Headgasket? Surely not again.

[jmsheahan]

Hi all,

I'm a little concerned as my car seems to be developing signs of a head gasket problem again. My 8v digi had a refurbed head with new gaskets etc about 6 months back however I've noticed the past few days the car is running a tad hotter again. The car doesn't have obvious signs of HG failure but what concerns me is it didn't the last time either.

Symptom 1 - the car stinks of exhaust fumes.

Symptom 2 - White smoke present but could be condensation in this weather?

Oil was clean after a change yesterday, no signs of oil and water mixing. Car doesn't seem to be overheating badly (temp guage sits at the 90 middle mark and fan kicks in a little past, before the 3rd segment marker. Oil temp is between 106-110 normal driving. I haven't noticed any coolant loss again yet. Oil cooler seal weeps a little if that affects anything.

Appreciate I'm stabbing in the dark until I get a block tester and see for sure but any ideas? Surely it can't have gone again in such a short space of time 

[RossyB108]

Sounds ok to me temperature wise.

If no oil in water or water in oil you should be ok

[tech1889]

get it pressure tested bud you can get a tester for about £20 my one is 20 odd years old worth every penny..

[01664gti]

Is there a faq on how to do a pressure test and how to diagnose h/gasket etc??

[jmsheahan]

Cheers for the replies guys.

Had a quick look at pressure testers but seem a lot more than £20 unfortunately. What would one of these tell me over a sniff test?

A mate of mine just had a quick look at it and reckons it smells as though it's running rich which I agree with. Honks so somethings not quite right

[Diamond Hell]

1. Pressure test tells you what pressure the cylinders are holding.

2. Sniffer will tell you whether there's any exhaust gas dissolved in the coolant.

start with 1. and move on to 2. if all cylinders are even.

To be fair, if it smells very rich I'd be swapping out the ECU temperature sender as well as those other bits, as well as checking the injectors are firing properly.

[juicey]

I had the exact symptons that you mention, it was that bad I felt sick whilst driving my golf and was worse with a window or sunroof open !
After a lot of playing about I decided to change the valve stem seals, whilst taking the head off I noticed that the head gasket fell apart so that was obviously on the was out, replaced the valve stem seals but when I was refitting the cylinder head I noticed that my servo pipe had a split in it, this was where the pipe sits behind the inlet manifold close to the bulkhead, anyway I also repaired the servo pipe and the cars running great with no more exhaust / engine fumes and a great MPG.   

[jmsheahan]

Cheers guys.

ECU temp sender has already been replaced for a genuine one. How do I check if the injectors are firing? (sorry if it's obvious)

Valve stem seals were new in the refurbed head when the previous work was carried out. Will check the servo pipe cheers. I can't smell the fumes in the car, it's just behind from the exhaust.

[jmsheahan]

Not had it pressure tested but managed to borrow a sniff test. Went green/yellow. Looks like I have a combustion leak 

Is there anything other than the gasket it might be? Brand new refurbished cylinder head and gasket. Less than 6 months it's gone again, want to know why 

[tech1889]

Badly ground head so bad fit on block ??