Mmmmm. Checked the coolant and oil this morning. The coolant is a couple of mm under max so it has dropped slightly, and there is a small amount of oil/water mayo in the oil filler cap. I disconnected the hot air pickup valve pipe in the filter intake in summer, I have now reconnected it but can't see it making much difference. I dont do any journeys under 10 miles, and mainly its a 40 mile round trip to work each day, so no time for the oil vapour to emulsify. Time to order a head gasket kit or am I jumping the gun?

Russ.

I would say from what you've said the head gasket would be an issue. The one I took to Banjul had similar when I bought it, and when I got the head off it was quite corroded, so I changed for another head (I had plenty here as spares at the time), so once you get it off you'll want to inspect it closely to see why it's failed.

I would say from what you've said the head gasket would be an issue. The one I took to Banjul had similar when I bought it, and when I got the head off it was quite corroded, so I changed for another head (I had plenty here as spares at the time), so once you get it off you'll want to inspect it closely to see why it's failed.

Well strangely, no coolant loss at all over the last few days, and no further mayo. I did shift it up and down the drive quite a few times last week to move motorbikes around, not sure if that has 'sweated' the oil at all. Anyway I'll keep an eye on it for now. When I got the car in summer, I changed the coolant immediately and the old stuff was quite clean, but I know what youre saying and its a good point. It has done 7,000 miles since July, after having covered 36,000 in the previous 17 years so the old girl may just be feeling a little flustered!

Well, it's possible that moving it like that did it, if it stays OK then don't worry about it. If the coolant loss isn't bad then sometimes I've not bothered either - I only did the Banjul car 'cos I didn't want to break down in the Sahara - I've had others that have been fine for years. Plus I had a mate who bought a BMW Z3 (awful, awful car) which had the same mayo issue, he thought it was the head gasket, turns out they did it for a pastime anyway, being overcooled.

Well, it's possible that moving it like that did it, if it stays OK then don't worry about it. If the coolant loss isn't bad then sometimes I've not bothered either - I only did the Banjul car 'cos I didn't want to break down in the Sahara - I've had others that have been fine for years. Plus I had a mate who bought a BMW Z3 (awful, awful car) which had the same mayo issue, he thought it was the head gasket, turns out they did it for a pastime anyway, being overcooled.

The desert trip sounds very interesting, have you got any details or a blog etc? I bought an AX for the misses last year and I quite like them. 3 weeks later, headgasket went big time. Next was a Seicento, and that did the same, I reckon I'm cursed or possibly just paranoid about the Skoda!

It was amazing. I'd love to do something like it again, but the political situation in Africa isn't so rosy at the moment (the Paris Dakar was cancelled while we were there because of security issues when some French tourists were killed in Mauritania), not sure if it'll ever happen!

I blogged it, although it doesn't look as nice as the original site...

http://darrenjones.is-a-geek.com/dj/wordpress/?paged=5

Clean out the breather pipes and if needed get a new breather filter (the metal mesh things in some cars).

This was the cause of huge amounts of mayo on shorter runs where cars don't get warm for 30 minutes.

If you think about your 40 minute journey, when it's quite cold out the car probably isn't up to full temperature for 10 minutes, so it's not surprising you're getting a bit of mayo.

Sitting in traffic doesn't help either.

They are quite prone to it anyway these engines.

I used to get a fair bit on mine but with no coolant loss.

Phil

Yeah thats a good point about the warm up, and I rarely push it unless its been run for a good few miles. It cruises the motorway mainly at 60-65 most of the time. Thanks for the info chaps.