Also the temperature gauge tends to sit at the 1/4 unless I'm sitting with engine running which it then gets to the 1/2 way mark and the fan kicks in.

1 minute ago, KenONeill said:

Well, a recent new radiator and thermostat make little difference to my theory, but this does support it. It also starts fine if you leave it until "cold" again?

Ok 👍

On 13/08/2019 at 08:55, KenONeill said:

@Lynn67 - Well, the timeline is helpful. I think the Coolant Temperature Sensor or Cold Enrichment are faulty, so that you get full mixture on a warm engine, but it needs a VCDS scan to confirm my theory, and tell you which the fault is with.

Well you were spot on with the sensor it was reading -7 degrees when it was actually 20+ degrees. New sensor and a new battery as that had , had it.

On 16/08/2019 at 16:38, Lynn67 said:

Well you were spot on with the sensor it was reading -7 degrees when it was actually 20+ degrees

And now you see why I was suspicious of the CTS; it has 2 channels, and can supply a duff value to the EMS and a good one to the gauge or vice versa.

On 09/08/2019 at 21:22, KenONeill said:

@Lynn67 - As TMB says. The oil in the plug recesses is pretty normal, but oil in the header tank strongly suggests HGF. Similarly if you have any sign of water on the dipstick.

 

(but not if you have mayonnaise in the can cover; that can just be condensation.)

Ok I have no sign of water on the dipstick, car isn't overheating, no blue or white smoke out the exhaust. It's running fine and I'm not losing coolant but there is a small amount of oil in the header tank. Is there anything else that could cause that other than a HGF.

Edited 15 September, 20196 yr by Lynn67

What engine is this? Sorry if it’s in your profile I’m browsing on my phone and it doesn’t give details. 

20 minutes ago, Tech1e said:

What engine is this? Sorry if it’s in your profile I’m browsing on my phone and it doesn’t give details. 

It's 2002 1.4mpi 16v AUB engine.

On 16/08/2019 at 16:57, KenONeill said:

And now you see why I was suspicious of the CTS; it has 2 channels, and can supply a duff value to the EMS and a good one to the gauge or vice versa.

Blimey Ken, how many times do I have to correct you on this?

All mk1 Fabias use a single channel sensor; one thermistor with just two wires. This is used by the engine ECU to measure coolant temperature.

The engine ECU communicates this temperature to any other modules that need to know it, such as the instrument cluster.

 

Please don't keep telling people otherwise, it doesn't help.

3 hours ago, Lynn67 said:

Ok I have no sign of water on the dipstick, car isn't overheating, no blue or white smoke out the exhaust. It's running fine and I'm not losing coolant but there is a small amount of oil in the header tank. Is there anything else that could cause that other than a HGF.

 

It isn't obvious to me where else it could be coming from, but if it's only a small amount I'd be tempted to change out the coolant and see how long it takes to get mucky again.

Might be a tiny leak that may not merit the cost of fixing.

30 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

It isn't obvious to me where else it could be coming from, but if it's only a small amount I'd be tempted to change out the coolant and see how long it takes to get mucky again.

Might be a tiny leak that may not merit the cost of fixing.

That's one possible way. If it was just the gasket starting to fail would the head have to be skimmed still?

Generally a false economy not to skim, or at least have a damn good measure to confirm its flatness. 

Edited 15 September, 20196 yr by Wino
damn, not damp

 

4 minutes ago, Wino said:

Generally a false economy not to skim, or at least have a damn good measure to confirm its flatness. 

Yep I thought that would be the case.

I guess it's a case of taking  it to the garage I use and get a quote for the work and make a decision on what to do.

1 hour ago, Wino said:

Generally a false economy not to skim, or at least have a damn good measure to confirm its flatness. 

 

It's more trouble to try and measure it than to clamp it up, touch on and let the fly cutter make a pass, if it's shiny all over then it's straight, any dull patches and it'll need more passes until it cleans up, add up the passes if you want to know how bad it was.

Sure, but if you've got a straight edge and a set of feeler gauges you can DIY a check. Not many of us have 'fly cutters' kicking about in the back of the garage.

