Head gasket gone? - Can anyone help with Second opinion?

[AlpineCab]

Hi can anyone help with a second opinon - suspect headgasket gone, and want to be sure before get replaced.

- water/mayo found at the rocker cover breather hose exit, with mayo inside the breather hose.

- water level dropping relatively quickly (light comes on after c100 miles)

- hard to start when cold - needs cranking on /off for 30 seconds before fires up.

Does that sound like head gasket failure? (gulp - only just shelled out on replacing fuel tank to get through MOT)

[paulmitchell1984]

the mayo does and tbh i would be running it at all with suspect head failure, however do the heaters work inside the car ie it gets warm and can go cold as this is also a sign.

[AlpineCab]

heaters are all working fine.

Once warmed up, engine pulls fine, and no prob warm starting.

Definetly water and mayo present at the rocker cover breather pipe.

[Brianmoooore]

Pull out the spark plugs. All the same colour, or one noticeably cleaner?

[AlpineCab]

Pull out the spark plugs. All the same colour, or one noticeably cleaner?

All same colour and all uniform condition.

Electrode tips look good condition, bit of black stuff round base, but nothing seems out of norm .

Most recent trip out was 80 mile round tip on M25, then brief 300yd trip to local mechanics.

[Brianmoooore]

What happened to the coolant level during the 80 mile trip?

[AlpineCab]

I topped up coolant to max level indicated on thge expansion tank before setting out. After return, water is at minimum level, and would expect the warning light would soon go off.

In other words, the expansion tank has pretty much emptied out.

Similar to what happened last weekend. Went on similar length foray to the coast and similar amount of water lost, had to top up when warning light came on, and then it came on again during the journey back.

Since then, did the usual checking hoses, etc, and suspected might be a leaking water pump, but now since seeing the mayonaise, suspect different.

Once started, from cold takes around 3 or 4 attempts, there is no hint of trouble - runs and pulls sweet enough for a 320 cab.

[Brianmoooore]

I'm still not convinced you have a head gasket problem, or worse.
Water leaks can be extremely difficult to locate sometimes - took me about two years to name the water pump as the guilty culprit on one car a while back, and only last week it took a couple of days to identify a leaking bottom hose - it was squirting a fine jet of coolant straight into the fan, which promptly atomised it, and left a sticky film everywhere.
You don't have any 'steam cleaned' plugs, so its unlikely that coolant is leaking into a cylinder, and some mayonnaise in the vent pipe is entirely normal - the combustion process produces plenty of water, some of which gets past the pistons and into the oil.
My advice is to carry plenty of water, just drive it, and start worrying if the oil level starts to rise!

[AlpineCab]

If it were a gasket starting to blow, what else other symptons would show?

Follow your line of reasoning, amd I've suspected the water pump myself (replaced radiator, etc, recently, and all pipes are securely tighted up.)

But would there there be that much mayo evident? I could also feel a bit of water as well, seemed a bit more than condensation.

I had recently put a dose of redex in the tank which may explain the clean plugs all round.

The only other thing I noticed was that the exhasut gases seem a lot cooler coming out of one pipe than on the other - is that at all related or just barking?

I'd like to fix it quick if it is the gasket going, to avoid damage, but would be delighted if it was something else less ££££££ to fix.

[BumphGb]

Hiya, i recently had a water leak not helped by a knackered thermostat and at one point pretty much cooked my engine when it almost ran out of water due to my own negligence Anyhow, i've sorted my water leak and thermostat but have since found mayo in the rocker cover and even when warmed up it steams a bit out of the exhaust.

I was just wondering if anyone had tried this stuff out http://www.steelseal.co.uk/ i'm not a fan of just sticking "miracle cures" into my car but if this stuff is as good as they claim then it could save me alot of work.

[Brianmoooore]

Hiya, i recently had a water leak not helped by a knackered thermostat and at one point pretty much cooked my engine when it almost ran out of water due to my own negligence Anyhow, i've sorted my water leak and thermostat but have since found mayo in the rocker cover and even when warmed up it steams a bit out of the exhaust.

I was just wondering if anyone had tried this stuff out http://www.steelseal.co.uk/ i'm not a fan of just sticking "miracle cures" into my car but if this stuff is as good as they claim then it could save me alot of work.

Any internal combustion engine should and does produce large quantities of water vapour in its exhaust. If the temperature of the exhaust drops below the dew point, you will see this as steam.
All piston internal combustion engines experience blowbye of the combustion gasses past the pistons to some degree, and as a result of this a small amount of water in the oil is normal, which will manifest itself as 'mayo' on relatively cold surfaces.
Having said all that, given the recent history of your engine, it could well have a damaged head gasket or cracked head.
Does it use coolant? If the coolant level behaves itself, then it's not pumping water into the oil!
Some of the 'miracle cures' work to a degree, but the trouble with most of these is their inability to distinguish between small holes that should be sealed up and those that shouldn't.

[BumphGb]

Thanks for the reply, hopefully after giving the car a bit more of a run around and having now sorted my leak(s) (fingers crossed) i'll have a better idea as to whether i'm losing coolant or not.
I dont plan on rushing into any work that i dont have to.