AAZ Blown Head Gasket Replacement

[sandyman]

Sadly my T25 overheated after one of the hoses split underneath and because my temp gauge wasn't working it was too late! Definitely have exhaust gases bubbling through the coolant and out the reservoir...so head gasket blown
My mechanic has given me a quote of £600 which includes all parts as well as skimming and pressure testing. Can someone tell me if this is a reasonable price to pay for the job? Is there a risk that the head might be too warped and I need to source a new one? Any pointers in case of that scenario? Is it worth going for a recon engine instead since it will last longer? Thanks!!

[Oldiebut goodie]

Worth repeating again - VW state that the diesel heads are not to be skimmed.

[sandyman]

Can I ask why?

[ajsimmo]

They don't say. It's just writ large in all manuals. "CYLINDER HEAD MUST NOT BE RESURFACED" or similar wording.
It's very common for mechanics (who know better than VW) to say "I've done loads and it's fine as long as you don't take too much off", "just stick a 3 notch gasket on, it'll be fine". But chances are it won't. I've removed several heads to find big splash craters in the top of pistons caused by them hitting valves. Also seen prechambers brutally peened in with a centre punch, suggesting they fell out after skimming.

New heads are available, at reasonable money from BW. https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/cylinder-h ... alves.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Or recon engine from AWEngineering. Or GTi

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[ajsimmo]

Also, £600 seems cheap to me. Does that include new cambelt kit, coolant, oil, filter, rocker cover gasket, new head bolts, replace hose that caused it, fix temperature gauge etc etc?

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[sandyman]

Hi thanks for the reply. I wanted to get an idea of prices from members on the forum who have had this work done. Out of interest, how much labour is involved in getting the head off and on again, because as far as I can tell, the machining seems quite chaeap, relatively...something like £100...would that be right?
Yes the work does include all that (the hose has already been done), but not getting the tempo gauge to work again- that might be another job for another day!
If I need a new head am I sure that it'll be only one of two as on the Brickwerks site and it's just the length of the stems? Obviously the Golf the engine came out of has been scrapped- wondered if I could get hold of chassis number I would know exactly which replacement head to buy in case I needed it?

[sandyman]

Any ideas anyone?