Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

Hello everyone,

I have a 1994 M Reg Vauxhall Corsa GLS 5dr Auto 1.4 Petrol.



I think me head gasket is gone! I drove 5 miles today. Currently going through nightmare!

Before I drove my car today, I made a short video clip of exhaust. Noticed water dripping from the exhaust. Does this mean the head gasket is gone?



I then drove off. After about a 5 mile run, pulled over and made another short video clip of the exhaust.



Got back home, left the car running, say for 5 minutes, at idle in neutral while cleaning the front/rear wipers.

Noticed the steam coming from the right side of the bonnet! Engine management light and Oil light did not come on. Looked at temperature gauge, needle moving towards the redline, and the fan never kicked in. Checked the coolant tank and its almost empty. Right now, I'm thinking that my head gasket has gone!! Topped up the coolant water with only water but still chucking hot boiling water out. Left the engine cool down for an hour. Came back and checked the coolant tank and its empty. Topped up the coolant water again and decided to leave as it is for overnight.

The next morning, about 18 hours later when the problem occurred, took pictures of the oil cap, oil dipstick and the coolant tank after the engine had been off overnight.

No mayonnaise-like substance visible under the oil filler cap.



Oil looks fresh and clean and at the right level according to the dipstick.



...but noticed coolant tank completely empty!!



I'm not mechanically minded, but I'm baffled and want to know what's happened? Is it a cooling system problem? Does it require bleeding the cooling system?

I am really annoyed as when I went to see the motor about 3 weeks ago, I took it for test drive it never did any of this. Only done 55000 miles. The previous owner had head gasket done about 3 years ago at 52000 miles.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers everyone.

ha ha i got exactly the same issue no signs of head gasket , water out the exhaust , fan not kicking in for yonks then every now n then it kicks in . bear in mind this is at about 105 degrees . stays on for a minute then of again . checked my thermostat ..n thats fine . i'm guessing cuz the fan aint kicking in its getting that hot the coolants bubbling ,evapourating . which is leading to the air in the system n coolant vanishing n finding new ways out ie exhaust .
i got another fan switch on order from vauxhall going to fit as soon as it gets here . fingers crossed thats a 1.4 gls 16v

i just bought my another corsa aswell just a little 1.2 on the test drive it moved pretty decent for a 15 year old motor . full service water pump cambelt thermostat all the vitals already done . but as i took it round the block low n behold the temp creeped up n no fan i got creative with a bit of wire n a few clips fans fine off the battery stuck it on a switch and the temp sits at 94 nice n happy with no water loss

A few days ago my c20ne head gasket went. Lost about a liter of coolant in an hour while compression, running, economy readings and such
were fine and it was barely smoking. However one spark plug was brown while others were whiteish. And while cranking with plugs removed,
it eventually blew bits of coolant out of the spark plug hole.
Good thing the gasket doesn't cost a thing and replacing it on an 8-valve only took around an hour (having never worked on an engine before)