I recently bought a Skoda Fabia 1.4mpi 2001. I bought it knowing it needed new pads and disks to the front. I was told it had MOT which it turned out not to have. So i have had quite a lot of trouble so far with the car.

One thing i checked the car over when i bought it and the coolant and oil cap had no sludge on. When i drove it back home, and turned the engine over a few times. I noticed that there is a large amount of sludge in the coolant cap and a little on the oil cap. There is none on the dipstick though. I presume they must have cleaned the caps so it didnt look like it had a problem. The drive back was only about 20 minutes but the car didnt show any signs of a headgasket fault. The temperature was fine and there was no white smoke out the back.

I have done some reading on here and seen that sometimes this problem isnt always a headgasket fault. From the few details i have given what are peoples thoughts on the matter?

Thanks

Oil cap

Oil reservoir

Coolant cap

Coolant reservoir

Edited 10 April, 201214 yr by Tim Cech

Still needing som help with this one. Any help is a huge help to me. I know i have not given much info. I dont want to go and buy a headgasket kit if i dont need it.

Thanks Tim

A mayo like substance on the oil filler cap can be normal if the car is used for short journeys.

The thing that worries me more is any 'sludge' in the coolant. What I suggest you do is drain the coolant, flush it out several times and refill with VAG coolant. Watch the the coolant and oil for level and a return of any sludge.

I recently bought a Skoda Fabia 1.4mpi 2001. I bought it knowing it needed new pads and disks to the front. I was told it had MOT which it turned out not to have. So i have had quite a lot of trouble so far with the car.

One thing i checked the car over when i bought it and the coolant and oil cap had no sludge on. When i drove it back home, and turned the engine over a few times. I noticed that there is a large amount of sludge in the coolant cap and a little on the oil cap. There is none on the dipstick though. I presume they must have cleaned the caps so it didnt look like it had a problem. The drive back was only about 20 minutes but the car didnt show any signs of a headgasket fault. The temperature was fine and there was no white smoke out the back.

I have done some reading on here and seen that sometimes this problem isnt always a headgasket fault. From the few details i have given what are peoples thoughts on the matter?

Thanks

That's not a lot of trouble, an MOT costs £30-35, I don't understand how you can buy (and drive) a car without one, before you hand over the cash they surely gave you the old MOT doc or you'd checked it on-line (free) or by phone (insignificantly small cost)? Disc's and pads are under £40 so and take no effort at all to fit so again nothing major especially as you knew about them before buying.

If the only suggestion of HGF so far is mayo on the cap then that in itself is not evidence of HGF. Is it loosing coolant? Have you checked the res for a film of oil on the top of the coolant? Mayo on the filler cap is evidence that moisture and oil have mixed, this could be from a combination of the weather and short runs or a failed seal on the filler cap etc. You're right not to buy a HG kit as you need to do some very basic checks before hand.

Also check if you have the revised HG (look for a T on the p/s front of the block where the HG is visible), early cars didn't have this and did have an issue with HG's but this was largely solved by the HG's replacement with the correct part and the tech's being given the right torque settings to make sure they were tight.

Thanks for the replies.

RWBaldwin will draining the fluid and filling it with new coolant be alright if i drive it long enough to see if the sludge comes back, because i dont want to drive it and break it even more then it is. The amount of sludge on the water coolant lid is quite substantial and i have never seen that before, even when i have had a car with a failed head gasket.

Avalon, i bought the car under the assumption that the info was correct as it was from a work friends friend. This was a massive mistake on my part as i drove it home unaware that it had no MOT. I have fitted the disks and pads, came to £43 from a local parts store. The mot i more here in Cornwall maybe because they charge £50 something. I only drove it for that little 20 minute drive as it has no MOT so dont know if its losing coolant. As i say there was no overheating and no white smoke. Once i have the MOT i will drive it to see what happens, i just wasnt keen on doing anymore driving incase it was the headgasket and this made it worse and broke the head. Am i being silly and worrying about that?

Thanks for the help so far guys

Are you sure it's oil in the coolant?

