Head gasket, does it have a service interval

ramkris · 15th October 2009, 07:53

I gave my car to service at suraksha in Electronic city yesterday and when I went to get the car back, there was some observation mentioning head gasket needs replacement.

Infact, my car had overheating issues and headgasket was replaced along with the radiator which was damaged as well, less than 10k kms back.

When queried, the reason service advisor mentioned, was surprising to me.

MPFI cars need head gasket replacement every 50K kms.

Am I being ignorant on this? or should I better go to a better service center with well trained technicians, next time around?

passion4cars · 15th October 2009, 08:37

Hi ,

Strange - I dont know about your experience with SURAKSHA , mine was pathetic .

I only went once to them & that was the 1st & last time I ever went.

BaCkSeAtDrIVeR · 15th October 2009, 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by passion4cars

I only went once to them & that was the 1st & last time I ever went.

+1 to that. You may be better off replacing the service centre.

Head gasket are a bit like "washers" in a nut & bolt set. It is there to "pack" the gap between the engine block and the "head". The gasket is typically made from paper, cork (deprecated) and shellac is applied to both sides at time of packing. Some gaskets are laminated. (That is old school gaskets on commercial vehicles - new gaskets may use rubber or something else rather than cork).

Open the head and you need to replace the gasket. That is all. THis does not require periodic replacement.

silver_shadow · 15th October 2009, 17:04

it will last as long as your engine block assuming no overheating issues blow it before that. mind you a well maintained engine block in most modern cars should last over 200000 kms if not nearer 300000 so the guy is full of ****.

ask him how he came to this conclusion. he needs to have done at least a compression test to figure out anything of the sort. ask him to do one in your presence and prove it. if he refuses you know what to tell him.

passion4cars · 16th October 2009, 16:04

My Esteem has done over 130xxx , & till date no change / service of head gaskets.

I gave my car for service to them ( Suraksha Guys ) , The feel & ride was similar like before , no change what-so-ever ( i thought they have returned the car after just washing it with soap & water ( YES SERIOUSLY )

ramkris · 20th October 2009, 12:50

thanks guys, i too was of the opinion the same opinion and your thoughts confirmed the same.

I have been having a generally good experience with the service suraksha provides, but I thought, what the service engineer told didnt make sense during my last service, hence asked.

V-16 · 20th October 2009, 15:36

I have not heard of a more cock and bull filled story than this. Buddy there is NO service period for a head gasket. If due to anything the head has to be worked upon, a new gasket has to be replaced. It is nothing but a type of seal. When a car gets old, this gasket may get worn out due to various reasons and overheating might creep in. At that time, maybe the gasket should be looked into. I have known cars to run 100000 kms plus without so much as any gasket change. My Santro is 76K kms old, same gasket, no issues, so are most of my Mercs.

Show some good mechanic.

sgiitk · 20th October 2009, 15:53

A new original one. Planned change of a head gasket - never.

Let us be charitable any may be they found the head gasket starting to blow? How sure beats me. Just for comfort do a compression check, and check out for white smoke when starting, and hope you are losing no fluid from the radiator. if all check out which I think they will, then the advice to replace the service centre instead of the gasket is very sound!

Shan2nu · 21st October 2009, 00:10

Nonsense, gaskets are meant to last for a long time. I've seen cars with lakhs of kilometers, still running on the same head gasket.

The only time you change the head gasket is if you ever have to open the engine head to replace wornout or damaged engine parts.

Shan2nu

dinu2506 · 21st October 2009, 08:33

One common cause of head gasket konking off is overheating. See if the coolant is boiling in the reservoir when the engine is running. Thats a sign of a blown gasket. Best is to go a compression test.

CrackedHead · 21st October 2009, 09:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramkris

I gave my car to service at suraksha in Electronic city yesterday and when I went to get the car back, there was some observation mentioning head gasket needs replacement.
...
When queried, the reason service advisor mentioned, was surprising to me.
MPFI cars need head gasket replacement every 50K kms.

Am I being ignorant on this? or should I better go to a better service center with well trained technicians, next time around?

I've had MASS (RNS hosur road) tell me the same thing. But the service manual says nothing about a periodical head gasket change so I laughed it off.

IMO, we shouldn't worry about the head gasket unless the car is starting to show overheating or other symptoms.

passion4cars · 21st October 2009, 09:16

A best & easy solution - would be to go to other service center & express your problem without telling them that you have been to a service center & what they told you :-)

should work out :-)

sgiitk · 21st October 2009, 09:38

Sound advice. If it was my car I would laugh in his face and advise him (and his boss) to see a shrink!

