Is it worth servicing my car?

gaillimhabu

I have a 93 VW Golf. Head Gasket is going for the past 7 months but still no oil leak so don't know how long it will last. Since the car is not worth much I'd didn't go ahead with the quote of €642 to get it done.

So is it worth my while to service the car? Service has been due since May or about 2000k miles ago.

Also does anyone know how long is could take before the head gasket eventually goes?

Mr Benevolent

gaillimhabu wrote: »

I have a 93 VW Golf. Head Gasket is going for the past 9 months but still no oil leak so don't know how long it will last. Since the car is not worth much I'd didn't go ahead with the quote of €642 to get it done.

So is it worth my while to service the car? Service has been due since May or about 2000k miles ago.

Also does anyone know how long is could take before the head gasket eventually goes?

Two questions:

Do you need a car?
Can you afford to buy another car when this one goes pop?

You could get a better car for maybe €1000. It's uneconomical to repair imo. Don't expect to be able to sell the Golf though.

mickdw

I wouldnt be too worried about the servicing if you are prepared to scrap the car soon anyway. If you can do some work yourself, you could stick new oil & filter in costing about €20.

Gary ITR

gaillimhabu wrote: »

I have a 93 VW Golf. Head Gasket is going for the past 9 months but still no oil leak so don't know how long it will last. Since the car is not worth much I'd didn't go ahead with the quote of €642 to get it done.

So is it worth my while to service the car? Service has been due since May or about 2000k miles ago.

Also does anyone know how long is could take before the head gasket eventually goes?

Are you sure the head is going. 9 months is a very long time for a head to struggle on. If it is loosing coolant into the engine your oil would be in an awful state by now and your car would be really struggling.

Are you sure you don't just have a coolant leak or something?

gaillimhabu

Confab wrote: »

Two questions:

Do you need a car?
Can you afford to buy another car when this one goes pop?

You could get a better car for maybe €1000. It's uneconomical to repair imo. Don't expect to be able to sell the Golf though.

Two questions:
Do you need a car? Only at weekends really as cycling to work is an option.
Can you afford to buy another car when this one goes pop? Yes

I'll be spending 3-5k on another car once this one goes kaput. Don't plan on selling it just going to scrap it once it dies.

gaillimhabu

Onkle wrote: »

Are you sure the head is going. 9 months is a very long time for a head to struggle on. If it is loosing coolant into the engine your oil would be in an awful state by now and your car would be really struggling.

Are you sure you don't just have a coolant leak or something?

I noticed a small oil leak which the garage confirmed as the early stages of the head gasket going. Thinking back now it's 7 months since the garage looked at it. But there has been no major oil leak yet which is what the garage said would happen when it eventually goes. They wouldnt give me a time line when I asked them as they didnt know for sure how long it would last.

Gary ITR

gaillimhabu wrote: »

I noticed a small oil leak which the garage confirmed as the early stages of the head gasket going. Thinking back now it's 7 months since the garage looked at it. But there has been no major oil leak yet which is what the garage said would happen when it eventually goes. They wouldnt give me a time line when I asked them as they didnt know for sure how long it would last.

I'd advise you to let somebody else look at it. Is the car running well?

gaillimhabu

Onkle wrote: »

I'd advise you to let somebody else look at it. Is the car running well?

Might be a good idea to get a second opinion I suppose. Yeah the car is running well allright

johndaman66

Onkle wrote: »

Are you sure the head is going. 9 months is a very long time for a head to struggle on. If it is loosing coolant into the engine your oil would be in an awful state by now and your car would be really struggling.

Are you sure you don't just have a coolant leak or something?

I think everybodys take on this is a wee bit different. I know from my own experience that there is no rule or so it would seem. My first car was a Renault Megavan 1.9 diesel (a complete and utter heap of rubbish but am sure thats a story for another thread). The headgasket went in it and the oil was mixing with the coolant and visa versa. I had to leave it in at the garage pretty lively as within the next day or 2 as the radiator was pretty much blocked with sludge and there was no circulation. Driving it much further at this rate of going and it would have blown up for sure. Literally as I was driving it into the garage a pipe in the engine bay burst.

