Head gasket blown? Help!

[charlotte90]

Hi everyone! I'm just gunna plough right in...

I had a 8v Golf GTI before my current one (16v GTI), and never had this much trouble with it, even though it was riddled with rust it never broke down, and only had to let it go because someone wrote it off for me outside the house.

It was okay for about... a week. Then it all just started to go wrong. To cut a long story short, it started to overheat alot; Took him to a VW specialist, £200 later its had a new water pump, a few new seals and clips etc- all okay for about 3 days. Then it starts to overheat, every bloody day, no matter how much water im putting in. Make sure all the oils okay, then i start to notice this gunk. Looks like some sort of fat- this appears on my dipstick and in my water tank. Still going okay, bar having to put water in it everyday, engine sounds fine. (Bear in mind what I do for a living I'm driving all day everyday in him, so isn't exactly getting a rest).

Then today he overheats again, pretty spectacularly, (billows of steam coming from the left hand side of the bonnet, but has done this before) and quite quickly; left him to cool down, went to the shop (left side lights on) come back, battery is dead, clicking away but no starter booting it. Called the AA- he goes over the car, confirms dead battery, but starts to say its all a bit of a coinkydink that its dead after its overheated. Checks my water tank and then announces I've probably blown a headgasket.

Now I love cars, but I dont actually know what this does, all I know from people talking about it, its bad. And Ive had this gunk sat in my car for about 3 weeks. He says hes suprised its still going, gives me the option of driving home, or getting towed to a nearby garage or updating membership etc etc. Im 30 miles from home, so I go against him, and chuck some more water in and drive home. Temperature stays normal, no problems. (As it always is, providing I don't leave lights on and kill the battery).

What I want to know is, if anyone HAS blown a gasket or has seen one, is that whats wrong with him? And if it is, is it worth getting fixed?

I just seem to be having problem after problem and as much as I love this car it's getting beyond a headache and a temptation to give in and get a pantsy fiesta, or something thats reliable. I know he's old, but my god my old car wasnt this much hassle and he had filler in him and opening the bonnet made some guy at the garage want to cry! I dont know if I'm expecting too much for him and should just let him go to someone who isnt racking up the mileage and can love him for the old codger he is. Any help/advice will be much appreciated. Thanks!

[weazgti]

Could also be oil cooler. Same symptoms as head gasket but a lot easier  and cheaper to put right.

[charlotte90]

do you know of anyway i can look myslef to if it is that or is it a garage job?

[danny_p]

if its the oil cooler,   oil gets into the water  not the other way round as its usally a pin hole and the oil is under more pressure so squirts through.   water in the oil is almost certanly headgasket

[jmsheahan]

You can pick up 'sniffer' kits that detect hydrocarbons in the system - if the fluid in the tester changes colour then it helps confirm a dead head gasket. Garage will do this for you for around a tenner I'd imagine.

A dead head gasket isn't the end of the world though, all it is is a gasket that sits between the block and cylinder head. If you are fairly confident with the spanners I'd be tempted to have a go myself. Otherwise I'd imagine a garage will charge around £300 in labour plus the cost of getting the cylinder head skimmed if it's warped, and then of course new oil, coolant etc.

[Sam]

Well worth fixing yourself/getting an 'amature' to help you do it. It's not a big job when you know what your doing but is very daunting first time...

[tiredtracey]

Well worth fixing yourself/getting an 'amature' to help you do it. It's not a big job when you know what your doing but is very daunting first time...

  yep did this myself yesterday, put a 2.0 bottom end on with a new gasket and my PB head only took a couple of hours, just gotta sort out the distributor now and it done, not bad for a girlie with a torque wrench  I quiet enjoyed myself....understand how the car runs now 

[Sam]

Good work slightly more tired than usual tracey

[JamesS]

I would definately give it a go as soon as possible. Do not drive the car if water is getting into the oil! If you carry on driving you will cause damaging to the shells/bearings & cams etc, basically everything that uses oil for lubricating will be effected. If you don't fix it and carry on driving then the engine won't be worth fixing so you have nothing to loose undertaking this yourself. I am sure if there is someone local to you on here they would lend a hand.J

[weazgti]

if its the oil cooler,   oil gets into the water  not the other way round as its usally a pin hole and the oil is under more pressure so squirts through.   water in the oil is almost certanly headgasket

Learn something new everyday. I had to bypass cooler to check this cos I wasn't sure. Scrapped that engine anyway but at the time I remember seeing lots of stories bout people changing gasket and getting it all over again.