Head Gasket blown?

dceire

I bought a 02 Clio about a month ago and I think the head gasket may have packed it in.

Yesterday, I discovered an almost empty coolant tank and opened the oil cap to discover a capachino colour to the oil. I filled up the coolant and drove home, about 30 min drive, and when I returned pretty much all of the coolant had disappeared. Filled it up again today and made roughly the same journey in order to leave the car at my folks place and ready to go in to my mechanic when he gets back from his holidays.

However, the coolant level did not drop at all this time. Also, the oil on the dip-stick looks fine and the car does not appear to be overheating. The heater is even working fine and the car in general seems fine. My guess is that the head is just after going but it there any slim chance that it might be something else?

I realise that I'm clutching at straws here :rolleyes:

Anan1

If there's no coolant in the oil then it might be a simple coolant leak. Did the exhaust look steamy when you drove it?

Mycroft H

dceire wrote: »

I bought a 02 Clio about a month ago and I think the head gasket may have packed it in.

Yesterday, I discovered an almost empty coolant tank and opened the oil cap to discover a capachino colour to the oil. I filled up the coolant and drove home, about 30 min drive, and when I returned pretty much all of the coolant had disappeared. Filled it up again today and made roughly the same journey in order to leave the car at my folks place and ready to go in to my mechanic when he gets back from his holidays.

However, the coolant level did not drop at all this time. Also, the oil on the dip-stick looks fine and the car does not appear to be overheating. The heater is even working fine and the car in general seems fine. My guess is that the head is just after going but it there any slim chance that it might be something else?

I realise that I'm clutching at straws here :rolleyes:

Hows performance?

dceire

Anan1 wrote: »

If there's no coolant in the oil then it might be a simple coolant leak. Did the exhaust look steamy when you drove it?

Well, as I said, the oil around the oil cap looks very creamy; is this not a sign that the coolant is mixing with the oil?

BX 19, performance seems fine. It appears to be running okay, although, I had a little bit of trouble starting it twice during the week. It was fine after that though.

taintabird

dceire wrote: »

I bought a 02 Clio about a month ago and I think the head gasket may have packed it in.

Yesterday, I discovered an almost empty coolant tank and opened the oil cap to discover a capachino colour to the oil. I filled up the coolant and drove home, about 30 min drive, and when I returned pretty much all of the coolant had disappeared. Filled it up again today and made roughly the same journey in order to leave the car at my folks place and ready to go in to my mechanic when he gets back from his holidays.

However, the coolant level did not drop at all this time. Also, the oil on the dip-stick looks fine and the car does not appear to be overheating. The heater is even working fine and the car in general seems fine. My guess is that the head is just after going but it there any slim chance that it might be something else?

I realise that I'm clutching at straws here :rolleyes:

It could be your water pump when you say it was fine after you filled it up and drove home some times a water pump will leak only occasionally when its in the early stages of failure

dceire

taintabird wrote: »

It could be your water pump when you say it was fine after you filled it up and drove home some times a water pump will leak only occasionally when its in the early stages of failure

The timing belt was supposed to have been done just before I got it. They usually change the water pump with that don't they. I may try and call the garage that did it on Tuesday.

taintabird

dceire wrote: »

The timing belt was supposed to have been done just before I got it. They usually change the water pump with that don't they. I may try and call the garage that did it on Tuesday.

Its best practice to do so but some don't just to save a few bucks like I said its a possibility but it may well be something else

dceire

Going to have it looked at on Tuesday morning to find out definitively. I take it all garages are closed tomorrow?

Any rough idea of what I'm looking at price wise if it is the gasket?

Dilbert75

I'd be inclined to fill the water reservoir, start the engine and watch underneath for signs of water leaking. Could help narrow down what's happening. Don't let the water level drop too low though.

Avns1s

taintabird wrote: »

It could be your water pump when you say it was fine after you filled it up and drove home some times a water pump will leak only occasionally when its in the early stages of failure

I would be worried about what is giving the creamy colour to the oil on the oil cap, and it sure ain't the waterpump regardless of what stage of potential failure it is going through.

dceire

Avns1s wrote: »

I would be worried about what is giving the creamy colour to the oil on the oil cap, and it sure ain't the waterpump regardless of what stage of potential failure it is going through.

Yea, this combined with the coolant level is what has me thinking that it's the head gasket. But as I said, at the moment it seems concentrated around the cap. The oil on the dip stick looks normal.

Dilbert75

If the car was previously used for short journies, where it didn't get up to temperature, you will often find that mayo-type accumulation. Many, many people assume it's automatically HG-related.

aujopimur

The gunk on the oil cap may be condensation, caused by the car being used for lots of short trips.

dceire

Dilbert75 wrote: »

If the car was previously used for short journies, where it didn't get up to temperature, you will often find that mayo-type accumulation. Many, many people assume it's automatically HG-related.

This is my ray of light/hope. I guess I just have to wait for confirmation on Tuesday.

Mycroft H

You could get a garage to do a combustion leak test and that might go somewhat to rule in or out the head gasket.

If the HG was really gone bad the oil would be an brown gooey mess, where the water has emulsified with the engine oil.

taintabird

Avns1s wrote: »

I would be worried about what is giving the creamy colour to the oil on the oil cap, and it sure ain't the waterpump regardless of what stage of potential failure it is going through.

The creamy residue in the filler cap doesn't automatically point to head gasket failure and is generally cause by continuous short journeys where the engine doesn't get up to operating temperature. as for it not being the water pump well it may not be but it cant be ruled out without proper investigation of the problem ie a combustion leak test or a cooling system pressure test every thing else suggested here is just conjecture otherwise

Esel

Dilbert75 wrote: »

I'd be inclined to fill the water reservoir, start the engine and watch underneath for signs of water leaking. Could help narrow down what's happening. Don't let the water level drop too low though.

