Help - Overheating recurrent Problem

I have a 2003 115 TF. In April it had a service including new cambelt and water pump. From about May onwards it started overheating, only very slightly and putting the heater on high dropped the temp gauge back. There wasn't much coolant loss until one day when the whole tank bubbled pretty much dry so I called a mobile mechanic out who diagnosed a faulty coolant cap and sent me on my way. Problem resolved for a few weeks and then the overheating started again. Very intermittently.



This time because the mobile guy couldn't get to me quickly I took it to an MG specialist near Reading who diagnosed a head gasket failure. I took the car home, and made arrangements for the mobile guy to come do the head gasket. This was done in August. I left the car at home and he worked on it there. From the moment I left him to the time he sent me the text to say done it was 1 hour 57 minutes. I paid £350 and was promised a receipt which was not received.



I've since had the same intermittent problem. Slight overheating when I'm idling or in slow moving traffic once the car is up to temp. There was some coolant loss still so a friend who is AA called an AA guy out who put the car up on ramps, checked and said I had a slight leak on the inlet manifold. He tried to fix it with K seal (ultimately unsuccessful) and also did a sniffer test for the head gasket and it was negative.



The car has carried on overheating with about 1cm of coolant loss every couple of days so I took it to the same garage near Reading who diagnosed a clip that had slipped on the pipes near the coolant tank and then came and told me that the car had failed the pressure block test and the head gasket needed replacing!



I called the mobile guy who came out last week, checked everything, said he has now fixed the leak and that the thermostat and housing needing replacing as it was only heating up partially because the valve wasn't opening fully. He couldn't do this but gave me a part number from Rimmer Bros and suggested any mechanic could do it.



The car still overheats when idling when up to temp or in slow moving traffic but if I get the heating on full blast and give the car a few revs the temp drops to the normal position. At the weekend I drove from Southampton to Kent, Kent to Southampton and Southampton and Coventry and back with only one small overheat which was in slow moving traffic on the A34. Normal speed motorway journeys seem fine. The coolant loss has now stopped though.



I've just got the invoice for the original head gasket after chasing and chasing and have been told that the stretch bolts were resused after being measured and checked and despite being told by two other garages that this was a waste of time the mechanic is standing by his doing this. I'm also told that it's not possible to do everything and change a head gasket in 1 hour 57 minutes/



I love my car to bits but every single person and garage I speak to come up with another problem or solution or answer and criticise everything that everyone else has said. To a relatively mechanically dense female whose only requirement for the car was to be red! I'm at my wits end and really now don't know who to believe.



Can anyone help with advice, but please remember I'm not that car clever? Happy to learn but please be gentle!

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