I was checking my coolant in my 2002 Skoda Fabia 1.4 when I noticed that It looked a little strange. I'm worried that the head gasket is going to go! Can anyone give me some advice, is this normal for the coolant to look like this?

It has a white frothy foam on the lid, and inside the liquid looks greasy, dark and oily.

What should I do?

A few things to check to get more information:

Has any work been done on the engine which could introduce lubrication (e.g. new cam belt/water pump etc)?

Is this the first time you've seen this - was it normally clear and non-oily?

Was there foam filling the top of the tank when you took off the cap?

Has the water level changed?

Is the oil level OK? Is it dropping or water in it (put a match to the tip of the dip stick; if there is water in it the oil will spit).

Was there any pressure in the tank when you took the top off?

The only true way to check is to use an instrument to check for exhaust gases in the water, but even this could miss some problems. At the moment I wouldn't panic - just work through the signs.

That bottle looks clean, what colour is the coolant and when was it changed? Sludge can form from mixing coolant types or additives. Out of curiosity do you have the revised HG fitted and what mileage is the car?

Are you loosing coolant? Is the tank pressureised on a morning when the engine has stood overnight un-used? If the answer to either of the above yes then get a sniffer test done to confirm.

Firstly, thank you both for replying and helping me out. I went outside this morning and had a good look at the coolant and oil, going over all the points you both suggested, here is what I found out:

A few things to check to get more information:

1) Has any work been done on the engine which could introduce lubrication (e.g. new cam belt/water pump etc)?

2) Is this the first time you've seen this - was it normally clear and non-oily?

3) Was there foam filling the top of the tank when you took off the cap?

4) Has the water level changed?

5) Is the oil level OK? Is it dropping or water in it (put a match to the tip of the dip stick; if there is water in it the oil will spit).

6) Was there any pressure in the tank when you took the top off?

The only true way to check is to use an instrument to check for exhaust gases in the water, but even this could miss some problems. At the moment I wouldn't panic - just work through the signs.

1) Not that I know of, my car had a full service a while back but has not had any new work done recently.

2) I have not checked my coolant in a while, but last time I checked it looked clearer and I don't think there was such a dark colour to the bottom of the coolant tank.

3) I took the cap off this morning. There was foam on the lid (as in the image in the first post) and a few blobs of foam on the top of the coolant liquid. However it was not frothing up and filling the top of the tank.

4) No water level change.

5) Checked the oil and there has been no change in its level. There is also no water in it. However when I did take off the Oil cap to have a look around, there was sludge-like foam on that lid as well!

The oil lid:

Where the oil lid sits:

6) No pressure, the car had been off all night.

That bottle looks clean, what colour is the coolant and when was it changed? Sludge can form from mixing coolant types or additives. Out of curiosity do you have the revised HG fitted and what mileage is the car?

Are you loosing coolant? Is the tank pressureised on a morning when the engine has stood overnight un-used? If the answer to either of the above yes then get a sniffer test done to confirm.

When I had a full service I think the coolant was changed then, which was more than a few months ago. Apoligies but I'm not much of a car tech, so I'm not sure what you mean by revised HG. However the milage on the car is 50283. The coolant level has also stayed the same.

When I turned on the enigne and checked the coolant, my friends dad had a look and said the coolant tank was pumping cold water. Antoher thing to note is that when I brought the car 2 Years ago, it had problems with its coolant tempreature gauge. It would never work and one day a warning light for it came on. Skoda replaced the tempreature gauge which conviently fixed the problem untill the 3 month warranty was up.

Since then the tempreature gauge never really worked, it just sat at the far left doing nothing on my dashboard. Sometimes when I turned the car on and off it would eventually wake up. Due to this I usually ignore it.

Sorry for the mass of information in one chunk, but I hope you can help me out with this problem. I really don't want my head gasket to go (if that is is problem) as I wont be able to keep my car!

Thanks in advance.

Ok, I can't tell from the pictures. What colour is the coolant? It should be pink (or possibly red or orange) OAT (don't worry about what that means; if you just call it O.A.T. then whoever you're talking to will think you know what you mean).

I think (no promises) that the problem with the temperature guage may be the sensor. One of our members with VCDS will be able to test this properly for you.

"revised HG" means "revised (design of) Head Gasket". If the cylinder head's been off in the last 2 years, then you'll know about it from the bill if nothign else.

How many miles do you do a day? I only do short journeys a day, not even 10 and i regularly see the foaming ****e on my cap, mines just simply condensation. I took it to the Garage to be safe to get checked out and it came back clear. I just take it for a run down the motorway and it all disappears like it was never there.

As last advice; go for a good long run to get everything hot; then have a look CAUTION let it cool before taking off the tank cap. You need to sort out the temperature gauge issue as without it you can't check many other things, e.g. running constantly cool could mean a thermostat is required (cheap and easy). The pumping of cold water isn't a problem. A small amount of water is always being circulated even with a closed thermostat and engine. The changed colour of the coolant is odd, but it could be the result of old products being freed from the linings of the cooling channels. A 2002 car with only 50K miles may have been stood for a while and a change of coolant may have cleaned the channels but discoloured the liquid.

Please report back.