har-vey

That's what i thought. There hydraulically tension'd and externally mounted so i don't see any reason to replace now.

Nottm_S2

WIth ally heads i thought you always had to check the state of it but you'll probably get away with it, i guess they know their onions (tdi)

some people also say swap the studs but again...

a day is reasonable in my opinion, i've done this on a couple of cars but not an S2 (none of them had an SC bolted on either ). That charge for a day is... not cheap though...

chrispayze

£60/hr (assuming 8hrs) seems a reasonable price for a good garage in my opinion. Won't get much cheaper.

har-vey

The day rate i'm not bothered about. I think £60 an hour is reasonable considering their Honda Knowledge. When you say you need to check the state of the head Jason, are you talking about if it has warped? It's standard practice to skim the head when doing the head gasket but i am really hoping the head hasn't warped! Any idea what used heads go for?

MB

I wouldn't worry too much about the head, normally it's fine or a tiny skim needed but there's a bit of meat to play with in the oem tolerances.

TDI are good. Say hello to Neil / Ben if you see them.

Nottm_S2

Yeah check for warp and cracks. A skim will give you a better job, otherwise it's cleaning old gasket off by hand.

I'd go with their advice but a skim isnt silly expensive.

I've done a few without, one on a 20XE but nothing as exotic as an S. they were all fine.

har-vey

Thanks MB, I'm leaving it in their hand as to what needs doing. They did say if the head is in good condition then a skim may not be needed. I've always had the head skimmed in the past but i'll leaving it down to their judgement on what needs doing.