HELP In need of knowledgeable Citroen Indy near Stowmarket?

[bk.bas99]

Any local expertise near Stowmarket, 2007 Berlingo M59  1.6HDI with coolant leak (see other post)
Following on from earlier post about coolant leak under pressure, my friend took the Belingo to a local garage where she is staying and they did a gas anaysis and said that there is gas in the coolant, so it's not worth changing the thermo gasket as the engine is probably knackered. They have recommended getting a recon engine !!!  Sound bunkum to me, as there will be air and all sorts of other crap in the cooling system as it lost the bottom hose and dumped all the coolant.  Car was stopped immediately the STOP light came on and a friendly forecourt reattached the hose and topped up the system with water, but it has then driven for another 1/2 hour to get to destination and the leak from under the thermo was then spotted.  

ANY HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED as I'm 200 miles away from there 

[Sol]

It's possible the head gasket has gone, hence the gas detection in the coolant. Doesn't mean the engine is scrap of course. Was it driving normally with good temps under 90 before the hose gave out?

[bk.bas99]

It's possible the head gasket has gone, hence the gas detection in the coolant. Doesn't mean the engine is scrap of course. Was it driving normally with good temps under 90 before the hose gave out?

That's what the garage said. Head gasket might be gone but can't g'tee that replacing it would fix if other damage to engine, but it was running fine until coolant dumped. Recently had head overhaul as glue plugs siezrd in. We think the garage didn't tighten up the bottom hose but it's 3 weeks since so difficult to prove. It was running fine after hose reattached and topped up with water and was driven for about 1/2 hr to destination. It was only when the coolant was topped up that the leak started, which is what makes me think the system was over pressured blowing the thermo gasket. But I'm no where near the car so she's having to rely on the garage where she is

[Sol]

Yeah I'd get a reliable garage to do the head gasket, checking the head and block mating surfaces are square / true. You're into a timing belt too, all over again but not so hard if the head needs to come off anyway. Would be handy to get a cranking cylinder pressure test first. Some garages also have a kit you can put on the rad cap, crank the engine and read pressure, if it shoots up straight away, again the gasket is likely gone. 

Doesn't sound like it has sustained any long term damage though, only continued overheating causes that if not stopped in time.

If the gasket wasn't done properly the first time, it could have let go and blown the hose off with the cylinder pressure getting into the water system.

When they removed the head to get the broken glow plugs out, did they actually change the gasket and torque the head down properly...also it should be removed in the correct order of the head bolts in the first place to prevent warping.

[bk.bas99]

Yeah I'd get a reliable garage to do the head gasket, checking the head and block mating surfaces are square / true. You're into a timing belt too, all over again but not so hard if the head needs to come off anyway. Would be handy to get a cranking cylinder pressure test first. Some garages also have a kit you can put on the rad cap, crank the engine and read pressure, if it shoots up straight away, again the gasket is likely gone. 

Doesn't sound like it has sustained any long term damage though, only continued overheating causes that if not stopped in time.

If the gasket wasn't done properly the first time, it could have let go and blown the hose off with the cylinder pressure getting into the water system.

When they removed the head to get the broken glow plugs out, did they actually change the gasket and torque the head down properly...also it should be removed in the correct order of the head bolts in the first place to prevent warping.

They have decided to get it recovered to the garage  that did the work in the first place. No idea if they did it properly but she stands a better chance of getting them to sort it than paying another garage to start over

[bk.bas99]

Final update on this. Carcass back to France (they have much better insurance than e do clearly) to the garage that did the original headxwork. They replaced the thermostat gasket but there was still slight issues so they just replaced the head gasket again. All done under wsrranty so I'm the end my friend had a pretty minch free holiday in the UK as the insurance causing paid for a good car fur the remaining holiday period

[geoff]

All's well that ends well ....................