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[maracus]

I've got a mate with a 316 e46 8v BMW. He's been told his head gasket is shot. I had a look last night and I wasn't convinced until he switched it off and a dick load of coolant and what smelt like exhaust gas rapidly escaped via the open expansion cap. Anyway I think his thermostat seized shut hence the gasket gone, as the pipe from the thermostat wasn't at all full of hot water.

Anyway to the point, he's got the bits, and a driveway to work on, I've got a gazebo and the tools (afaik, unless there's specialist tools needed) and the relevant (ish) knowledge to do the job ( but I'm no mechanic this will only be my third or forth head off job) so I've told him ill do it for £70 for my time and efforts. While I'm getting the head skimmed, ill enrol him to the task of doing the crap job of getting the block face all clean and shiny, and he can help out where he can (so ill have plenty of cups of tea then) to make my life easier.

But then I had a call today, he can't give me £70 as he's not flush with cash, will I do it for £30 

What to do.. Do I simply tell him no, stick to my guns and insist on £70, OR get him to give me £30 this weekend and the rest next month when he gets paid (possible chance ill never see that extra £40) or say call It £50 and take that for it?

It's not a close friend just someone who I get on well with. Also, I'd hate to be stitched up for the next week of my free time doing that, all for not a lot of payment. I'm struggling to draw a line between helping out a mate, and a mate taking the piss!!

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I've got a mate with a 316 e46 8v BMW. He's been told his head gasket is shot. I had a look last night and I wasn't convinced until he switched it off and a dick load of coolant and what smelt like exhaust gas rapidly escaped via the open expansion cap. Anyway I think his thermostat seized shut hence the gasket gone, as the pipe from the thermostat wasn't at all full of hot water.

Anyway to the point, he's got the bits, and a driveway to work on, I've got a gazebo and the tools (afaik, unless there's specialist tools needed) and the relevant (ish) knowledge to do the job ( but I'm no mechanic this will only be my third or forth head off job) so I've told him ill do it for £70 for my time and efforts. While I'm getting the head skimmed, ill enrol him to the task of doing the crap job of getting the block face all clean and shiny, and he can help out where he can (so ill have plenty of cups of tea then) to make my life easier.

But then I had a call today, he can't give me £70 as he's not flush with cash, will I do it for £30 

What to do.. Do I simply tell him no, stick to my guns and insist on £70, OR get him to give me £30 this weekend and the rest next month when he gets paid (possible chance ill never see that extra £40) or say call It £50 and take that for it?

It's not a close friend just someone who I get on well with. Also, I'd hate to be stitched up for the next week of my free time doing that, all for not a lot of payment. I'm struggling to draw a line between helping out a mate, and a mate taking the piss!!

Dilemma.

[Andy B]

... and a mate taking the piss!!

I think that something might have turned up & you don't now have the time to do it. 

Or do £30 worth & finish the job when you get the rest! 

[maracus]

... and a mate taking the piss!!

I think that something might have turned up & you don't now have the time to do it. 

Or do £30 worth & finish the job when you get the rest! 

Well until a couple of hours ago I was hoping to have the car loaded by now but I haven't even cleared it from the last weeks worth of crap yet!

Unless I say look mate £5 an hour but it might take more than 10 hours anyway as I have great skill at failing to do any car work within an allocated timescale!!  id be happy to help him out for £50, if he was a she, and I were single, even just so I could stare at a cleavage while I stop and chat but I can't help but feel he's just trying to get a job done as cheap as possible (can't blame him for that really) but I feel I'm already offering him a damn good mate rate, but if things really are that hard I don't wanna stitch him up and in that case would happily help out for £50, if he'll equally compromise. Anyone want a BMW? It's red and needs a head gasket lol

[Kevin Wood]

If he can't raise £70 he can't afford to fill it up with petrol either, so he can wait until he does.

It really depends on your friendship with him, which only you can answer, but you've given him a very reasonable offer to fix it for £70, IMHO. I think he's taking a bit of a liberty to ask for it done for that little. Let him get a few quotes from garages and see if he mysteriously finds the cash.

[maracus]

That's the thing though he's already had quotes that vary from £300 (which is suspiciously cheap, they were going to collect the car and provide the parts and do the work, and has been sourced via Facebook) up to the £1000 region by local garages, so he knows the potential cost!

