craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Hi , i bought my starlet a couple of months back as a project , in the knowledge that the headgasket was gone , i picked her up for 1500quid which i thought was really good considering she is a solid little car , had been really busy with work and stuff and a member of toyotaGTturbo was recommended to me to be the perfect man for the job , i got the car to him on a trailer that a family friend lent me , left the car with him for 2 weeks , i was quoted 250quid to do the headgasket , and that the job would be complete which i thought was a pretty good price , cut a long story short , he changed the gasket built it back together , ran it and then told me it was burning oil badly , never thought to compression check or check the valve seating etc before starting / putting it back together , he then told me he'd take additional 200quid to take the head back off and check valve seating to which i just told him nah its fine i'll come and pick her up on saturday , ended up costing me 500 instead of 250 , got 20 miles back and the waterpump feed hose blew off because clip hadn't been put on properly , this has really set me back now as Ive wasted 500 on the car that i never needed to :/ , so anyway i'm looking for advice on how to sort the oil burning issue out , will i need to source a good bottom end and just replace it , or get it rebore'd and get new pistons , is their any way of putting by block to use and resolving the problem without spending a lot of cash ? hope somebody can point me in the right direction , thanks to anybody who can help me out with this problem , Craig Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Asad Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 who was the monkey off tgtt?valve seating should have been checked by him, when the head was off... did he replace the valve stem seals? get the head skimmed?just out of curiosity where did you spend the other £250?you need to really find out to what extent he did the job and go from there... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 who was the monkey off tgtt?valve seating should have been checked by him, when the head was off... did he replace the valve stem seals? get the head skimmed?just out of curiosity where did you spend the other £250?you need to really find out to what extent he did the job and go from there...His name was Iain@CRD mate , nah mate as far as I know it was just a case of gasket on head back on , and to be honest mate i have no idea where the other 250 came from , but i had to pay or i wouldnt of got my car back , so I couldnt really argue , just learn from my mistakes , im taking the engine out at the moment shes up in axle stands in my garage and im slowly stripping her down in my spare time , as of that moment I'm afraid to let anybody else work on her through this experience Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Asad Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Thought he was one of the good guys? interesting....it should have been stripped down, skimmed...valves seated and a full head seal kit put on.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
00joeindastarb0 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Did he diagnose the headgasket being at fault before work started or was this the sellers word?Its obviously good practice to give the head a recondition while its of as its not to much of a task but did you agree for him to do this?What was the actual work you employed him to do would be the first thing to make clear.Anyway it looks as though it will be coming apart again and there no cheap way of doing it if you want the engine to remain reliable for sometime.Once the pistons are out you can assess their condition and the bores properly, you may get away with honning the bores and fitting some new rings which is possible in situe even. however knowing toyota pistons you may need to replace one or two. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Did he diagnose the headgasket being at fault before work started or was this the sellers word?Its obviously good practice to give the head a recondition while its of as its not to much of a task but did you agree for him to do this?What was the actual work you employed him to do would be the first thing to make clear.Anyway it looks as though it will be coming apart again and there no cheap way of doing it if you want the engine to remain reliable for sometime.Once the pistons are out you can assess their condition and the bores properly, you may get away with honning the bores and fitting some new rings which is possible in situe even. however knowing toyota pistons you may need to replace one or two.sellers words mate , my uncle is a mechanic to trade and really does know his stuff the gasket was away , engine was just ticking over and no more , plus i''ve got the old gasket here and theres nothing between cyl 2/3 , i found the guy through toyotagtturbo he said he checked the head and that there was no need for it to be skimmed , i wanted the headgasket done and thats what I asked for mate , but through my own personal experience at my workplace we identify all potential faults through compression tests etc and that is all included in the pricing of the job , we also replace waterpump , timing belt / alternator belt and all gaskets as part of doing the job correctly , he gave me a price and then just added and added onto it and as I said i couldnt argue as how would have I got the car back without paying the price , i've just learned to not let anyone else work on your car and yes i'm not arguing that its maybe just me thats had a bad experience dealing with this member but I just felt like i've been kinda robbed now that im going to need to re-do everything i paid him for anyways , ahh well all i can do is learn from my mistakes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Thought he was one of the good guys? interesting....it should have been stripped down, skimmed...valves seated and a full head seal kit put on..so did I mate as i say he came recommended and to be honest seems a really nice guy , nah mate only the head gasket in my knowledge , the head also hadnt been cleaned , he had'nt removed the inlet or the exhaust manifold from the head either , fitted my jperformance manifold and the gaskets i was supplied with and the ports clearly havent been touched, one of my intercooler hoseclips was also loose and the pipe had started to make its way off and as i say , almost cooked the engine again due to a clumsy job of putting the waterpump feed hose back on , blew off and lost all cooland , when i told him it broke down i never recieved any sort of apology or explanation either , maybe i'm the only one who's had a bad experience dealing with him but ahh well must just be unlucky i guess :/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
_shaun_ Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 i must say ive had deals with ian a few times and never had any issues been realy helpful to me and paid the prices quoted at the start. but to be honest if a head gasket is gone it baffles me as to why u wouldnt get it skimed as a precaution. id probaly strip the engine myself and inspect it myself to see if u can see any issues with it if u can id certialy try do as much as u can urself it will save u fair bit in the long run Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 i must say ive had deals with ian a few times and never had any issues been realy helpful to me and paid the prices quoted at the start. but to be honest if a head gasket is gone it baffles me as to why u wouldnt get it skimed as a precaution.id probaly strip the engine myself and inspect it myself to see if u can see any issues with it if u can id certialy try do as much as u can urself it will save u fair bit in the long run he seemed really helpful to me too mate but as i say maybe i'm the unlucky one who ends up with the issues , i'll get it skimmed as I would have done , i'll most likely re-seat the valves and make sure there are no seating issues then work from there ! just out of curiosity mate would you happen to have any spare parts for sale ? cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 £250? Did that include all parts? And were they genuine parts for that price? yes mate it was the pricing for the parts and labour of a headgasket job , and according to him they were genuine toyota parts , i never seen any of the parts he bought so i can only take his word for it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
