Urgent help needed - Mobile mechanic/cheap tow van

[toffeeboy]

Hello, I moved to Cordoba province, rural andalucia in mid January, and bought a 2nd hand Mitsubishi Shogun, 3 weeks in, which promptly broke down a week later, on the 13th Feb. We have not had it back since and it has not yet had any work started on it. Since then I have been hiring cars by the week but that is now getting expensive, I have been told that it needs two new gaskets, but Im no expert. I was wondering if there was anyone who either might be a mobile mechanic, or even have a tow truck at a reasonable rate to get it back from Cordoba to AEG. The car is an English (Spanish plated) Shogun, 3 litre, 95 ish model.
Any help/ideas much appreciated

[spanish_lad]

from cordoba to aeg? christ.. its like a ton from aeg to fuengerola!

it'd be cheaper to scrap it and buy a new one

its gonna be at least 500 euro. i know a guy in alhaurin but i doubt he would go that far.

[toffeeboy]

I only say AEG because we bought it off an English garage owner and was thinking maybe if we managed to get it back there he would be able to do the work, otherwise I guess we just carry on waiting for someone up here to actually do something on it.

[spanish_lad]

so who did you buy it from ? vince? steve (alhaurin garage), chris? (cds), or mike (eurocarbrokers)

i'm betting its the first one and the shogun is blue, chrome wide wheels, with a black bullbar on the front?


good luck.. have you called the seller? they are supposed to offer some sort of warrenty on cars sold i believe.


cds have english towtrucks, i dont know what they charge tho.

the guy i use, antonio, is a legal spanish grua, but as i said, its about 100€ for aeg to the coast, so cordoba will be alot.

i know of an english guy with a tow truck, but he is not here all the time. i'll see when he is next around, and how much he would charge if you like.

[toffeeboy]

No not Alhurin autos. Looked there but didnt like. Bloke called Alex, at a reasonably new garage called Al amanda, app he left Alhurin autos cos he didnt like it and set up on his own. Its was his own car he sold me, but cant do anything for me

[spanish_lad]

fair enough, just i'd seen two blonde women looking at a blue shogun the other week.

he cant do anything ? thats not very good customer service is it.

no garentee either ?



thats a bit poor really.



so have you had the car checked out by anyone, whats the problem with it ?

[toffeeboy]

apparently its head gasket?? I dont really know and Im not good with stuff, apparrently there is two gaskets to replace. It is waiting to go in to garage, and because we are new we are reliant on a bloke here who is english and they are keeping him waiting.

[spanish_lad]

head gasket - very bad - what happened when it "broke down" ? smoke / stem out the bonnet and massive over heating ?

would of happened mainly due to overheating.

symptoms include, but are not limited to :

oil in the water. (will be able to see this in the radiator and in the reserve bottle, it'll be full of creamy brown "mayonaise".

the same stuff in the oil.

can be one or the other, or both.

when running it will overheat very quickly.

when running the engine the water in the radiator resovoir will bubble.



replacing the head gasket involves stripping the engine, and, if doing it properly, removal of the head and getting it skimmed. it is a very long and drawn out process, and will take a competant mechanic at least 5 days including turn around time at the machine shop.

is the shogun a V6 ? thats the only reason it'd have two head gaskets.

spanish for head gasket is "junta culata" by the way.

i've done a few of them myself, its likely to be €500-€700.

just thought, there was a shogun in the paper before christmas that was for sale because the head gasket had gone, at a ridiculusly cheap price. so cheap in fact i was thinking of buying it and doing the gasket then selling on for a profit.

(i didn't copy that from anywhere i just wrote it lol)

good luck

[safeashouses]

We had to have a head gasket replaced in UK it cost over a grand and as you say Spanish Lad mostly for labour. if we had known you could do it that cheap we would have flown you over.

[toffeeboy]

Thanks SL,

I would happily pay 5-700 euros as one garage up here told me it could be 2000 at first. Yeah its the v6. if i could get it done for 700 and get it back working i would be happy with that.

[toffeeboy]

And o yeah when it broke down it overheated and steam came out of rad. Also when mechanic came to rescue us it had to be jumped cos battery was dead.

[spanish_lad]

had to be jumped? why was the battery flat? had you left the lights on or something? were you trying to start it over and over again? having a blown head gasket wouldn't flatten the battery.

more often than not, you can drive with a blown head gasket. if you take it easy, wire the radiator fan to be always on, leave the internal blower on hot and full speed, pop the bonnet so that more cool air goes over the engine, drive it at night rather than at lunch time etc etc etc.

theres a guy in alhaurin that is well known to of replaced head gaskets for 600€, but his reputation unfortunatly preceeds him and it is not good.

any competant mechanic *should* be able to do it in more or less 10 hours i'd guess, at 20€ an hour thats 200, i was estimating alot for transport to and from and the skimming?

i cant see why it might be 2000€ !! unless you paid alot for the car and or it is new, is it worth repairing ?

you could source an engine on ebay and transport it for around £400, then pay someone up there €200 to fit it for you?

theres a 2.6, a 2.8, and 3 3.1 engines on ebay, from £56 upwards, you can get it shipped for £150 ... you have to get it to london first, so say another £50 ... look here >> http://shop.ebay.co.uk/_Car-Parts-Acces ... sQ5fUKQ5e2

alternativly i've recently bought a few engines from the scrap yards in malaga, paid €400 for a corsa 1.7 diesel engine, and €250 for a punto petrol engine.

i have no idea in the world why they are quoting that much?

[toffeeboy]

Hi there Spanish lad,

I have been emailing a chap from a garage in Marbella and he actually said the same thing but Im not really sure how I would go about it. Im hoping that today it might get moved, the bloke who I know who has been helping is going to see the Mitsubishi place in Cordoba city and see if they can do it.

[stellastaff]

Hey toffee boy, I really hate to say this but you were stitched up! Alex knew the head gasket was going! He sold it from under my mum-it was her car, they knew the gasket was on the way out and mum wanted it repaired but he left her and promptly sold it...to you it would seem. She now has an old 1990 one, ok it works but she loved that car! I am so sorry you have been left in that situation-he needs shooting at the moment! He is ripping people off left right and centre as he has big loans for the new company that he can't pay. Can you not denounce him or something? His real name is Alistair-not Alex, have no idea why, I think because the Spanish have problems with his real name! He has had good customers walk away recently because he is charging too much and I would seriously reccomend Alhaurin Autos as they are much more sound than he is. Best of luck.