I'm tempted to say ill do it for £50 but want the cash this weekend, I could do with the money til payday and a bird in hand is worth two in the bush n' all that, but ill hold out for a few hours before I make my offer to him, see if he changes his mind in the meantime 

[Dan282]

If he can't raise £70 he can't afford to fill it up with petrol either, so he can wait until he does.

It really depends on your friendship with him, which only you can answer, but you've given him a very reasonable offer to fix it for £70, IMHO. I think he's taking a bit of a liberty to ask for it done for that little. Let him get a few quotes from garages and see if he mysteriously finds the cash.

I'll 2nd that Kevin. £70 is more than reasonable. Maybe he will just have to wait.

[maracus]

It's all good now, I got to the bottom of it,

He has £70 but will have to pay for the head skim out of that, think he meant he'd owe me the money til he has it. But I told him I won't touch it til I've seen a Haynes manual for it, which he hasn't yet got hold of so that's brought him some time to get more cash. He's happy to pay £70 so all is good he gets a job done, I add another "experience qudos" to my handiness; it'll be the first time I've touched a BMW, and a chain drive head so I'm all up for the experience!

[chrisgixer]

Er, am I the only one that has NOT seen symptoms of a failed hg yet?

If the cap is removed while the engine is hot, it WILL spew a load of coolant out. That's normal. As the cap keeps it from boiling, no?

[symes]

Er, am I the only one that has NOT seen symptoms of a failed hg yet?

If the cap is removed while the engine is hot, it WILL spew a load of coolant out. That's normal. As the cap keeps it from boiling, no?

+1 stat yes-h/g no

[maracus]

The cap was already off while the engine warmed up, I didn't try and open it hot  I haven't had a case before when switching the engine off hot when the cap is off would make it spontaneously boil and overflow like it did, could I still rule out head gasket?

The oil doesn't smell of fuel, but has mayo present, although no worse than an omega v6 used for short journeys does. The coolant didn't smell of fumes either, until this sudden splurge on switch off. I got a whiff of exhaust gas as it was spewing out, and tbh I wasn't convinced the head gasket was shot until he turned it off. I can't compression test it as my compression tester is so old and frail its actually broken! Maybe I've just jumped to a conclusion here.

The owner also reports his temperature gauge reads in the red after a bit of a drive, and his water light comes on so he stops for it to cool down. But the whole time from once it warmed up, for the whole of about ten minutes, his gauge didn't budge from the half way point. Symptom of stuck thermostat?
He also reports sluggish performance, but again you could explain that with it getting so hot.

If I'm honest I'm not convinced the head gasket is gone, I didn't think it was until this while thing of when he switched it off, and it runs sweet as a nut on idle, and there was no bubbles appearing in the header. Especially now, as I've just spoken to him and he said the heater didnt work and now it does; I gave the pipes a squeeze last night as the coolant level randomly started to rise and overflow, dispite not being that warm. So I'm thinking now that maybe its a case of his thermostats seized, and its overheated and spewed its coolant out, and he's failed to bleed it properly when he topped it back up???

Only worry is, has that took the gasket out with it!??

[Rods2]

Try pressure testing the cooling system. All it will cost him is a header cap and a valve.

Check the colour of the spark plugs.

Finally, before embarking on the work you really need to do a compression check. You won't win any favours if the gasket is perfect on stripping down.

[flyer 0712]

Just suppose.....that it didnt go well and the outcome was something else.....mate or no mate you are the first in the firing line to be shot at,after all is it realy worth it for £30...i think not........if  you were doing it for half the price of the garage repair he is still saving money...and you could cock a deaf ear and at  worse  loose an aquaintance......if he was a friend he would not expect you to do it for peanuts....me thinks the micheal is being taken..

[chrisgixer]

Try pressure testing the cooling system. All it will cost him is a header cap and a valve.

Check the colour of the spark plugs.

Finally, before embarking on the work you really need to do a compression check. You won't win any favours if the gasket is perfect on stripping down.

Quite so.

[maracus]

Very true.. My thoughts at the mo are to swap out the thermostat, bleed the coolant up and then test the car, and see if that cures it. Ill have a look at the plugs while I'm there, then if it still isn't right, will get myself a new compression tester. I need another one, but haven't had the reason to get one yet, although I'd rather not get one until I actually need one, ill see how it goes after sorting the coolant side of things out, then i shall know a bit better where I stand that might just sort it...