all i can say is BUGGER! had this car 4 years never given me any problems til now, and it looks like either the heater matrix is gone or the head gasket,

Its pretty easy to chage the gasket, normal as all basic cars however you will need an allen key socket for head bolts, which should really be changed during head replacement ( but I have reused many times on older engines in Rapids as the bolts are quite expensive). You will need a low tourqe touque wrench for initial tightening then a angle gauge or snowpac to mark the bolts and retighten in two 90degree steps. Remember not all bolts are the same size. And they take some cracking to get initially to turn

The problem with these aluminium heads is corrosion and may really need a head skin or replacement - hopfully a gasket will surfice. Head gasket problems are quite normal on the aluminum 8v favorits Feleicias and Fabias.

Not normally much ancillary disconection before removing the head.

The haynes manual is pretty good

Best of Luck

John

good luck mate i replaced the head gasket on my D reg fiesta make sure all the torques are correct and dont over tighten the bolts and end up cracking the head

having looked at it a bit more, im not 100% sure it is the gasket.

no smoke, no water in the oil, or oil in the water and no loss of power, think it may just be a leak in the heater matrix.

sounds less and less like the head gasket light the hammer sign and call for aid from Big K

basically the engine was rattlin last night like a can of nails, called the AA out and he found that there was no water in the coolant resevoir, so he put some in (ENGINE RUNNING!) and it spat out loads of brown gloop like a volcano, so i got towed to a garage took ir around a few places who found loads of this brown sludge underneith the air intake/heater matrix, looks like its been leaking alot coz the colour is all over the chasis under it, so im gonna get it repaired/replaced tomorow, see if that helps.

If i cant looks like a new car :( probably a felicia

go for it mate nothing ventured nothing gained :crossedfingersmillie:

:-D especially as i really know nothing bout engines, and doubt i could replace a gasket and the price it costs for it to be done is prolly more than the cars worth etc etc.

well you never know do you mate might be worth investing in a better car before the winter really kicks in?

well this is the only major thing thats gone wrong with the car, i like it... i have a slight smugness, how many 22 year olds do you know that have driven a skoda by choice for 4 years? :-D

i am only 21 and my count is 2 skodas by choice in 4 months

2 skodas? i want a fabia WRC myself ;-) but i guess a favorit 1.3glxi is good enough for now.

and mebbe an octavia sport, except for the poor performance in the WRC, hope they sort the car out for next season

they are great cars my dad had one as his second skoda i like the design very 80's look best in white IMHO he also had a favorit foreman pickup at the same time possibly a bit of a skoda family.

Originally posted by Dupre in this post

having looked at it a bit more, im not 100% sure it is the gasket.

no smoke, no water in the oil, or oil in the water and no loss of power, think it may just be a leak in the heater matrix.

Check the fan switch (thermister) in radiator is tight they sometimes loosen and loose coolant - Felicias also. its the thing with the 2 wires attached.

John

its only really losing water from the matrix, its all over (coz its brown) the workings underneith it.

Theres only a slight leakage from the radiator connection, the thermostat is working coz the system opens and circulates.

I know this is an old post, but wonder how it got on?

What was the mileage like on the car?

ISTR somewhere that the timing chain could chew through the block and at least one waterway if it got really bad (the ratting made me think of it).

BTW, if it is brown sludge that has come out of the heater matrix, are you sure it was proper coolant in there, not just water? Just water can lead to the engine waterways corroding and causing rust etc in the radiator (brown rusty sludge). It can also cause the waterpump impeller to get gradually corroded away, all of which lead to a combined weakening of the coolant system.