Head gasket disaster!!! HELP!

[dscam]

 

Well here is a sorry tale....in the fortunate position of having 2 Mk2 16v's but decided on full restoration of one and selling the other.  Anyway, today I was driving the car to its new owner and looking forward to get the cash to enable me to embark on respray of other 16v...

Journey was 95% motorway and no problems...then hit usual bank holiday weekend traffic and noticed rngine temp rising at an amazing rate and no sign of the fan operating.  First opportunity I got I pulled in and stopped the engine.....expansion tank was already blowing at this time and letting loads of fluid out.

Long story short....fuse had blown for the fan as it became jammed with debris....hence fan didn't kick in and engine overheated.  Worst part is I am fairly certain the head gasket has blown....

What do you folks recommend I have replaced/repaired when I put the car in to be sorted and what kind of problems do you forsee? 

Finally, any idea of cost of getting this sorted?  (the buyer has agreed to take the car so long as I get it repaired).

Any help and advice much appreciated....just been one of those terribly crap days

[Bam Bam]

  ....You may have caught it before the headgasket has gone, how did you get the car home, I'm presuming you waited until it cooled itself, were you carrying spare water and what makes you think the headgasket has gone as you seem to have pulled over fairly quickly.

Usually you would have to drive a fair few miles ignoring all the warning signs before the car gives itself up, low coolant (Oil or Water) will usually cause a siezure or part siezure before the head gasket blows so if the car is still drivable you may have been lucky and just overheated badly.

If this is the case I would do an Oil change and renew the coolant and see how the car drives.

I hope you got away with it.

Jim.


 

[yellowgti]

ive got the same problem with my new mk2 i fetched it yesterday my temp guage doesnt work but my red light on it does, i kicked it up being towed 100 mile yesterday and it was ticking over fine no red lite or anything, heaters werecold tho, no contamination in either oil or water no losing compression, got to where i was going and undid the over flow cap and pssssshhhhh gushing out water anybody got any ideas??? thanks

[monkeyalan]

if your HG has gone you would normally get either oil in your water( will look like chocolate milkshake) or water in your oil. if neither of these has happened you may be ok and just do what jim said.

[dscam]

Thanks for the posts so far guys....

I am hoping I did catch it in time and drove very few miles with it like that....maybe 1 or 2 total (garage with parking was closed but nearby thankfully).  Helpful RAC man topped up the coolant and said it hadn't lost too much.....he reckoned a 50/50 whether I got away with it or not.

The main reason I was sure it was gone was that I can not get the interior heater to blow anything but cold air....always thought this was a pretty good indication the head gasket was gone.

I will have a look at the condition of the oil/water and see how that looks.

Damn depressing the whole thing.

Any ideas on costs if it is the head gasket?

[monkeyalan]

ok. the reason your only getting cold air is due to there not being enough water in the system, probably due to air locks if its showing full in your header tank. I drove around freezing one winter when i had a jetta when all it was was low coolant.

[yellowgti]

ok. the reason your only getting cold air is due to there not being enough water in the system, probably due to air locks if its showing full in your header tank. I drove around freezing one winter when i had a jetta when all it was was low coolant.

im in the same boat as u here m8 so if you get urs fixed can you let me know what it was and also if i get mine fixed il let you know, cheers m8

[Bam Bam]

...Your best bet if you're unsure what you have done is take it for a compression test, that will cost about a tenner and you know where you stand from there. You could probably do the HG yourself if you are handy enough for about £60-£70 by the time you pay for the Headgasket set, If the head is coming off make sure you do your Valve Stem Oil Seals and you'll have to get the head checked to see if it is warped from a motor engineers.

A garage will probably charge you approx. £250-£300 depending on the work they do, they would probably recommend you to get the head skimmed anyway just incase it is warped.

Signs off a siezure or part siezure are obvious like the car slowing down when things start welding themselves together, to me you hav'nt done that if the car drives freely and responds as normal when you accelerate. Blown headgasket symptoms are water in oil or oil in water, white smoke (steam) billowing out the back, loss of power/compression, and the car is hard to start up.

If it is still drivable dont do more than a couple of miles and avoid getting it fully warmed up until you know what the damage is.

Good Luck.   

Jim.

[dscam]

Hi Jim and all.....thanks for all your good advice, it's really appreciated.

The car was still driveable the short distance to the garage which was a small consolation.  The coolant light flashed continually and the temp rocketed but I am hoping as much as I can that at worst it is the HG....at best I 'may' have got away with it.

As soon as the garage opens tomorrow I will try and get things in order and will let you know how it goes.

Cheers,

Duncan

[monkeyalan]

good luck mate. I owned a k series rover so i know how it feels!