How much for headgasket

[PeterG]

Can anyone give me an approximate cost to replace a head gasket to include skimming the head on a 6cylinder 24v 3L SL with a cam chain.
A rough guestimate would suffice.
The cost of the gasket set is £50 a fraction of the labour bill I am expecting.
Thanks
Pete

 

[Will]

Depends on where you go I suppose.

Obviously MB will charge you ~ £100/hr for the privilage (don't expect any change from a grand or so!)

An independant MB garage will probably be around half of this - £50-60/hr. Maybe this will cost, say £600-800ish (including getting the head skimmed/faced if required).

Not sure if I would trust this kind of job to an unknown back-street garage, best to stick with an MB specialist!

Obviously, the best way to be sure would be to phone around. I know a couple of members here have had similar work performed before - perhaps try a forum search?

Good Luck,

Will

 

[Sp!ke]

My 4 cylinder head gasket replacement was just short of a grand at an independent specialist but that included getting the head skimmed and reconditioned.

 

[C240Sport97]

I would use Steve -- the forum's MB mechanic -- and a mate of R2D2 and who Tan, R2D2 and I, among others have used

 

[Will]

My 4 cylinder head gasket replacement was just short of a grand at an independent specialist but that included getting the head skimmed and reconditioned.

How Much!

What did they recondition on your head for that much!

How much of the cost was this extra work? The reason I ask is that Andy Gayle charge around a third of this for a head gasket replacement:

Link

Same price for four and six cylinder W124/W201, and W202/W210 fours.

Obviously this might not include 'extra' work such as skimming the head, but I wouldn't have thought that would cost fortunes more.

Unless Peter needs a totally re-conditioned head, I would have thought that replacing the head gasket (and possibly facing/skimming the head) would suffice!

Not sure how much more difficult/expensive the 300-24 is to do, hence my cautious guess on the cost!?!

As before, a telephone call will probably be the best bet for a proper quote!

Cheers,

Will

 

[PeterG]

Thanks guys
I had a figure up to a grand in mind. Where is Andy based as I am in SE London.
Pete

 

[Sp!ke]

Actually, I rang Andy Gayle and he didnt quote much less.... £800 was his starting price and that didnt include the head work.

The head? I had the head skimmed, valves and seats refaced and lapped and new valve guides and seals fitted.

 

[Will]

Actually, I rang Andy Gayle and he didnt quote much less.... £800 was his starting price and that didnt include the head work.

The head? I had the head skimmed, valves and seats refaced and lapped and new valve guides and seals fitted.

If that is correct then his site is in serious need of an update!

He quotes £275.00 plus VAT for the job (although it does say that prices are subject to change! )

Anyway, all I was trying to point out is that to change a head gasket only on a (relatively simple) 2.3 8v mercedes engine shouldn't cost a grand at an independant garage. From what I gather, a large part of your bill would have been for all the extra work that you had done.

Why would/does Andy Gayle quote two or three times as much to do a particular job than is stated on his web site?

Can't make very good customer relations, surely?

Does anybody here make contact with Andy, perhaps his price list needs updating?

Cheers,

Will

 

[Chris C36]

Just recently done mine on a c36 and I think you are correct at around the £800-£1,000. As you mentioned the gasket set for these engines is about £50 plus the VAT, the job is quoted at 11 hours if the car is an auto and has cruise control (makes half an hour difference according to merc). I had the head skimmed, decoked and new valve stems seals fitted for £305. As always it is probably a good idea to get new head bolts as well so in theory the total job should cost no more than £1,000 at an independant.

Hope this is of help.

 

[Mark300SL]

Peter

Do you feel brave enough to tackle it yourself ?

I find the hardest part with larger straight 6 engines is actually physically lifting the head off.
I have a local engineering firm near here that can do the head - skim would be about £35-40, lap the valves yourself, seals will come in the gasket set -

Most people have a few days off over Xmas, personally I would suggest you look at the manual and see if you can do it !

I'm only just over the river if you want any advice/ moral support

I've NEVER done a 300 24v - but I would certainly do it myself if I thought £800 was at stake!

Mark

 

[Ian B Walker]

I have done this and yes taking the head off the block is the hardest part. I did mine in the drive in a weekend. It is defo doo able. Just make sure you have someone there to help you. Oh and by the way Haynes book of lies tells you to leave the inlet manifold on the head. Dont, there is enough room to slide it off the head making the job a little easier

 

[PeterG]

Hi Mark
Havent heard from u around for a while. Do you have a manual for the sl didnt think they make one. I may take your offer up on getting the head skimmed at your loacal engineering firm. I am hoping my neighbour can give me a hand as he is quite a good mechanic.
I am off to Dublin for 3 weeks on sat so will sort it out once im back in the new year.
thanks
Pete

 

[Robby]

If you do it yourself, a few tips.

Don't rush anything. If its confusing you, go away, come back later after a think and cup of tea.

Get all the tools to do the job first.

Be very careful scraping off the old gasket - the head is quite soft, the old bits of gasket are quite hard. Letting the whole thing soak overnight in a parts washer would no doubt help a lot.

Tighten it down with a really good torque wrench. Too tight and you break things, too loose and the gasket blows.

Be careful with the timing chain tensioner and tightening it up.

I tried to do mine on a 190E 2.6, cocked it up. Twice. Then trying to sell it as was with a blown gasket, the timing chain broke after it had been running for a couple of minutes.

In future I'll leave jobs like this to experts, still happy to rebuild bike engines though.