £2000 but considering the cost of a replacement car would be about £3000 (then i could sell/resuse parts from mine and it could work out cheaper in the long run) i didnt think it would be worth it and still dont.

 

So what im asking is does anyone have a garage that thinks they might be able to get the engine sorted or can recommend anywhere that might, but as im based in the north east I'd like somewhere up here ideally. The other consideration will be the cost. Im not really wanting to pay out more than £1000 as i have lost a lot of faith in the car and would try and cut my losses if it was going to be anymore.

 

Im not in any rush at the moment to get it done as had to get a replacement car anyway since mines been gone that long, but am aiming for it to be done for the end of march so its ready for the summer and i will also be 25 then so my insurance wil have dropped nicely :)

Im after a little help

 

First off a little story... Last october due to a radiator leak, my engine overheated and blew what looked like the head gasket and a few of the pistons stopped working.

 

It was at a friend of the familys garage (not a jap specialist with limited 300 knowledge) and being worked on as a background task to keep the cost down. After the first month i was told next week it'll be ready, next week, until last weekened (3 months later!) they turned around and held their hands up and said they cannot fix it.

 

What they have done so far is fix the radiator and replace head gasket but cannot get all the pistons working.

 

The other option when it happened was a 2nd hand enigne replacement at the cost of about £2000 but considering the cost of a replacement car would be about £3000 (then i could sell/resuse parts from mine and it could work out cheaper in the long run) i didnt think it would be worth it and still dont.

 

So what im asking is does anyone have a garage that thinks they might be able to get the engine sorted or can recommend anywhere that might, but as im based in the north east I'd like somewhere up here ideally. The other consideration will be the cost. Im not really wanting to pay out more than £1000 as i have lost a lot of faith in the car and would try and cut my losses if it was going to be anymore.

 

Im not in any rush at the moment to get it done as had to get a replacement car anyway since mines been gone that long, but am aiming for it to be done for the end of march so its ready for the summer and i will also be 25 then so my insurance wil have dropped nicely :)

 

Hello mate, long time no see.

didn't know you were having the problems you are.

In all honesty i dont know of any places local that would be able to do the zed (properly that is),

I think the most north garage in zen garage (they have a race mechanic called martyn) alternatively somewhere like Z-Tech or something might be good unless any of the other north east guys know where you could go.

 

What i did when i last took my car down south (ish) to get work done was ring the AA and tell them my car was broke and i was going to a specialist garage (completely true), they then took the car all the way down for me :dance:

So that might be an idea if you have recovery with them or the RAC or whoever.

 

i hope that garage hasn't charged you daft amounts mate :headvswal

hi there

 

Well they kept telling me its almost done.. just a little hiccup.. etc.. until they just turned around and said sorry we cant fix it so i assumed it was nothing major

 

and no thankfully they havent charged me a penny (which is about the only nice thing i can say at the moment!) as it still isnt working

 

but im still awaiting a full diagnosis of what they think is actually wrong and outstanding so i can get in touch with soemwhere like zcentre and get a quote if necessary if it comes to that

zcentre is mainly for parts though isn't it :smash:

 

Hope you get this sorted mate.

The worst part is the £700 of bodykit, dash kit and audio sat waiting for it at home which taunts me every night when i see it :p

The worst part is the £700 of bodykit, dash kit and audio sat waiting for it at home which taunts me every night when i see it :p

 

 

what kit you got?

 

If you want to get rid let me know :x:

got vader style front + rear bumper and skirts

 

clear side indicators

 

carbon colour full dash kit

 

il give you first refusal if i decide to sell it :)

I think you need to establish what they mean by 'cant get the pistons to operate properly'. They are attached to the crankshaft and go up and down as the engine rotates. I think what they are hinting at is the timing. i.e. valves and pistons, as they would have had to take the belt off to remove the heads. They obviously do not know how to reset this up. Providing they have not tried to start it since then it should be OK, but if it has been turned on the starter, the valves may have hit the pistons and caused damage to both. Go back and get the complete story from them. get them to write it down in mechanics language so that you can then enquire accurately from another garage.