So, a year and a bit and 40k after buying a cheap Octy with a bit of a coolant problem, I've tried all the other possible reasons for the fault and I'm getting back to blaming the head gasket.

 

It's a 1.9TDI 105. I'm not particularly attached to it, but it does its job well, and is good on fuel. I need a diesel because of my mileage and could do with an auto because of a shoulder problem. 

 

I'm fairly sure there's nothing else seriously wrong with the car, except at 200k, it's probably getting on for wanting a clutch pack doing. 

 

Do I:

 

- Sell/scrap it for a few hundred and buy another banger for a grand or two?

 

- Get the head gasket done? Anyone able to give a clue as to costs on this? Do they normally go back together OK?

 

- Get a scrapyard engine put in?

 

- Get the engine refurbed and a new clutch pack fitted while it's out (Seems to be about £1500-£1800)

SELL IT, put another grand or 2 in  and buy another car,

you can get decent octy with lower milage or another vag car for around 2k

 

in my experience high mile cars seem to have small niggle every month,

thats why i have a note 1.5 dci as 2nd car i paid around 2k for it with 70k on clock,

Unknowns with a head gasket leak - especially a long term one - include likely distortion of the head (needs to be skimmed) and possible cracking in the block (remove, weld, reskim).  If these turn out to be true it get very expen$ive.  Unfortunately the only way to fully establish this is to strip the motor down to take a look-see, by which time you've committed a significant chunk of the repair costs in labour and gaskets etc.

 

My apologies if this has already been mentioned but have you had a compression test done?  If you have and it showed a leak I'd get rid.  One of the assorted Sodium Silicate head gasket sealers may give you some breathing space but they're not a guarantee and will likely fail again in time as the thermal movement of the engine works on the silicate plug.

 

If you haven't had a compression test done I'd strongly recommend you do one now.  In the style of Donald Rumsfeld "Better to have known unknowns than unknown unknowns [sic]".

 

As regards selling & buying, diesel older cars seem to be attracting a premium in the used car market as a) supplies of new cars are slow to arrive at the start of the chain and b) diesels are getting harder to find.  It's mainly a sellers market but the usual bargains exist away from the main advertising channels such as autotrader or car sales forecourts.

 

Just FYI Parkers used car valuation site seems to be generally on track with values - https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-valuation/

Edited 23 December, 20214 yr by MikeTheThinker

What about just running it and topping up the coolant as necessary ? if it has worked for 40k so far for you why not just carry on doing what you are doing. 

It sounds like a very tiny leak if at all, the OP does not say what their "coolant problem" is which does not help, I am assuming that they are deducing head gasket because they are topping up with water occasionally but not frequently, I could be wrong as there is nothing to go on.

 

A small leak especially one that only manifests under high boost/high load conditions will not reveal itself on a compression test, the best test is one of the cheap sniffer kits that reveal combustion gases in the coolant.

 

Until the OP reveals what their problem is I wont make any other suggestions other than the above, how to check if the head gasket is leaking into the cooling system.

3 hours ago, 111zah111 said:

SELL IT, put another grand or 2 in  and buy another car,

you can get decent octy with lower milage or another vag car for around 2k

 

in my experience high mile cars seem to have small niggle every month,

 

I bought an Octavia 1 with 188000 miles on the clock and took it up to 325000 miles over 15 years without any problems whatsoever let alone a niggle every month, in that time aside from very extended oil & filter changes & brake linings I had to replace the coolant temp sensor and the alternator brush pack, neither of which prevented the vehicle operating, I simply noticed anomolies while driving, it could have been a niggle to someone who cannot diagnose.

 

The cam belt was not even changed till 250000 miles, belt alone, not kit, waterpump, pulleys etc, cost £8.

 

In my oipinion the 105hp PD engine is the most bulletproof of the lot, later cars are more complicated and less reliable than the earlier models, I have had to do lots of work on my Yeti that never needed doing on the Octavias at 3 times the mileage.

 

Buying a newer lower mileage vehicle is not always the best idea, if the OP's car has given him 40K miles in a year trouble free its worth him trying to resolve the coolant problem, the first step is to actually say what it is.

Edited 23 December, 20214 yr by J.R.

Trying poping some k seal additive in the coolant to see if that provides a cheap fix

17 hours ago, wiilydog said:

Trying poping some k seal additive in the coolant to see if that provides a cheap fix

 

I have had great success with this stuff.

Had a few old Fords, and a Honda go on forever by using this stuff.

I'd second trying some k-seal. At this point you've not got much to loose.

23 hours ago, J.R. said:

It sounds like a very tiny leak if at all, the OP does not say what their "coolant problem" is which does not help, I am assuming that they are deducing head gasket because they are topping up with water occasionally but not frequently, I could be wrong as there is nothing to go on.

 

A small leak especially one that only manifests under high boost/high load conditions will not reveal itself on a compression test, the best test is one of the cheap sniffer kits that reveal combustion gases in the coolant.

 

Until the OP reveals what their problem is I wont make any other suggestions other than the above, how to check if the head gasket is leaking into the cooling system.

 

I haven't compression tested it, but it's failed a sniffer test (Hydrocarbon gasses in the coolant system). It pressurises the header tank and forces the coolant down over my 40 mile run to work. If you don't let the gasses out at the end, it starts loosing the coolant (guessing it pushes it back through the leak when the engine's off). 

 

Yeah, keep on running it's an option, but the heater goes cold as you drive it. K-seal and the like, I think it had some put in before I bought it, and I've got a new rad and heater matrix on it, so I don't really want to be dumping sealant into those. I'm happy to spend what needs spending on it, so I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest option. 

 

I'm not adverse to going out and buying another cheapy (no point having a decent car living where I do and doing the mileage I do), my rule there is spend a grand and then put another grand aside to sort out any problems. The question there is would I be in a better situation than I would be if I fixed it? That and I'm having trouble finding anything diesel and auto in the budget that looks like a decent prospect. 

Ok that makes sense, thanks for confirming that you have done the sniffer test.

 

Its a bodge but costs nothing and might, just might allow the gases to bleed off without losing water or the engine overheating on your daily run.

 

Its something that I did when I had a major head gasket leak & had to drive back from Norfolk, aside from driving on part throttle using the vacuum guage I had released the rad cap one detent so that it released to the overflow without pressurising, I ran the overflow pipe under the bonnet/wing gap and kept an eye on the steam coming out, when it stopped it was time to top up the radiator.

 

My suggestion to you is to unscrew the filler cap just enough to bleed off a small bit of pressure when the engine is hot and leave it like that, do your 40 mile journey keeping a close eye on the temperature, it might, just might allow the gases to bleed off without losing any fluid or less than you are losing now, in any case its preferable to it entering the cylinder as you suspect which could result in hydraulic lock.

 

I feel for your situation, you have an otherwise really reliable engine and vehicle whose value doesn't justify spending money on a significant repair.

Just occurred to me that I think these engines have an egr cooler.