Since than I have being driving a petrol vectra in which the headgasket gave. Think it was moreso down to sheer mileage on the car. It was going with quite a while I reckon before I fully realised as it was asking for coolant now and again (now I realise or at least I've trained myself into thinking that if a car is taking coolant and there is no visual leaks it points to a headgasket). The car was driving fine. I kept a close eye on coolant and made sure it didn't overheat. There was no sludge in the oil as in the Renault and circulation was grand, always had warm air inside if I turned it on. I reckoned I was driving it like this for at least six months. In the end it was taking a lot of coolant as in up to a litre per 100 miles if not more. Was a bit baffled as to where the coolant was going but mechanic who fixed it told me I was loosing it out the exhaust. I do have a friend with a 96 1.7 litre Isuzu diesel vectra and his headgasket is gone for years at this stage and he is still driving it away. Granted he does not do a lot of motoring and he would top up coolant quite frequently.

OP a few things to check, does the car blow cold air out at you from time to time or constant even though you have it switched on for warm air? If you open the oil cap or pull the dipstick are you finding traces of a sort of yellow mayonnaise like sludge? After some time driving if you open the coolant resevoir is there absolutely serious pressure?..Be very careful doing this as there may be absolutely enormous pressure built up here and if you launch in to take cap of quickly you may end up scalding yourself badly. Also is your coolant very dirty looking? I am assuming you have a separate coolant resevoir attached to radiator but am unsure of the set up in these cars. The above scenarios would seem to indicate your car will probably croak it sooner rather than later if you continue to drive it as it is. Otherwise you may (may not) be able to get some considerable mileage out of it before it dies.

gaillimhabu

johndaman66 wrote: »

OP a few things to check, does the car blow cold air out at you from time to time or constant even though you have it switched on for warm air? If you open the oil cap or pull the dipstick are you finding traces of a sort of yellow mayonnaise like sludge? After some time driving if you open the coolant resevoir is there absolutely serious pressure?..Be very careful doing this as there may be absolutely enormous pressure built up here and if you launch in to take cap of quickly you may end up scalding yourself badly. Also is your coolant very dirty looking? I am assuming you have a separate coolant resevoir attached to radiator but am unsure of the set up in these cars. The above scenarios would seem to indicate your car will probably croak it sooner rather than later if you continue to drive it as it is. Otherwise you may (may not) be able to get some considerable mileage out of it before it dies.

I checked some of this stuff at lunchtime after bringing the car for a spin.
- The car blows cold air initially until the car has warmed up. Then it stays on warm air. This seems fine to me.
- I opened the oil cap and checked the dipstick. I didn't find any trace of yellow mayonnaise like sludge. Oil was clean.
- There was a slight pressue when I opened the coolant cap. However nothing too serious. Also it was clean.

So looks like it's ok for another while. I think I'll get a second opinion from another garage to make sure.

Nonoperational

Certainly doesnt sound like an obvious head gasket failure if the oil and water are perfect after 7 months.

johndaman66

gaillimhabu wrote: »

I checked some of this stuff at lunchtime after bringing the car for a spin.
- The car blows cold air initially until the car has warmed up. Then it stays on warm air. This seems fine to me.

I don't think you have a problem with the poor coolant circulation as a result of the head gasket failure so gaillimabu. Of course that is not to say that it may cause a problem in time but if or when is another thing.

gaillimhabu wrote: »

- I opened the oil cap and checked the dipstick. I didn't find any trace of yellow mayonnaise like sludge. Oil was clean..

Thats a good sign also. Further indicates that the oil and coolant are not mixing or at least to a great extent anyway.

gaillimhabu wrote: »

- There was a slight pressue when I opened the coolant cap. However nothing too serious. Also it was clean..

You would normally expect some pressure gaillimhabu but if as I said there was absolutely serious pressure altogether it would point to blockages in the cooling system more than likely initially caused by a blown head gasket

gaillimhabu wrote: »

So looks like it's ok for another while. I think I'll get a second opinion from another garage to make sure.

No harm getting a second opinion gallimhabu. The list above may check ok and your headgasket could still be gone. I would suggest that you keep a close eye on the temperature needle in traffic, don't let the engine overheat and also keep a close eye on the coolant level and top up as necessary. You may well be able to soldier on for some time yet. I'm not a mechanic and am just speaking from my own experience so my word certainly isin't gospel either!