Thread: Td5 Head Gasket saga over - big thumbs up for Hume Off Road

A bit of background:

I have been having cooling system issues for the last two years, random temperature fluctuations that looked like a sticky thermostat to me at first. Took it to a mob here who diagnosed it as the fan, replaced that plus did a whole lot of other work that I'm not sure was really necessary and charged me a bomb. At that point I decided I would take my business elsewhere.

Problem still persisted. I changed the thermostat myself which seemed to fix the problem for a while, then new water pump and radiator service. It then started pressurising the cooling system. Although the cooling system stuff needed doing it turned out the root cause was a leaking head gasket.

Rewind to 2007 - I had a cracked head (fuel getting into the oil). This was replaced by a well regarded LR specialist in Perth. I was told at the time that the plastic dowels would be replaced by steel.

In the meantime the mob mentioned above had changed hands so I thought I would give them another go. They pulled off the head and low and behold - plastic dowels! To say I was gobsmacked is putting it mildly. That's when things got really weird. I was rung up by, lets call him The Muppet, who basically tried to hold me hostage by refusing to refit the original head, or fit a recon head supplied by me, and quoted me a very high price. This is despite there being no evidence that there was a problem with the head. I know it hadn't been overheated because I monitor the temperature very closely. There's a bit more to it as well but I won't go into it here. At this point I paid (again an extortionate amount) for the work they had done and had it trucked to Hume Off Road.

Richie, at Hume Off Road, is a legend. He agreed to take on the job and have it ready for my upcoming trip a week later, despite already being very busy. He worked nights, even sleeping in the workshop, and kept his word by having it ready on time.

This was despite the other mob having basically chucked all the bits in a box in the back of the vehicle. At the 11th hour he discovered that a small but vital part was missing (along with other missing bits that are no doubt rolling around the floor of the other mob's workshop), managed to find someone who had a spare an hour's drive away, and went to get it at 10pm.

I cannot speak highly enough of this man. The other mob could learn a thing or two about customer service from him.

And the result? Head gasket replaced, original head replaced with no work other than being cleaned up. 4500km of country driving and off-road slogging later she is running like a dream.

Re the plastic dowels, I rang the Perth fella and he swore blind they wouldn't have used them, but there they were. I have one in my pocket as a reminder. The only thing I can think of is that a lazy apprentice didn't replace them. If they had none of this drama would have happened.

I don't even live in WA

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