head gasket advice before stripping

[Big deano]

right i need to find out if its defnitly that before i strip down the engine and spend a fortune on the bits..

symptoms are doesnt lose water on normal driving for about a week untill water light comes on..

if i cane it the light come on after about 5\10 minutes.

no water in oil caplooks good and clean

im pretty sure ive had a dip in power because of it

no obvious leaks

cap is a tiny bit presurised after a night standing not much

thats all i can think of any one had these problems and know the crack with it before i rip it to bits

[mogwye]

Contact Avalon, he seems to be very knowledgeable about these things.

DB.

[Marc81]

Mines the same mate... been like that for about 2 years now but I've not got the money to have the HG done when its not really causing any other problems :-(

[Avalon]

Contact Avalon, he seems to be very knowledgeable about these things.

DB.

Tempting fate here but i've never had to do a PD (or indeed any other diesel) HG yet. I would hope i'm a few years away from starting with the Leon. Petrol's on the other hand i've done a few of.

right i need to find out if its defnitly that before i strip down the engine and spend a fortune on the bits..

symptoms are doesnt lose water on normal driving for about a week untill water light comes on..

if i cane it the light come on after about 5\10 minutes.

no water in oil caplooks good and clean

im pretty sure ive had a dip in power because of it

no obvious leaks

cap is a tiny bit presurised after a night standing not much

thats all i can think of any one had these problems and know the crack with it before i rip it to bits

It could be the early stages of HG failure but it could also be a pinhole in the rad or a joint only leaking under higher load/temps. Have a good look for the white tell tale deposits where the coolant has evaporated but don't assume the worst. If you still can't find the leak (and getting the car up on ramps is a lot easier) then have a sniffer test done (£10-20 at an indy, kit is £35 for DIY).

[mogwye]

I seem to remember another similar post, it turned out to be a heater pipe, where it goes through the bulkhead, it was dripping onto the exhaust so not leaving a tell tale mark on the floor when parked up.

DB.

[Steve Neate]

To be absolutely certain, have a 'leak down' test done. It's the equivalent of a compression test on a petrol engine.

SN

[Big deano]

whats a leak down test ? never heard of that before

[Phil-J]

If you've never heard of a leak test for a potential head gasket failure, then I wouldn't be jumping in and replacing it.

[mattvrestate]

Or just do a coolant pressure test.. to start with

have u got a BLT as they have EGR coolers which can leak internally.. evaporating into the exhaust system un-detected

[Avalon]

Not sure you'll get much from a coolant pressure test, it's loosing so little at normal temp/pressure and most testing is only done at circa 1 bar.

[Steve Neate]

On a leak down test, each cylinder is pressurised and the rate at which the pressure 'leaks' away is observed. In that way, you can pin point if any cylinder has a problem, either head gasket or valves.

SN

[Big deano]

That sounds cool I've never seen any signs of water leaking and it's strange the oil is still normal as I'd of assumed if it was hg itd be creamy

[Jasvrs]

My head gasket went in mine and there was no normal signs off failure eg creamy oil etc but when i removed the head it was geting through cylinder 3 on the head gasket it would loose all the water in the soace off 2 miles so had properly fooked itself