Hi,I'm new here and looking for a little help and advice,I bought a 1998 felicia 1.3 as a run around but knowing nothing about cars I've bought one with a suspected leaky head gasket,it's using water like crazy,there's creamy sludge underneath the oil cap and sometimes the engine sounds like it's struggling,basically I'm after an idea of cost to replace the head gasket and was wondering as I'm spending money already if there's anything that can be done to give the car a little more grunt or is there any engines that are an easy swap,as I say I know very little about car's so would have to get the work done by a mechanic,as you can imagine I'm a little annoyed at myself for not taking someone with to check it out but we live and learn I guess,any advice would be great

The oil is the blood of the engine. Your engine is lubricated now with mayonnaise yet you are still using the car... probably you want to kill the engine for good.

 

Oil mixes with coolant in one of the situations below:

• head gasket is not sealing
• head is cracked
• block is cracked

That usually happens when the engine is over-stressed by driving habits or has poor maintenance. Assuming you want to repair it yourself, don't think it is as easy as changing a faucet gasket, you take out old gasket and slap in a new one. Once the head is removed, needs to be checked for cracks and flatness (block too) then check how the valves seal, if stem seals are bad, if valve guides are good, etc. Most probably you'll need help from a machining shop, unless you want to hear a loud hiss first time you start the engine. You need to clean the mayonnaise from the entire system, that is messy. Bad lubrication affected the crankshaft bearings and god knows what else. You need a torque wrench at minimum and good knowledge.

Thanks for the reply,I'm not running the car still and no I don't want to kill it,I was just asking foradvice and an idea of cost is all,as stated I know very little about cars

How much did you pay for the car?

I paid £350 for the car.

A proper job would cost up to £400 depending on the state of head, valves, etc. you also mentioned that you want more power. That is very much budget related. I would repair the engine to get as close as possible to it's 50 kW, then see if it's enough.

Start by doing a compression test at a car shop to assess the mechanical state of the engine.

If I did the job [properly, I've probably done literally about 100 Skoda OHV head gaskets!] it would cost in the region of £200 including gaskets, oil, oil filter and new coolant. If the head needs skimming due to corrosion/warpage or anything extra were required then obviously costs would rise accordingly.

 

Before removing the head I would remove the rocker cover and check that one of the 20mm core plugs under the rockers haven't failed which will cause coolant to leak into the oil. 

Before removing the head I would remove the rocker cover and check that one of the 20mm core plugs under the rockers haven't failed which will cause coolant to leak into the oil. 

Edit:

Oil mixes with coolant in one of the situations below:

• head gasket is not sealing
• head is cracked
• block is cracked
• core plugs leak

I have never seen one happening to a street Felicia on my island, but it is a very good observation.