Head Gasket...

[dubninja]

Got a mk2 8v, it seems to be going though about a pint of water every 200 miles at the moment, ive been thinking that its just the expansion tank top leaking under pressure (and hadnt had time to replace it.). But noticed tonight that the breather on top of the rocer cover was weaping abit of mayo, pulled the breather off and its FULL of mayo, as is the pipe that goes off to the throttle bodies, and the filler cap!. Im pretty sure its the head gasket, any thing alse i should check before stripping it all down to do the HG.

Is it abit odd that there is no contamination in the coolant??

Cheers....

[Volkswagavin]

Definitely sounds like a head gasket.  You can get a bit of mayo if you do a lot of short journeys and the condensation that gets into the engine doesn't have time to evaporate, but if you are going through a lot of water and it isn't ending up on the floor under your engine, its likely to be the HG.

[rubjonny]

There are loads of places for coolant leaks on old VW engines, first replace the 2 plastic flanges on the front & right side of the block, and replace the header tank cap for anew blue one.  Then have the grill and radiator fan shroud off and check the rad over carefully for leaks, look for white deposits especially on/near the end caps.

It is normal to get alot of mayo in the top breather pipes this time of year if doing lots of short journeys, mine was absolutly clogged with the stuff when I was checking the timing this weekend.  If you're getting mayo on the oil cap this is a little more suspicious, but clean out what you can then take it for a good long blast down the motorway & get the oil good n hot.  If it comes back then its looking more likely to be the HG.

But before you get it done, get it compression tested its the only way to know for sure if the HG has gone really.

[Gen Martok]

I too had a head gasket go, though mine was blowing the expansion tanks. I never got any contamination of oil/water and it still ran fine. It's not a hugely difficult job, but to make life easy for yourself don't try to rush it. Also you will need a splined tool to get the head bolts undone, if you try to use a regular allen key you will strip the heads making it a right pain to get them out. You can get the tool from GSF for about 7or 8 quid, you will also need a new set of head bolts as they are one time use only.
Hope it goes well amigo!

[dubninja]

Im gonna check the compression this weekend, if thats ok will give the topend a good clean up, bypass the oil cooler and see if the mayo comes back, its not looking too good though.

The two plastic flanges on the engine?, would they causewaterl to get into the oil if they were cracked?, or just leak water onto the floor?.

[rubjonny]

If the flanges were leaking you would just loose coolant

[dubninja]

Did a compression test today, all four cylinders were jussr about identical at just over 11 bar so that doesnt sound too bad. Started stripping it down today, the manifold to downpipe join is a right bastard to do, got four of them out, will try doing the other two tomorrow.

I take it the heat sheilds need to come off to do the stud in the middle near the bulkhead?

[dubninja]

Would you belive it, i got that stud/nut off from the top with a normal 3/8 rachet, the head is off and all ready to be skimmed tomorrow. Just have a look at the links below, nasty!, anyone for mayo

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/dubninja/112_1237.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/dubninja/112_1236.jpg

[Devon Joe]

yep i think that might be gone 

or did your missus accidentally top it up with oil of olay 

[rubjonny]

Well that defo aint condensation in the block, almost as bad as the 1.4 rocker cover I did the HG on a few months ago, that was really nasty