l know it is not a 5 minute job and expect the car out of action for one day (9am to 5 pm) the mechanic (a local garage) wants the car for 3-4 days (if not a whole week!) l really cant afford to have the car out of action this long as l need it to get to work 20 miles away.How many man hours does it take (within reason and taking into account unknown factors/issues) to complete the work associated with replacing a head gasket?

l could be done in a day provided all spares are ordered and equipment made available ahead of the work starting i.e. you plan the job.!
But your dealing with a British Garage so it will take 3to 4 times longer and cost 50 - 100% more than it should do !!

Tell him to keep it forever. Those are crappy cars. Quit wasting your money. Not a collector car. Pure garbage. French cars suck.

It is to be sure he has all the things he needs, he will take it to bits the first day, so he can see if there are any little bits that need changing or ordering, the second day is the delivery and the third is the putting together, testing and cleaning etc. just check the bill to see if the actual hours look reasonable for the work.

The problem with using a local, non franchised, garage is that they need to strip the engine down to identify exactly what the problem is before they order any parts.

So, day 1, strip, examine, order parts. get expected delivery date.

day 2. Parts may arrive, or may not depending on where they r coming from.

day 3. If parts have arrived With luck complete rebuild, test

day 4. return to customer.

You can expect it to take anywhere between 6 - 8 hours to replace a head gasket, the delays comes from not having the parts to hand

Hi my son is a self taught mechanic and can change the head gasket on a ford zetec in under a day so l would say yes the time is a little over the top

Do not bother fixing it, just get rid and get a decent none French car.

What, You think he is gonna drop everything to do Your car? The best mechanics are always busy.

l understand where you are coming from, 4 days seems about right for an independant garage but taking your car out of action for 32 man/working hours is unacceptable. As stated above it takes 6-8 man hours to get the job done, Take it to a garage that has the staff and can handle the work load and get the parts quickley. try Kwickfit.

yes sounds like they are going to hit you with a hard bill. it should take 1-2 days depending on how bad it is!

3 days is reasonable, around 6 hours for labour. the main thing to take into account is that they r already working on other cars so will have to try & fit u in somewhere. u could suggest that u will bring it in on the day they will work on it - i.e. they order the part(s) before hand (may want a deposit) & book u a slot. if u r worried about costs, ask for a quote etc. they should print it out for you.

and one more thing - do not go to KwikFit! (i once had my wheels balanced by them & they did not check it correctly, l now steer well clear of 'em)

Heck, what did you expect? Every mechanic has at least twenty-five broken Peugeots littering his garage. There is only so much duct tape and wire hangars to go around.

He is being cautious, as he wo not know until he is got it stripped down exactly what needs doing & what parts r needed (quite possible it will need things other than just a new gasket).
For example, it may well be that the head needs skimming & he will have to send it out to an engineer for this, or a good mechanic will look for the cause of the gasket failure in the first place.
He is not talking about working on ur car for 3 - 4 days solid, he is including waiting for parts etc.

It is quite easy to whip the head off, slap a new gasket on & rebolt it in a few hours, but it ai not going to last long!

DAY ONE: ur mechanic will remove about 10 things on the car & set them neatly aside. He will be able to remove the head in about 2 hours of work. Then he will clean the surface or the block of all old pieces of gasket material.
He will give the head to someone else who will schedule it to be planed (a fraction of an inch of aluminum is removed to make it completely flat again.. just in case it warped a fraction of an inch. This can only be done ONCE with certainty in the life of a car. Twice if u r really lucky.
The guy who planes ur head will do it according to his scedule too. He may also decide ur valves need work too??? Extra time, OH NO.
The mechanic will work on other cars to fill up day one.

DAY TWO: Sorry, the head has not been planed yet. There is always a delay depending on the business of everybody.

DAY THREE: The head is ready!! Hopefully ur mechanic has already received the new gasket, & all other little gaskets for i.e. valve cover. IF IF IF there is nothing else pressing his schedule (everybody wants their car yesterday) he can reassemble everything in two/three hours again. Torque the bolts, adjust the overhead valves again.
Run ur car for 20 minutes & check for oil & water leaks. Do a compression test (if u r lucky).

THREE DAYS is reasonable. l have done this job 6 times in life on BIG Fords & little PEUGEOTS. And it takes two afternoons in my driveway. l only have the head planed IF there was a big loss of power & white smoke & loss of water before the job. Usually my Peugeot Head Gasket replacement is needed because oil is leaking OUT of the engine & NOT INTERNALLY. Whew! I've been lucky 3 times in 16 years. A

you car would not have a full day booked to itself, chances are it will be stripped when the routine work has been done.
the head will then be sent for skimming and pressure test if needed then the car rebuilt and roadtested.
so 4 days seems a reasonable call, take it too a main dealer they may turn it around slightly quicker but you will pay lots!