head gasket/mot

hi all,i called my local 4x4 specialist out to have a look at the immoberliser which was playing up on my 93' 200tdi,as allways quick look under the bonnet and he had her started,he then told me that my head gasket was blowing you could here a constent hiss in time with the engine,he has told me it will be £670 to be fixed,does anybody know if it will pass the mot with this problem if not its a trip to the scrappie for the old girl

As long as the engine runs for the MOT thats all they want providing the emissions are ok.

If you can hear the hissing then it is not going to be long before it gives up alltogether, you are best off getting it fixed now, it is a job that you could do with a little time and effort, you may ned to get the head skimmed if it has warped, would cost you maybe £150 in parts and you will know the job has been done well.

Surely you can't diagnose head gasket failure just from a hissing noise. It could be anything. Are there any other symptoms that point to head gasket failure?

hughesy said:

Surely you can't diagnose head gasket failure just from a hissing noise. It could be anything.

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That's what I was thinking, it could be the exhaust manifold gasket

If it is making that much noise, turn it on and feel with your hand, its going to be air leeking from somewhere.

This is what mine sounded like as it was on the way out.

When the headgasket went on my 200 it sounded like the exhaust manifold blowing, it got worse and you could feel it at the back by the bulkhead, if you leave it too long it could damage the head.

On my 300 Tdi a similar hiss turned out to be an exhaust manifold stud missing .. easy fix, but a bit nerve-wracking tracing it!!