What Damaged Can I Cause

[jac114]

O.k some of you may know it looks like my head gasket has gone.. (around the 4th april) i have been doing short trips to a from work (about 4 miles a day) and one round trip of about 20 miles ... the car is booked to go in to the dealer thursday to have an inspection they will then quote me for having it done..(another 20 mile round trip) two days to get parts for it.. but this weekend comming i have got a wedding that i should be at and its around about 50 miles round trip .. what sort of damage could i be doing to the engine???

at the moment i have bubbles comming up into the rad expansion tank that smell of exhaust/petrol fumes and that happens even on very short trips..

craig

[Steve]

hmmm do you have £1200 + to spare then?

[norkep]

Craig,

You use to be able to tell if the Head Gasket was gone/going was by the oil cap, if the residue on the cap is oily and dark, you're OK but if it's like looking at mustard, then the Gasket is leaking water into the oil.

Never heard of the Rad Expanstion tank smeling of Fume's etc...., does the rad water look like it's containing oil ??

Paul

[ColinBarber]

You use to be able to tell if the Head Gasket was gone/going was by the oil cap, if the residue on the cap is oily and dark, you're OK but if it's like looking at mustard, then the Gasket is leaking water into the oil.

Cannot always tell. If you are doing short journeys then moisture will form on the inside of the filler cap and will mix with the oil to form a nice light brown cream.

If you have gas escaping from the cylinders into the cooland then the coolant will get very hot. Keep an eye on the temp gauge, you could do big damage to the engine if it overheats.

[Scorpion]

Simple really......dont use it until its been repaired,short journeys can do far more damage than longer ones.

[Steve]

craig.. my windom had the same symptoms

head gasket went and Toyota charged £1200 to fit a new gasket

I hope everything is ok mate

[LennyLexus]

craig.. my windom had the same symptoms

head gasket went and Toyota charged £1200 to fit a new gasket

I hope everything is ok mate

I dont think craig wanted to hear that steve

[Steve]

better he hears it sitting down rather than fainting at his dealers desk.

[Steve]

also dont forget the dealer will charge you £70+ an hour and will keep the car for a few hours.

seen it all before... myself i would get it diagnosed elswhere!

[Scorpion]

Craig get a quote then come and see me i can put you in touch with a mechanic mate.

[jac114]

cheers pete.. i will see what they say tommorow and go from there.. the problem i have is the other half does not drive and its getting the car there and getting back home or to work..

craig

[jac114]

well i got the news today.. when the guy started talking figures i thought he was giving me a telephone number to call gave me three options..

1. get lucky and only need to replace head gasket.. £750-900

2. not so lucky and head needs replacing as well £2000

3 **** out of luck (which is me most of the time) the block is warped brand new engine..£10'000

of course 3. is out of the question coz i would have to find a scrapped one instead...

and they will not know until they take it all apart..sick:

so now i have not got a clue what to do:crybaby:

craig

[norkep]

I do feel for you mate, a difficult choice to make, just wish I could offer something, may be Pete will be able to pull something out of his hat with his mechanic.

May be worth looking around for a scrapy just in case, not the answer you were hoping for but ....... it's a start.

I take it that they confirmed that the head gasket was leaking

[jac114]

yes they did...

pete you have a pm mate..

craig

[Scorpion]

Well he wont have a problem in looking at it i'm sure but just like Lexus he wont know what damage has been done until he takes it apart and may still have the same outcome as Lexus(which means your paying him to tell you something you may not want to hear).

Let me know mate what you want to do.

[jac114]

will do pete.. got to make some serious choices.. including one saying f it and getting a non lexus car i am pretty depressed at the moment as its not the sort a cash i have laying around and certainly cant afford another lex.... still paying back this one..

[mudzs]

Thought about doing it yourself craig ,surely a man of your capabilities and a bit of help from this site you could manage it ,

[jac114]

yes i have thought about it..lol but not sure if i have all the tools needed and not sure i could remember what went where..lol plus know garage to work in so could be a problem..

[Steve]

you will need to send the head off to be checked for cracks and it will need to be skimmed.

[Scorpion]

And or the block ?????????

[Steve]

the head mate

not craigs head.. the head on the car! :D

[Scorpion]

Craig youv'e got his mobile,give him a ring tomorrow and have a good old chat m8

[ColinBarber]

doubt there is a problem with the block. They are very strong.

[Scorpion]

doubt there is a problem with the block. They are very strong.

That maybe so but its still being driven so dont assume nothing is wrong just becoz they're a strong block.

[james2210]

Don't know how many members there are of this club now, but how about starting something like.....

"Lexus Club Together Scheme"

.....Whereby if a member has a major problem, those other members who'd like to, or felt sorry for them, could contribute, say £2, towards getting that major problem fixed. If there were 500 members who wanted to contribute, my GCSE maths says that would be £1000 crisp ones to help get that Lex back on the road.

Then, provided you had contributed to someone else's woe, if your own Lex should knacker up, you would be eligable for receiving help from other members too.

Obviously some kind of vetting would be required incase someone decided they'd like a new set of 18" alloys and deliberately went round kerbing them and you'd have to stop people making minor claims for things like punctures or windscreen washer fluid running out, but I think that on the whole Lexus drivers are an honest lot and would not milk the system.

Good idea or have I had too much beer to drink tonight?