Is my head gasket gone

[Kirkios]

I have got a mk4 golf 1.6 sr 1999 with 140000 miles on the clock. I brought it as a MOT failure, it failed on the emissions they were really high. After looking over the car there was a lot of oil around the rocker cover so I guessed that the gasket had gone. And the breather pipe on the filler cap was broken off it was not attached in any way. There is a little wight puff of smoke when the car is started and when you change gears but no loss of power. On the cap there is a tiny amount of the brown oil on the top and that is it. Also when the car is switch off you can here a hiss for a couple of secs Could the high emissions be because on these faults or the head gasket or a new cat and lamba. The car is going to be serviced but don't know what to do next has any ideas.

[mike1990]

First step would be to scan it for faults.. high emissions could be down to the lambda sensor, the cat, blown head gasket etc.

Check the air filter isn't clogged up, compression check the car to test for blown head gasket. If the car has tiny water droplets coming from exhaust and it smells sweet or the car overheats then it could be the head gasket.