_shaun_ Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 got loads of spares but most are stock parts ive removed to upgrade anything u looking? i have a stock head gasket and pile of seals like valve stems and what not if u will need them Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 got loads of spares but most are stock parts ive removed to upgrade anything u looking? i have a stock head gasket and pile of seals like valve stems and what not if u will need themI'll be okay for that buddy as i'll get them through toyota trade :)thanks alot anyway , im actually looking for a reverse bonnet scoop and a set of 98 spec rear lenses if you know of any for sale Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Taggy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I am always bemused why people go to the trouble of taking the head off with a head gasket failure and then dont bother to get it skimmed, its like £30-£40 and you can sleep knowing its gonna be ok then when you put it back on.£500 for a HG repair, i would be on that bloody phone right now!! ring him and ask for a break down on the work. £250 from a mechanic is about the going rate for a HG repair, be interested to see why he charged double!!Does my head in when i keep seeing members getting tucked up!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
daniel_g Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 If you know your way about motors you should try and do some of it yourself, its always the most cost effective way and you know exactly whats been done. Also mate sounds like he pulled your pants down with the cost. You should grab a few of your buddies and a few golf clubs then go sort him out! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Taggy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I would start by T'ing off in front of his house with a nice wood! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
daniel_g Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I was thinking just go straight for his jaw haha Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Did Iain give any indication to oil burning? How bad is it?, not just a stupid turbo seal (easiest fix) ect. What did he recommend when giving you the car back? You could get away with just doing the rings and valve stems to cover the oil burning issue, but if you strip it that far, you may aswell do the shells and stuff aswell, would turn out a full rebuild lol. a think am goin to just fully rebuild it mate , he just said when it warms up its reaky , never mentioned checking the turbo or anything and also didnt check valve seating , I quite fancy expanding on my learning , always good to know when you can build your own you can then help others that end up in the same situation as you nah its quite bad mate it goes through quite a bit , checked the turbo and there is a bit of play in the shaft but a wouldnt say excessive , when you drop a gear it puffs out worse , it also doesn't reak till it warms up , so you reckon if i get the block checked out a may be able to get it re-honned and fit new rings if pistons are okay and the cylinders arent worn badly ? just looking for the best possible way to fix it without spending out on either oversized pistons and a rebore'd block or a new bottom end , cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Taggy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I am building an engine from scratch this week and I am going to document the full build, kinda like a engine build guide for dummies So anyone can learn how to do it,Might be of interest to you! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 I am building an engine from scratch this week and I am going to document the full build, kinda like a engine build guide for dummies So anyone can learn how to do it,Might be of interest to you! glad to know am a dummy mate ! hahahaha only jokin man , sounds great man would be ideal , as im in the mechanic trade i have access / contacts for skimming , reboring etc so would be perfect mate , thanks very much for your help ! i'd be more than happy to give it a browse when i get down to the guts of it , perfect ! thanks alot mate ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 If you know your way about motors you should try and do some of it yourself, its always the most cost effective way and you know exactly whats been done.Also mate sounds like he pulled your pants down with the cost. You should grab a few of your buddies and a few golf clubs then go sort him out! hahah mate see they decal sets in your pic , do you sell them ? because av been lookin for a good JDM decal set n canny find a good set anywhere ! would be interested in a set ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Seems like he's just wanted rid of you mate, didnt want to do anymore work on the car ect.Need to start with basics like compression check ect. what nicks the plugs in? before wading right in and stripping stuff Even if you can borrow/buy a cheap turbo to rule that out aswell? ahh he did a compression check mate , after the head was back on and the car was built back together though , not before he decided to wade right in like i would have done i dont think it was like that mate to me it felt like he wanted me to spend and spend and keep going but because i didnt want to go any further that was it , i'll check my plugs n stuff , im also waiting to hear back about a td04 turbo mate as i can pick one up pretty cheap ! also can get the downpipe and the mani for a good price also so thinkin about goin down that route , may aswell do what i can whilst im goin to the trouble of a full rebuilt - i'll let you know what ther like when i take them out , i'll do it tonight as im droppin in after work to do some bits n pieces cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
_shaun_ Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 td04 is the way forward i have a spare kicking around but id want £60 for it. with the manifolds if u hear the word toyosport dont waste your money they dont last long at all Quote Link to post Share on other sites
craig-glanzaEP91 Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 td04 is the way forward i have a spare kicking around but id want £60 for it. with the manifolds if u hear the word toyosport dont waste your money they dont last long at all i have one on the cards mate from a subaru specialist , great working condition comes as a whole unit , actuator etc for 100 , what condition is the one you have buddy and does it come with the actuator etc ? cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
starletburkie Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 why did he double charge you? all he done was the hg for 250? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LukeSR Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 why did he double charge you? all he done was the hg for 250?Read the replies, he says he doesn't know.. Seems like he seen something he didn't like and decided to just fuck the job off eh? Also you said "as I said i couldn't argue as how would have I got the car back without paying the price", you should of just gone round there with a few mates and told him, theres £250 and ill take my car with me! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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