knackered head gasket

[l1ncs]

Its my own fault really, all the signs of a gone head gasket where there I just ignored them. Ive been quoted 250-300+ VAT (including head skim and cambelt change) at a vw specialist so might as well get it done there.

[monzablue16v]

It will cost you about £100 plus time it's not a bad job I could probably get it done in half a day after doing it twice in the last month or take it garagewards, you can't give up on it and just sell it

[Bluefox]

i bought the car off bluefox ran it for 4 months without any problems? only sold it cos i'd bought a TDI. sorry guy's if that makes me a bad person  i wouldn't of sold it with a head gasket problem.

Hm. Raking over old coals here perhaps, but I've just noticed it in the for sale section.

For the record, I sold it to Leedub for about £300 with no MOT or tax. Looks like he ran it for a few months before selling it on with a fresh MOT...

[Village Idiots]

Are you sure it's definately the head gasket?
Oil coolers can fail and show similar characteristics. Oil in the water in the rad., sort of scummy deposit on the water in the header tank, but no water contamination of the oil (evidence of emulsified oil in oil filler cap) generally means oil cooler failed. Because the oil operates at a higher pressure than the water, oil leaks into the water but not the other way.
Does it overheat badly, this shows gasket problem.
Oil coolers are relatively cheap (less than £50). If it is the gasket and you do it yourself (not dead easy unless you've done quite a bit of spanner work) make sure you buy new head bolts and be scrupilously careful you torque them down exactly as it says in the manual or it'll probably go again. Good luck.