[Laney760]

I think my head gasket has been suspect for some years. Although there is no oil and water mixing, every winter I can often see clouds of white smoke/steam? from the exhaust even when the engine is hot, not just when warming up, although not all the time, it is intermittent and every Sunday I have to top up both oil and water ready for the week's commute ahead, it's been like this for years. I've read of the different ways the head gasket can fail. Also she has clearly lost a lot of horses in the 9 years I've owned her. Its stayed stable for years though.

Recently I think the issue has worsened. There is a leakage of water where the block and the head join and although it looks very minor I imagine that when driving and under pressure a lot of coolant is being lost and for the last few Sundays, after a week's driving of between 150 - 250 miles per week I will have to fill up the entire header tank. I assume this must be head gasket? I've been very gentle with her on the motorways the last few weeks, no high speeds and keeping an eye on the coolant all the time.

My garage labour rate is very fair and they do a great job. How many hours work is head gasket replacement on average I am wondering?