Well i was driving back from grimsby the other night and the car started to feel a bit sluggish. After a few miles the car gradually lost power and finally came to a halt. Then lots of steaming smoke followed and I thought it was gonna blow! But after a few minutes it cooled down and I was able to look under the bonnet whilst i awaited the AA.

The first thing I noticed was that the main oil filler cap was missing and all of the water had gone from the coolent bottle. There was some oil around the engine but not so much as to worry that it had lost all of it. The 1st weird thing is that it appeared to be a head gasket at first as the oil was creamy (water and oil) on the engine cases, but the oil from the sump was at a nearly full level and clean???

Since getting the car back, I have tried filling the cooling system back up with the hope of finding a leaking hose etc, and it keeps emptying, but to where I don't know as I can't see it pouring out anywhere. The oil is still clean in the sump and the car won't turn over as there seems to be no compression. I am praying this is one of them simple fixes that someone in the know can remedy, but knowing my luck it will need a bone marrow transplant!

Any help would be greatly received as I am without transport. I am a mechanical retard by the way, so please be gentle.

Not sure what it could be as im not mechanically minded, but it might do you good posting the make, model, trim of the car.

Sounds like a head gasket to me too mate sorry :(

What did the AA man say?

Have a good look around the side of the einge and at all pipes for crusty pink deposits, and sorry i can't help any more.

It is a 1999 T reg felicia 1.3 mpi. It has 36k on the clock with FSSH.

unlucky mate... part of the a-team has just gone into the big brother house lol

And i have sadly changed my avatar to suit.

Sounds very much a head gasket....don't try to start the car as water doesn't compress very well and could do some serious damage

sounds exactly like the head gasket to me. Quite possible you would have heard the "pinking" noise as well as you were driving it (sounds kind of like a ticking noise - these engines tend to be a little noisey on the top end anyway so its easy to miss). Ive had a few head gasket failures over the years, and only once have I had it mixing oil and water.

if the head comes off you need to get the liner heights checked and shimmed or else you will likelly have another head gasket failure.

Any idea how much it's gonna cost to get it done right?

shouldnt be too bad on the 1.3 engine, they are nice easy cars to work on, and so there isnt hours of labour involved in taking the ancilarries off etc. Hourly rates vary hugelly between garrages, I I was doing the job I would guesstimate 2 hours at the most. Head gasket and shims arent majorly expensive items.

the head went on my 1.3 and the skoda dealer told me if the gasget goes, the head "MUST" have worpped, it would need a new head, costing £700!!!. so i scrapped the car. this later turned out to be utter bull $hit, and the stealer turned out to be an utter

t0$$£r.

good luck mate.

Head gasket shouldn't cause loss of compression unless it's gone in a big way, and then you'd definately be mixing oil and water, sounds like something more serious (as well as the head gasket) to me.

MY experience of head gasket failures says otherwise especially on the wet lined 136 engines. Ive ALWAYS seen loss of compression on a 136 head gasket failure. they slowly lose power and chug to a stop and then wont even start due to the loss of compression. This is down to the wet linered design, once youve lost your water which can happen in many different ways the heat cant be radiated away from the liners by the rest fo the block so the head gasket burns through between bores very quickly.

Head gasket failure can actually occur in a minor way to cause the coolant problem in the first place. You can get a minor failure between the cylinder and the water jacket - caused by aluminium corrosion, on the compression stroke some of the exhaust gasses will be forced into the collant system literally pressurising the coolant system until something blows off. Once the water goes, the gasket burns though completely causing loss of compression. Because the gasses are only escaping under high pressure no water flows back through the head gasket to mix with the oil.

Thats my experience of head gasket failures on 136 engines, normally always caused by cooling failure and no water - oil cross over.

One question worth asking when you say it wont turn over do you m ean it wont start or the starter motor isnt able to turn the engine over?

The starter motor is fine, it just won't fire up although it tried.

The wierd thing is that it came out of nowhere, no tell tale signs, just went suddenly which seems to fit with what you are saying about 136 engines. It sounds like your description really fits this case as the oil cap went missing (could have been the bit that blew off). Do you think there may have been more serious damage caused as stated by another member? If so, I may break it up for parts as I can't afford to plough to much into the car and would rather cut me losses.

Are there any mechanics out there who would tackle it, or is it a dealer only job.

Also, is it normal for them to go at 36k? And if properly repaired (shimmed head etc) will it be reliable or is it prone to failing once it has happened.

Regards.

if its properly fixed it will be reliable 36k is very low mileage for one of these to go but it can happen, one of mine is at 130k on its original head gasket still! If the job is done preperly it will be perfectly reliable. But make sure you use a genuine headgasket not a aftermarket one.

ITs also worth considering the option of a secopndhand replacement engine youcan normally pick them up for £150 and being as the felicia has a nice easy open engine bay an engine swap shouldnt cost too much in labour even if something worse than the headgasket has gone.I would be surprised if it amounted to more than 5 hours labour to swap over an engine. It can be done in a two hours, when you know the car well.

Got down to business today and the head gasket had gone in a fairly big way. There seems to be no warping or major damage caused at all. The head gasket had gone on the back side which is why it had be difficult to spot the leaking water. The mechanic tested the valves before shimming the head and only one of them was leaking any water and it was the valves from the cylinder where the gasket had blown the worst.

Anyhow, I have ordererd all of the parts today from my local Skoda dealer for a very reasonable

you say shimming the head, do you mean skimming the head? Its the cylinder liners that need shimming basically you need to measure how far the cylinder liners protrude from the block height and if they are lower than they should be you need to buy some thicker sealing rings that go underneath the liners to move them to the correct height. Its a very skoda specific thing about which many mechanics maybe unaware.

Yes, I meant Skimming the head. Sorry to be so primary school, but this is the first time I have seen an engine pulled apart and there are brand new phrases flying about all over the shop and I'm struggling to keep up!

The cylinder liners are not protuding or below the line of the block. Does that mean we can leave that alone or do I need to do something about it as part of the process? As I said before, we have bought all original parts and the head has gone to be 'Skimmed' and the valves 'Ground' in.

So any help on any other possible checks would be greatly received as I really want to get it done right. To be fair the mechanic seems very capable but as with most things, there must be make specific problems/shortcuts etc and any inside info is welcomed.

the cylinder liners should be raised above the top of the block, put a straight edge across the top of the liners and a feeler guage between the straight edge and the top of the block the gap should be 0.07 to 0.13 mm with a maximum difference between the liners of 0.04mm. That is the top of the cyliner liners should be higher than the top of the block.

IF you dont get these liners shimmed correctly the new headgasket wont make a good seal and you will have problems again far sooner.

Worth noting once the liners have been shimmed to the correct place - dont let the rank shaft rotate as that can move the liners again and cause problems when rebolting down the head.

I dont think Ive worked on another engine where you have to perform this operation so I wouldnt blame a regular mechanic for not knowing about it.