Coolant, not water!

unkel

Semantics much?

We are talking about water cooled engines here. Not coolant cooled engines

Water taken from your clothes dryer would do the job just fine here in Ireland if replaced regularly...

Mar4ix

check oil level on dip stick, if it is way too high and oil dipstick brown/mayo ish, than more likely headgasket gone. ... as lads said before, creamy stuff on oil cap could be result of short journeys, thats only condensation, also blown headgasket would cause performance loss, apart that other test is sniffing test of carbon in cooling system.

Mycroft H

unkel wrote: »

Semantics much?

We are talking about water cooled engines here. Not coolant cooled engines

Water taken from your clothes dryer would do the job just fine here in Ireland if replaced regularly...

Thats effort though! I'll use antifreeze/coolant if only for their rust inhibiting properties.

taintabird

unkel wrote: »

Semantics much?

We are talking about water cooled engines here. Not coolant cooled engines

Water taken from your clothes dryer would do the job just fine here in Ireland if replaced regularly...

Water in any cooling system is not recommended firstly there is no corrosion inhibitors in water and its boiling point is lower than that of good quality coolant

Nissan doctor

unkel wrote: »

Semantics much?

We are talking about water cooled engines here. Not coolant cooled engines

Water taken from your clothes dryer would do the job just fine here in Ireland if replaced regularly...

Right up to the point where it corrodes and blocks your cooling system internally.....

Lowering the freeze point is only one of the jobs coolant does.;)

dceire

The coolant level doesn't seem to be dropping anymore and the oil on the dipstick looks fine. The oil cap looks like this:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/img0034kg.jpg/

L-M

dceire wrote: »

The coolant level doesn't seem to be dropping anymore and the oil on the dipstick looks fine. The oil cap looks like this:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/img0034kg.jpg/

Clean it and go again.

Could be from short journeys.

dceire

Cleaned it, went again.

This is what it looks like

Avns1s

dceire wrote: »

The coolant level doesn't seem to be dropping anymore and the oil on the dipstick looks fine. The oil cap looks like this:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/img0034kg.jpg/

You still have an issue as it dropped before. Therefore, in all probability, it will drop again so you need to keep a close eye on the coolant level or you definitely will have HG failure.

The fact that it's not dropping currently would give a little bit of hope about the HG. I don't think I have ever seen a HG problem to disappear, even for a while.

Try giving it a decent run while keeping an eye on it and let us know how it goes.

Avns1s

dceire wrote: »

Cleaned it, went again.

This is what it looks like

The link is missing but in any case I presume it's like your earlier pic?

I wouldnt give up hope just yet. There will be plent of moisture down in the engine so that creamy effect may not clear instantly.

If your coolant level is staying absolutely steady, it might be worth doing an oil change.

dceire

Avns1s wrote: »

The link is missing but in any case I presume it's like your earlier pic?

Yea, sorry. I meant the same as the earlier picture.

Nissan doctor

If the HG is just beginning to give issue then it may only leak under higher temps or engine loads such as motorway driving etc.


Check all the levels are fine, then take it for a good drive up to max(allowable) speed and use the full RPM range, all while keeping an eye on the temp gauge etc and then check the levels again.

Dilbert75

Esel wrote: »

Coolant, not water!

Yes - though it sounded like the stuff was pi$$ing out of the car, so it wasn't going to be in there long and it's not cheap stuff to be pouring out on the road. That not being the case, then yes put in the proper stuff.

Garage should also be able to do a compression test, which will help identify a HG failure. Simple enough test too.

Nissan doctor

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Yes - though it sounded like the stuff was pi$$ing out of the car, so it wasn't going to be in there long and it's not cheap stuff to be pouring out on the road. That not being the case, then yes put in the proper stuff.

Garage should also be able to do a compression test, which will help identify a HG failure. Simple enough test too.

If a HG failure showed up in a basic compression test then the engine wouldn't be running well at all or holding coolant for any length of time.

Cooling system pressure test and a cylinder leakage test(sniff test) are what's needed to diagnose it.

Dilbert75

Nissan doctor wrote: »

If a HG failure showed up in a basic compression test then the engine wouldn't be running well at all or holding coolant for any length of time.

Cooling system pressure test and a cylinder leakage test(sniff test) are what's needed to diagnose it.

Possibly but not necessarily.

Nissan doctor

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Possibly but not necessarily.

Possibly but not necessarily what? If a cylinder was loosing compression due to a HG failure, then the leak would have to be so severe that it would be causing misfires and noticeable coolant loss/over heating.

A compression test is a very basic test and not especially accurate test of a cylinders leakage.

unkel

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Right up to the point where it corrodes and blocks your cooling system internally.....

Lowering the freeze point is only one of the jobs coolant does.;)

Was just trying to point out that it is a bit obsessive to correct a poster who is calling the stuff that cools the engine "water"

It is water. With some additives. Using just (distilled) water would be fine as long as you replace it very regularly. BX 19 got my point

And it is never cold enough in Ireland to freeze your water. Except for those legendary weeks in late 2010

dceire

I had it in with a friends garage this morning. He's not too concerned with the white gunk on the oil cap. I explained the situation with the coolant levels as well and he thinks that it wasn't properly bled when the water pump was changed. He just said to keep an eye on it. As I said it's generally been running fine. Fingers crossed anyway.

Esel

Modern engines are liquid-cooled.....

The reason I made the distinction is because many inexperienced drivers have ended up with a totally water-cooled engine after repeated topping up with water. Problems ensue.

I wouldn't like any such driver reading this thread to think their engine was water-cooled. :pac: