County Cars

[Kalimantan]

Anyone give me any comments on County Cars in Strood, Kent...? Major repair might be happening there...
Kali

[ramstone]

Anyone give me any comments on County Cars in Strood, Kent...? Major repair might be happening there...
Kali

If you click on 'Dealer experience' thread there's some very positive feedback about them in there. I'm actually concidering doing a trade with them on the strength of it. Also they sound like like decent fellers over the phone. good luck.

[Kalimantan]

If you click on 'Dealer experience' thread there's some very positive feedback about them in there. I'm actually concidering doing a trade with them on the strength of it. Also they sound like like decent fellers over the phone. good luck.

Sorry mate i must be going blind where's the 'Dealer experience' section...?

[da SLUG man]

Sorry mate i must be going blind where's the 'Dealer experience' section...?

under "dealer reviews"

near the bottom of forum listing page


or here

[nosher]

Anyone give me any comments on County Cars in Strood, Kent...? Major repair might be happening there...
Kali

Hi Kali, as mentioned before i' ve had most of my servicing and routine work done at County cars, i' ve never had any problems.
Alan and Ben run the joint, the mechanic is a guy called David, and he certainly knows his way round a surf !.
If your not worried about travelling some distance to get your car repaired then its also worth contacting Tony N, through the forum, he has also done some work to my car and is also very good, bit of a trek to Basingstoke i know but he will drop you at the train station to give you a head start when travelling home.
Whats wrong with your surf ?
Good luck and i hope you get it sorted soon,
NOSHER

[Kalimantan]

Hi Kali, as mentioned before i' ve had most of my servicing and routine work done at County cars, i' ve never had any problems.
Alan and Ben run the joint, the mechanic is a guy called David, and he certainly knows his way round a surf !.
If your not worried about travelling some distance to get your car repaired then its also worth contacting Tony N, through the forum, he has also done some work to my car and is also very good, bit of a trek to Basingstoke i know but he will drop you at the train station to give you a head start when travelling home.
Whats wrong with your surf ?
Good luck and i hope you get it sorted soon,
NOSHER

It looks like the head might have gone ( yep the old story ) only thing is when i spoke to Alan he mentioned that they dont need a modified head a recon one would be ok but a full check of the cooling system ie. rad test is the cause of the problem and if this checks out ok then the recon heads are fine. Now reading posts on the forum everyone is saying get a modified head, hence my concern... The surf wont be going in till monday/tuesday.
Kali

[nosher]

It looks like the head might have gone ( yep the old story ) only thing is when i spoke to Alan he mentioned that they dont need a modified head a recon one would be ok but a full check of the cooling system ie. rad test is the cause of the problem and if this checks out ok then the recon heads are fine. Now reading posts on the forum everyone is saying get a modified head, hence my concern... The surf wont be going in till monday/tuesday.
Kali

Why not supply your own head, maybe off of stevo , you can contact him through the forum, at least then you can be sure that a modified head is being fitted.
Good luck,
Nosher

[mickey]

ummm..here comes the EXPERT..not..but having been quite paranoid about head issues in the past, i have done a fair bit of trawling through posts regarding this subject..it does seem that the general opinion from those that know, is that the origional head had an inherent design fault, which meant that the metal between the water ways and the valves was too thin..overheating, or just fatique at around 60,000 could cause a percentage of those heads to crack..

the new head is redesigned to minimise the problem, meaning that it would be no more likely to crack than any head on any other vehicle..therefore a reconditioned head wouldn't be recommended, and most of the opinions i've read seem to suggest that reconditioning isn't really a practical option?

usually heads crack due to overheating, which is why mechanics look first for a fault in the cooling system,,but i THINK, that with the under engineered origional heads on some surfs, the overheating is a result, not a cause of a crack.the reasoning that "heads dont crack for no reason mate" might not be quite true in the case of a poorly designed one?

obviously being a surfing doughnut i'm opening myself up for some serios ridicule if my reasoning isn't quite sound..but i thought i'd offer my opinion before you go for the recon..personally, i think you'd come to regret the choice, even if it was only paranoia..i've not yet heard of a modified head cracking..but in the normal scheme of things, a few probably have.it just wouldn't have been the design that caused it..

i'm going to hide up now, i'll peer at the screen through an opening in my fiongers.

[joe112]

ummm..here comes the EXPERT..not..but having been quite paranoid about head issues in the past, i have done a fair bit of trawling through posts regarding this subject..it does seem that the general opinion from those that know, is that the origional head had an inherent design fault, which meant that the metal between the water ways and the valves was too thin..overheating, or just fatique at around 60,000 could cause a percentage of those heads to crack..

the new head is redesigned to minimise the problem, meaning that it would be no more likely to crack than any head on any other vehicle..therefore a reconditioned head wouldn't be recommended, and most of the opinions i've read seem to suggest that reconditioning isn't really a practical option?

usually heads crack due to overheating, which is why mechanics look first for a fault in the cooling system,,but i THINK, that with the under engineered origional heads on some surfs, the overheating is a result, not a cause of a crack.the reasoning that "heads dont crack for no reason mate" might not be quite true in the case of a poorly designed one?

obviously being a surfing doughnut i'm opening myself up for some serios ridicule if my reasoning isn't quite sound..but i thought i'd offer my opinion before you go for the recon..personally, i think you'd come to regret the choice, even if it was only paranoia..i've not yet heard of a modified head cracking..but in the normal scheme of things, a few probably have.it just wouldn't have been the design that caused it..

i'm going to hide up now, i'll peer at the screen through an opening in my fiongers.

Agreed... Re-conning the head will leave you with the same problem of a weak head as you've had alll along. A re-conned head (like the ones off Stevo) will solve your problem long term. I wouldn't touch a re-con, only a mod'd one!

[Jaun Huw Nose]

Apparently the original design caused microscopic air bubbles to form in certain areas, these then act as an abrasive which causes the head to crack..?!
Iif Mr Toyota feels the need to redesign then there must be a good reason so fit the later one..I also fitted a 3.0Lt auto rad to herselfs truck to make sure there is plenty of cooling when towing.Don'
t forget to change the cam belt at the same time, as the old one has to come off anyway. It might also be worth having the injectors cleaned and glow plugs checked when its in bits, extra expense but saves the cost of taking it to bits a second time