is it a bird, is it a plane or is it a head gasket??????

[benji mk2]

my lovely lady wifes driver is poorly!!!  it's a j reg 1.8 on a pierburg carb and yesterday it started belching out LOTS of steam from the exhaust. checked the coolant and it was kinda low. No signs of oil in the water and no water in the oil. Ive done a sniff test which was fine, compression test was also ok. I've removed the intake manifold and the rubber o ring wasn't totally blocked (the bottom half was a bit gummed up but not bolcked). The base plate of the carb is pretty shot tho, also the plugs were very black and sooty. She has said that the car has been reving up a bit of its own accord when cold. Is it possible that its running really rich and this is causing all the steam? I'm a bit stuck as i was hoping the o ring would be totally blocked and replacing it would sort it out. 

  Anyone got any ideas??? Need to get the car back up and running asap.

[benji mk2]

managed to source a new base plate for £18 = result!!!   Starting to think i'll just take the head off and do the lot. Anyone know if there is a head "how to" any where???

[bobbymk11]

if ur doing head gasket ur self mind you will need to get head skimmed ..if you dont not worth doing as will go again in near future

[benji mk2]

thankfully i know a very helpful engine builder who'll hope fully do it for a few squid!   Still not 100% sure its the head gasket tho??

[JimR]

if ur doing head gasket ur self mind you will need to get head skimmed ..if you dont not worth doing as will go again in near future

Not strictly true, if the mating face is still flat and true then skimming the head is acheiving nothing. I'm halfway through mine at the moment, think its still the original gasket that has just perished over time and the head is in a great condition so won't be skimming it.

[monzablue16v]

More than likely will be, you don't always get oil in the water. I had the same thing with the polo and the head gasket was boogerised!

[benji mk2]

boogerised!       i like that one!!! permission to use it monza??!!!!!

[monzablue16v]

Granted

[Village Idiots]

To be sure it's a head gasket....Good garages have a testing system to check the presence of combustion products in the water. This involves some special chemical into which they introduce coolant via the expansion tank with the engine running. They should do this for you for a few quid, particularly if they think they might get the work. It would be a real pain to do the head gasket only top find this wasn't the problem.

[rubjonny]

if the sniff test & compression test are ok, it aint the head gasket.  You probably just got 2e2 issues, its the right time o year for em to start playin up, check out my 2e2 FAQ