You can also get brown sludge in the coolant if you mix the two types of coolants. Whatever it is in there, it needs to come out. If it comes back you definately have a problem.

You can drive it, but you do need to check after every trip until you know the score. Once you have wiped off the mayo from the oil cap, it should take some time to come back if it is down to condensation.

Im not sure rwbaldwin, i have updated my original post with pics.

I drove it down our little dirt road for 5 minutes, only got up to second. Then left it running for 20 minutes, the temperature stayed in exactly the middle after about ten minutes of idling.

It is noisy but doesnt seem to be the engine as it does not increase as i rev it up.

The car has also got the airbag light showing, is it a very expensive job if they need to be repaired?

Im not sure rwbaldwin, i have updated my original post with pics.

I drove it down our little dirt road for 5 minutes, only got up to second. Then left it running for 20 minutes, the temperature stayed in exactly the middle after about ten minutes of idling.

It is noisy but doesnt seem to be the engine as it does not increase as i rev it up.

The car has also got the airbag light showing, is it a very expensive job if they need to be repaired?

AIRBAG Light on is a MOT Failure i think under new regulations

A quick and dirty test is to wash the coolant cap in a bowl of water. If the sludge can be mixed with water and doesn't float it's not oil.

Get the car scanned. That will help you track down the airbag fault.

Coolant reservoir doesn't look good. Then again, the oil cap doesn't look too bad, and could be just short journeys.

One thing to check is that the coolant gets up to temperature in a few minutes (half way on the gauge). It's common for the thermostats to fail, which means the engine oil never heats up enough to burn off normal condensation within the engine.

I agree the sludge could be due to coolant types being mixed. Also see http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/207323-14mpi-changing-thermostat-and-flushing-coolant-system/

Will this Vag-com diagnostic tool work with my car?

http://www.suntekstore.co.uk/goods.php?id=14001539&utm_source=gbuk

see http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/234440-airbag-light/page__view__findpost__p__2752924

How do i know which one will work with my car?

Both my finacés fabia's have had that manky looking coolant tank and the sludge under the cap. I'll be honest with you, it only appeared on the previous car when we had to put in some RadWeld to solve a radiator problem, it was always there on the current car.

Are you sure its the airbag light and not the coolant low indicator? looks like a thermostat in some wavey water. This is a common light to have show up when the coolant tank has gone manky.

Dave.

Its definitly the airbag light, i am going to buy a vag-com tool, just dont know which type to buy

Will any obd2 one work?

How do i know which one will work with my car?

IN THEORY all the KKL leads will work. The problem with buying from eBay is that you can't be sure if it will work reliably or how long it will last. As you can see from my link, the one I recommend is 3x the eBay price, but it WILL work RELIABLY.

And the one i linked to from an online retailer, any good at the price?

And the one i linked to from an online retailer, any good at the price?

It MAY be OK. The cheap ones SHOULD work exactly the same as the more expensive one which WILL work RELIABLY.

My experience of the cheap ones, is that the quality often varies batch-to-batch and you can spend a great deal of time before you realise it is faulty/has stopped working.

Where are you based? Someone with VCDS may be able to help for beer tokens (as opposed to the dealer's demands for something silly like £60-80). There is a list I believe in the VCDS section of these forums.

Whats the difference between a cheap £20 cable and vcds?

For the record, my ELM327 cheapo interface never seems to work with VAG stuff, seems to work ok with ford etc.

On the Fabia/Golf I use a cheap chinese blue one, works fine but VCDS reports that the connection is slow.

Dave.

Whats the difference between a cheap £20 cable and vcds?

VCDS-Lite is shareware, but can reset the airbag. You just buy a KKL lead

Here is the difference between the versions http://ross-tech.com...-functions.html

Hi, was wondering if when i change the headgasket on my skoda fabia 1.4mpi 2001 if i had to buy more bolts or if i could re-use the old ones?

I have bought the cable and just charging the battery so i can get a fault code

New head bolts needed as they are a stretch fit type.