Ashok Naik · 28th February 2015, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by V-16

I have not heard of a more cock and bull filled story than this. Buddy there is NO service period for a head gasket. If due to anything the head has to be worked upon, a new gasket has to be replaced. It is nothing but a type of seal. When a car gets old, this gasket may get worn out due to various reasons and overheating might creep in. At that time, maybe the gasket should be looked into. I have known cars to run 100000 kms plus without so much as any gasket change. My Santro is 76K kms old, same gasket, no issues, so are most of my Mercs.

Show some good mechanic.

Hi,
Can we use the bubbles test with the radiator cap open to determine a blown head gasket? Today I tried out the test on an MPFI 800 AC car. The bubbles disappeared after 3-4 seconds.
Also can we use the blotting paper test to find out if the head gasket is gone?

Thanks in advance,
Ashok.

15th October 2009, 07:53	#1
ramkris BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 122 Thanked: 20 Times	Head gasket, does it have a service interval I gave my car to service at suraksha in Electronic city yesterday and when I went to get the car back, there was some observation mentioning head gasket needs replacement. Infact, my car had overheating issues and headgasket was replaced along with the radiator which was damaged as well, less than 10k kms back. When queried, the reason service advisor mentioned, was surprising to me. MPFI cars need head gasket replacement every 50K kms. Am I being ignorant on this? or should I better go to a better service center with well trained technicians, next time around?
	() Thanks

15th October 2009, 08:37	#2
passion4cars BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 156 Thanked: 6 Times	Hi , Strange - I dont know about your experience with SURAKSHA , mine was pathetic . I only went once to them & that was the 1st & last time I ever went.
	() Thanks

15th October 2009, 17:04	#4
silver_shadow BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 366 Thanked: 3 Times	it will last as long as your engine block assuming no overheating issues blow it before that. mind you a well maintained engine block in most modern cars should last over 200000 kms if not nearer 300000 so the guy is full of ***. ask him how he came to this conclusion. he needs to have done at least a compression test to figure out anything of the sort. ask him to do one in your presence and prove it. if he refuses you know what to tell him. Last edited by silver_shadow : 15th October 2009 at 17:05.*
	() Thanks

16th October 2009, 16:04	#5
passion4cars BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 156 Thanked: 6 Times	My Esteem has done over 130xxx , & till date no change / service of head gaskets. I gave my car for service to them ( Suraksha Guys ) , The feel & ride was similar like before , no change what-so-ever ( i thought they have returned the car after just washing it with soap & water ( YES SERIOUSLY )
	() Thanks

20th October 2009, 12:50	#6
ramkris BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 122 Thanked: 20 Times	thanks guys, i too was of the opinion the same opinion and your thoughts confirmed the same. I have been having a generally good experience with the service suraksha provides, but I thought, what the service engineer told didnt make sense during my last service, hence asked.
	() Thanks

20th October 2009, 15:36	#7
V-16 Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: mumbai Posts: 4,594 Thanked: 960 Times View My Garage	I have not heard of a more cock and bull filled story than this. Buddy there is NO service period for a head gasket. If due to anything the head has to be worked upon, a new gasket has to be replaced. It is nothing but a type of seal. When a car gets old, this gasket may get worn out due to various reasons and overheating might creep in. At that time, maybe the gasket should be looked into. I have known cars to run 100000 kms plus without so much as any gasket change. My Santro is 76K kms old, same gasket, no issues, so are most of my Mercs. Show some good mechanic.
	() Thanks

20th October 2009, 15:53	#8
sgiitk Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Gurugram Posts: 7,971 Thanked: 4,808 Times	A new original one. Planned change of a head gasket - never. Let us be charitable any may be they found the head gasket starting to blow? How sure beats me. Just for comfort do a compression check, and check out for white smoke when starting, and hope you are losing no fluid from the radiator. if all check out which I think they will, then the advice to replace the service centre instead of the gasket is very sound!
	() Thanks

21st October 2009, 00:10	#9
Shan2nu Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Hubli - Karnata Posts: 5,533 Thanked: 127 Times View My Garage	Nonsense, gaskets are meant to last for a long time. I've seen cars with lakhs of kilometers, still running on the same head gasket. The only time you change the head gasket is if you ever have to open the engine head to replace wornout or damaged engine parts. Shan2nu
	() Thanks

21st October 2009, 08:33	#10
dinu2506 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,092 Thanked: 975 Times View My Garage	One common cause of head gasket konking off is overheating. See if the coolant is boiling in the reservoir when the engine is running. Thats a sign of a blown gasket. Best is to go a compression test.
	() Thanks

21st October 2009, 09:16	#12
passion4cars BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 156 Thanked: 6 Times	A best & easy solution - would be to go to other service center & express your problem without telling them that you have been to a service center & what they told you :-) should work out :-)
	() Thanks

21st October 2009, 09:38	#13
sgiitk Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Gurugram Posts: 7,971 Thanked: 4,808 Times	Sound advice. If it was my car I would laugh in his face and advise him (and his boss) to see a shrink!
	() Thanks