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went for a ride today in my free periods and did about 20/25 miles. got home and all was fine... thought i'd check a few things over.. coolant was below the LOW mark when before I left it was definately above it.. took the lid off the surge tank to fine it steaming hot. not boiling over just steam off the water. The oil was also a little bit mayonaisy on the top, not excessively so but enough to make me wonder... could my head gasket be gone?
cheers
dan

could there have been a air gap in your system and it has now dispersed hence the coolant level dropping? don't automatically assume the head gasket.

fill the coolant bottle back up before you start worrying. If it goes back down then you know you have a problem.

if you have oil in the water your headgasket is definetely gone, no other way oil can get in the coolant.

sorry

rover220 wrote:if you have oil in the water your headgasket is definetely gone, no other way oil can get in the coolant.

sorry

not strictly true. a bit will always find its way in there through the breathers, etc. If it's been a while since the oil was last changed, there will be water in there.

read my post again and realise your mistake

carsounds_dan wrote:The oil was also a little bit mayonaisy on the top, not excessively so but enough to make me wonder... could my head gasket be gone?

I think he was refering to the oil that he could see through the inspection window.

RedexRobB wrote:

carsounds_dan wrote:The oil was also a little bit mayonaisy on the top, not excessively so but enough to make me wonder... could my head gasket be gone?

I think he was refering to the oil that he could see through the inspection window.

could of sworn it said oil in the water lol, my bad. sorry.

anyway, after 20/25 miles id be worried if there was mayo in the oil.

oil should be plenty hot enough by then.

can oil get 'frothy'? Maybe thats what he saw floating on the top...

RedexRobB wrote:can oil get 'frothy'? Maybe thats what he saw floating on the top...

decent oil should never get frothy, infact no oil ever should. it should have anti-froth additive in.

if youve lost a afir amount of water and the oil is scummy after 25 miles id be wary. keep an eye on the oil level too, if water is getting in then that should rise but itll take a good amount of water to lift the level.

may be worth doing an oil change but tbh i think itll be a waste of time as it seems likely that its the hg playing silly buggers.

or do compression test just to confirm it.

RedexRobB wrote:or do compression test just to confirm it.

a compression test wont show anything if the gasket has failed between an oil or waterway though. its a good place to start though having said that.

pressure test on the coolant system would be the best thing to do imo.