9 minutes ago, Wino said:

Sure, but if you've got a straight edge and a set of feeler gauges you can DIY a check. Not many of us have 'fly cutters' kicking about in the back of the garage.

I do have a set of feeler gauges but certainly not  'fly cutters' 😁.

4 minutes ago, Wino said:

Sure, but if you've got a straight edge and a set of feeler gauges you can DIY a check. Not many of us have 'fly cutters' kicking about in the back of the garage.

 

Except that's not a good enough check for truth because castings can warp in unusual ways, it's very common to find that the alloy around some of the bolt holes is proud by a thou or two due to distortion, this can prevent the new gasket sealing evenly.

 

Take it to a machine shop, they have the right kit and don't charge much to true it up for you.

On 16/08/2019 at 16:38, Lynn67 said:

Well you were spot on with the sensor it was reading -7 degrees when it was actually 20+ degrees. New sensor and a new battery as that had , had it.

 

14 hours ago, Wino said:

Blimey Ken, how many times do I have to correct you on this?

All mk1 Fabias use a single channel sensor; one thermistor with just two wires. This is used by the engine ECU to measure coolant temperature.

The engine ECU communicates this temperature to any other modules that need to know it, such as the instrument cluster.

 

Please don't keep telling people otherwise, it doesn't help.

OK, explain Lynn's quoted port then.

@KenONeill

The single channel sensor was reading wrongly!

Okay I've just spoke to the garage to do the HG your looking at £600- £700 pounds. 

He has suggested to monitor the amount of oil in the coolant over next few weeks. 

He said if I start to get a lot more oil then they will have a look at the oil cooler as that could be what's causing it.

Edited 16 September, 20196 yr by Lynn67
Missed words

7 minutes ago, Lynn67 said:

Okay I've just spoke to the garage to do the HG your looking at £600- £700 pounds. 

He has suggested to monitor the amount of oil in the coolant over next few weeks. 

He said if I start to get a lot more oil then they will have a look at the oil cooler as that could be what's causing it.

 

The AUB doesn't have an oil cooler.

 

I've not seen an AUB head gasket fail so I would first drain, flush and refit the antifreeze, new header tank (they are really cheap) and see how it goes before spending over the value of the car on repairs.

1 hour ago, Tech1e said:

 

The AUB doesn't have an oil cooler.

 

I've not seen an AUB head gasket fail so I would first drain, flush and refit the antifreeze, new header tank (they are really cheap) and see how it goes before spending over the value of the car on repairs.

Well that's odd because the garage knows the car and that it's an AUB code vw engine.

Looks like you are right Tec1e as the mechanic who always used to do work on my car also replied with he didn't think it had one either.

Yes put a new header tank on and flushed the coolant system March last year when put a new radiator on so it's worth doing as you suggested 👍

Edited 16 September, 20196 yr by Lynn67
Update

Darren (mechanic) is saying the cambelt and water pump don't need changing as he done them a couple of years ago and I don't do a lot of mileage a year and the quote from the garage has included replacing them.

One question, how a head gasket failure could allow oil to reach the spark plugs tunnel? I could think the problem for the oily spark plugs is a valve cover gasket failure, which is very cheap compared to a hg replacement. The oily coolant expand bottle could be from some other reason. I had a same greasy expand bottle at my Honda caused by a wrong cheap coolant. A good flush and the proper fluid resolved the problem. 

 

Sorry if I missing a clue, here. 

13 hours ago, makymak said:

One question, how a head gasket failure could allow oil to reach the spark plugs tunnel?

 

My answer is yes, the oil in the spark plug holes is probably  from leakage past the sealant used between cam cover and head, unrelated to the coolant oiliness or anything to do with the head gasket.

 

As you'll see if you look carefully; although myself and Tech1e have mentioned the possibility of HG problem me saying 'possibility', him saying 'unlikely' , both have suggested the same initial action as you have. Change the coolant and monitor the situation.  It's beyond our control whether the OP leaps straight  to getting quotes for HG replacement before doing this step.

Edited 23 September, 20196 yr by Wino

Yes I have took everyone's advice onboard and I am going to flush the system and replace the coolant and monitor the situation.

I got a quote only to see how much it would be ( worst case scenario ). 

Thanks for all the advice and help 👍.