Blown Head gasket, broken radiator/cooling system

[Danny_Rushers]

Hello there,

I have a Vauxhall Corsa Breeze 1.0, 50,000 miles, and i'm pretty sure i can confirm, the head gasket has blown as there is the white stuff underneath the oil cap, where the oil and water have obviously mixed. For a couple of months i was filling up about 1 litre oil just over every week, the oil wasn't leaking, but was obviously burning fast, then recently the coolant/water was dissapearing, after a 10 mile journey the temp gauge flew off the scale, and the car stopped, i opened the bonnet, and it was steaming a lot, and the engine obviously overheated. I can actually drive the car around, but very carefully, as this stops the temperature rising too quickly, i do have to pull over every so often, just to add some cold water so it doesnt overheat again. Apart from the reduced performance it still runs pretty well. I should probably add that i lost the coolant cap, so im covering it with a rag at the moment, and also the heater didn't seem to heat up, yet it seems okay now?

As i'm not going to scrap the car, i was wondering if anyone could do a head gasket/cooling system job for money, or replace the engine with one i will find off ebay or maybe even on here? Im in the Bromsgrove area (North Worcestershire/South Birmingham)

Thanks

[jordyp]

can you not ask a garage or try find a place in an industrial est or something like that as theres a few people in little/old garages who do cheap work. can you not attempt it yourself?haynes manual and you should be fine mate and just make sure you have all correct tools and equipment as theres nothing worse than going to fix a car and finding you dont have the right tool lol

[octane41]

i dont think white stuff underneath the oil cap is a sure sign of a head gasket to be honest - is there alotof white smoke?

did you lose the water tank cap before or after the problems started - as puttin a rag over the top isnt gonna stop the water coming out cause of the pressure that builds up when the engine gets to tempis just gonna fire the water out.

also when the car begins to run dry of water the heater will stop working.

check theres no water leaking from either side at the bottom of the radiator and hoses. also check thermostat is opening properly as this could stop the heater from working. its on left hand side of engine with the two water hoses going into it. just take it off and tie string round it. heat up in a pan of water and see if it opens properly.

[Danny_Rushers]

Bearing in mind I have no idea about cars, I wouldn't know if there was a problem by looking under the bonnet. There does appear to be white smoke, it's not the cost of the parts its just the price of labour. I wasn't sure if i should flush out the coolant with these agents products like holts, and then use K-seal, to fill some of these holes or gaps. It's being really raved about, shall i give it a go, or could it exacerbate the problem?

[Spicy-McHaggis]

before touching a product like K SEAL, HYPER SEAL or anything like that id suggest you first do some investigation and reading about it!

You sure your radiator does not have a leak in it that would cost water to pour out quite quickly...?

[octane41]

i have a feeling that its not the head gasket - this is just my feeling but i could be wrong. I have the same car mate and i've had alot of problems with cooling syste recently and these engines are prone to gunk under the cam cover (under the oil filler cap) anyway.

if you want any help to check for leaks if you pm me i'd be happy to send you step by step instructions. theres nothing that you wont be able to do and you'l only need a few tools.

like McHaggis said, if theres any leaks from radiator the water will disappear very quickly. and the rag over expansion tank is gonna lose you water too.

[Spicy-McHaggis]

not just that but the rag will also jump out due to pressure and if u dont have a belt cover could end up in there and scrw EVERYTHING up for you!

[Danny_Rushers]

I rang up a trusted mechanic, and am gonna take the car to his tomorrow to have a look at it, i told him the problems and told him it was a head gasket problem, yet he actually says it might not necessarily be the head gasket, but maybe a leak in the reservoir/cooling system etc... Which i hope is true, I'll just quickly list the problems again, to see if it could actually just be the cooling system or whatever.. By the way i lost my coolant cap AFTER the problems occurred.

-Temperature rises high after 10-15 miles (most of water/coolant is gone. Also it tends to steam a lot after this, you can see it out the engine: Note, I'm pretty certain its steam and NOT smoke)
-Engine doesn't start as sound as normal, but always does start okay.
-There is always a few nasty smells that you can smell in the car.
-Engine oil does burn quite quickly
-A bit of white stuff under oil cap (not that much)

That's pretty much it, also do note that i need to replace my EGR valve, but told that wasn't a serious problem and that it wouldn't contribute to the symptoms i had now.

Kudos to Octane41 if it actually isn't a head gasket problem. Thanks for all the posts guys

[octane41]

am gonna put my neck out and say ...

white smoke is being caused by egr valve
the white residue is just a build up and hasnt been caused by a head gasket failure
and hopefully mate a water leaks gonna be found.

[Danny_Rushers]

I'm not getting my hopes up! But that is music to my ears mate! haha

[Spicy-McHaggis]

even to me that is!

was told by previous owner of my corsa headgasket has gone as all she saw was white smoke!

[octane41]

my corsa has white smoke coming out of it.
i just ignore it lol done 110,000miles now.

[Danny_Rushers]

Been to my mates garage, done a test, and it appears it doesnt seem to be the head gasket. It does have a misfire though, and the engine management light has been on a while, so it could be more than a EGR valve. Got quite a few miles done today, without it overheating at all, and finally i have a coolant cap now whoo ahah

[octane41]

did he find a leak then? i was pretty sure it wasnt head gasket, just had a feeling. am glad for you its not

make sure you post on what was wrong so it can help other people

[octane41]

also a faulty egr valve can cause problems with engine performance.