Cylinder Head gasket

My 13 yr old Defender 90 300 TDI, has an increasing oil leak which appears to be from the top of the engine block, possibly the cylinder head gasket? It is booked into a 4x4 garage on Monday (not a speciality dealer), and wondered if anybody could give me an idea of how much they may have paid for gasket replacements, and even re-skimmong the cylinder head? Cheers

Are you certain it's not the rocker cover leaking?

dont you fink it would make more sence finding the cause before assumming the head gasket is gone !!!!!

Is the heater working?? is there mayonaise or contamination in the oil? might be wise to slow down and take your time with looking at the signs and symptoms before rushing right in.

check rocker cover gasket first if no other symptoms ,gasket £10 remove refit head £120,easy job ,shouldnt need skimming and if done vavle depth from head surface needs to be redone if head bent allways replace with new about £260 including vat

its a common place for them to go.. at the back of the head so oil/exhaust gets blown out onto the bulkhead.. you wont see any oil water mix.. while the heads off get it skimmed.. bout 500 quid all in all bt the time you've got gaskets/oil/skimming/antifreeze etc

Tdis use a composite gasket, make sure you replace it with the same type (3 hole)

you dont need to skim the head unless it needs it
(if the engine has been boiled and the head warped or its been blowing badly and caused damage)

otherwise wet sand the block and plonk it staight back on

it would cost around 2-350 at a specialist, its an easy job

Its my impression that all this wouldnt happen fi you pay attention to the maintenance schedule and your daily or weekly checks... takes all of 5 mins to have a good look under the bonnet, and if you have not picked it up on a second hand vehicle, then you have my sympathy.

Especially td5's...

got to add though,:focus:
lets not get away from the fact that this post is all about a 300tdi's head gasket failure.