Good morning all,

Looking for help to make a decision. Checked water in header tank yesterday and found thick sludge in the header tank. I believe this is indicative of a blown head gasket.

Vehicle is a 2013 Mk3 Octavia with a 2.0 Tdi  engine. Its done 190k It has just passed mot and has 11months to go. 

Is it viable to repair this and what is the likely cost going to be? (realise you cant give me  precise figure Ball park would be good.)

One other option would be to find an engine on e-bay (£900- £1,500) is that worth considering?

 

There doesnt seem to be much in the way of S/H octavia's on the market at the moment. Unless you guys know differently.

Thanks in advance and off to look at market place now.

More likely oil cooler than head gasket if the sludge looks like oil contamination.

Could even be the silica bag burst thing. Does the expansion tank say “mit silica” or similar on it ?

Drain the oil, is it full of coolant?

Yeah it's repairable, would guess at £1k+ by dealer, a little less from an indy... Head gasket change requires the removal of a lot of components! Have to factor in cambelt and waterpump, aux belt, gasket set for the head/exhaust manifold/charge cooler/cam cover sealant, new head bolts, fluids and other service items if about due etc...

 

Fully drain the oil and coolant and have a look for contamination with the other then go from there, you can refill with clean fluids to get you to a garage, or tackle yourself if you're that way inclined!

Before you think about repairs to a gasket which you do not know has blown have a compression test done, if that does not reveal anything then a coolant sniff test for combustion gases, before either of these have someone experienced look at the sludge.

Update:

Checked oil dipstick and there is no emulsified oil and what is on the dipstick does not look thin.

Can you do a compression test on a diesel? would that give a clue if it is head gasket? Is there a way to diagnose if it is the oil cooler?

There has been a previous loss of coolant which the garage put down to a pin hole in a hose. Now i'm wondering if this is the real cause.

I'm thinking the next step is to get it to a garage for further checks. Seems like it might be woth spending the money?

Thank you all for the advice much appreciated.

 

2 minutes ago, Geoff1959 said:

Can you do a compression test on a diesel?

Yes, but you need a specialist compression tester; it will put a "normal" petrol tester through the bonnet!

It would be a lot more than £1k from anyone done correctly as you must not reface VAG Diesel cylinder heads and these heads are known for internal cracking. We use new AMC castings and the job comes out at around £3k. Geoff’s car says to me oil cooler anyway as Pete said.

I replaced my cracked cylinder head about 2 years ago, absolute pig of a job on the floor in my garage!

 

Just steer clear of a dealer as they seem to lack the knowledge for correct diagnosis and you'll end up out of pocket replacing stuff that won't correct your issue... A VAG specialist will see you right more often than not.

I couldn’t do one on the deck anymore, it would finish me off.

4 hours ago, Geoff1959 said:

Update:

Checked oil dipstick and there is no emulsified oil and what is on the dipstick does not look thin.

Can you do a compression test on a diesel? would that give a clue if it is head gasket? Is there a way to diagnose if it is the oil cooler?

There has been a previous loss of coolant which the garage put down to a pin hole in a hose. Now i'm wondering if this is the real cause.

I'm thinking the next step is to get it to a garage for further checks. Seems like it might be woth spending the money?

Thank you all for the advice much appreciated.

 

Any sludge in and around the oil filler cap?

Hi Ords,

No sludge around oil filler cap.

Judging from comments it seems the way to go is to get a compresion test done by a specialist and take it from there.

If as several people suggest it is the oil cooler that would seem to be a much more viable thing to fix?

 

Really appreciate all your comments.

It would be cheaper to invest in a compression tester than pay a specialist, you could always sell it on afterwards if you see no further use.

Compression test on a diesel presumably involves removal of all glowplugs, which carries a risk in itself.

 

Ask your garage what they would recommend, but maybe say that you think it could be the oil cooler (relatively much cheaper job compared to HG), see what they say.

 

If you plan to do any diagnostics yourself, I think dropping the oil to look for coolant is a great suggestion. It will separate out and come out of the drainhole first, I think, if present.