Water Pump / Head Gasket?

[kerrinmay 0]

Was getting a horrible sort of squeeking noise from engine (chap at tyre shop asked if I had a pigeon under the bonnet!) so took C to garage and they say it is the Water Pump, but they also said it might also be a problem with Head Gasket but they won't know until they do the pump :cry:

 

I've not noticed any loss of coolant or overheating or anything - although it doesn't always start very well and idles a bit iffy sometimes but I thought it probably the injectors need cleaning. Has anyone else had similar problems?

[Phil K 0]

I had problems with the oil pump on mine in the beggining (which was the first in a long list of problems :roll: ) and my water pump used to "chirp" a bit when it was running cold. Best way to check if the noise is coming from there is to put a screw driver on the pump and put your ear to the other end as it will mean you can hear whats going on inside the unit. Looking in the GPC catologue a new water pump is only about £25. If it is the pump I'd be suprised if it damaged the head gasket so long as you get it sorted quickly.

BTW where in Hampshire are you based as I know a good mechanic that specialises in VW's but he is based nr Godalming

 

Good Luck with it anyway

 

Phil

[kerrinmay 0]

I'm down in Portsmouth and currently (dare I say it) using the main dealer here - Peter Cooper.

[Phil K 0]

:shock: so that'll be £60 p/h labour plus dealer priced parts..

 

If you are still able to change your mind about the dealer and fancy a day in Millford, Surrey, Danny is only £30 p/h and uses GSF parts so I'm guessing you could save you a fair bit of cash. Millford is just up the A3 before you get to Guildford (about 20/30 mins from Portsmouth)

[kerrinmay 0]

I have to say that I am quite miffed about this water pump thing. The thing is, I recently had the cambelt, tensioner, pas and auxiliary belts and coolant expansion tank changed and when I got the car back it was making this sort of squeeky noise that I mentioned. In my opinion the garage should have noticed the noise from the water pump at this point and at least mentioned it to me and this could possibly have saved me some labour costs if it had been sorted at the same time.

 

I'm definately going to mention tomorrow when I speak to them that I think they should have spotted this before - especially as it was making the noise when I picked it up from them after they had completed all the above mentioned work. Can anyone tell me if the cambelt will have to come back off to change the water pump? If it does, then I will arguing about what they charge me for labour. :mad:

[kerrinmay 0]

Well finally got the C back on Friday and they hadn't had to do the Head Gasket which I was pleased about :D Drove car all weekend and it felt lovely, really nice and quiet too!

 

Then got in C to go to work this morning and the coolant warning light started flashing and I hadn't even pulled away! So I stopped the engine and popped open to bonnet to find that the coolant level in the expansion tank had dropped to below the 'Min' for the minimum mark. I topped it back up and then carefully drove to work and the car seemed fine and then checked the coolant level at lunch time and was still ok, however I had decided that I had better pop back to the garage with it this afternoon for them to check it over - seeing that they had only just replaced the water pump last week.

 

Went to the garage and waited etc until finally the managed to get to look at the car and then guess what they came and told me? The head gasket had gone :cry: And they didn't recommend that I even drive it home.

 

I now have to wait until tomorrow or the day after for them to get time to strip it down and see if they can get away with just fitting new head gasket or if the cylinder head is stuffed.

[h100vw 0]

I doubt the head is wasted. It might need skimming which is only £40 quid near me. The HG is about £30 but I know that vwspeedltd are selling full head sets on ebay.

Probably a couple/3 hundred to sort it out if it is gone

 

Gavin

[kerrinmay 0]

They say that that VW don't recommend re-skimming heads so that won't do them. Do you think I can insist if it comes to it?

[kerrinmay 0]

The fatal mistake in all this is that VW main dealer have recently been doing all this work on my car and therefore I took it back to them today in case the problem was related to all the work they had recently done and they now have it in their workshop.

 

After the work done to the car last week I had been intending to find a local VW specialist but this problem cropped up before I had a chance to look around.

[stevemac 0]

Check to see if VW do a "repair size" head gasket. If they do - the head can safely be skimmed. :wink:

[h100vw 0]

Find another garage and get the car to them instead. They might have a policy about skimming the head but do they expect you to spend what will probably add up to over a grand on the engine? If you have no choice but to leave it there, point out that you are paying for this yourself and that it isn't a company car. VW have a policy about parts and labour on older VWs so I am sure they can tell you up front a pretty close estimate of the cost.

 

To be honest if you get another place to do the work you may have a chance of driving there as long as you don't get caught in traffic. I drove my Golf for about 20 miles after the gasket blew. I did have an oil cooler fitted, which would have helped keep the temps in check.

 

Just don't boot it everywhere.

 

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictu ... 4290637189 This was the result of someone fitting ann ordinary head gasket and not a G60 metal one.

 

Gavin

[h100vw 0]

Sorry my estimate was based on a G60. A 16V gasket is far cheaper..... Any half decent garage should be able to sort you out for a couple or 3 hundred.

[kerrinmay 0]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm just waiting to hear from the garage as to how bad it is.

 

They only checked the head gasket last week and it was ok then and it's definately not overheated at all since then as I always keep my eye on the temperatures etc., and it was only yesterday morning that I noticed the coolant level had dropped, so I'm hoping that the head is still in pretty good shape.

[dr_mat 0]

It's not uncommon for the coolant level to drop in the first few days after major engine work, it's often just air locks working their way back up to the top of the circuit.

[kerrinmay 0]

The garage did the test again yesterday while I waited, where they put something on top of the coolant expansion tank and draw vapours through it and apparently something changes colour - which it did.

[ben16v 0]

that is a head gasket failure check which checks for exhaust gases in the coolant IIRC, there shouldn`t be any there!

[kerrinmay 0]

They also commented that there was quite a bit of air in the coolant. Hopefully if that was the only sign of the head gasket having gone and not having had any overheating etc then it won't be too bad - but I guess I'm just hoping that, I really don't have a clue - will just have to wait and see what they say.

[kerrinmay 0]

Just had phone call from garage and they got it all stripped down and although they say they found slight distortion on the head, they say they have got it back together and they believe it will be ok.

 

They also said that some of the cylinder head bolts were loose! So that won't have helped!

 

Bearing all this in mind, together with the fact that it was driving fine and sounded lovely and quiet when I took it in yesterday, they believe that it should be ok but won't know for sure until it is all completely back together and up and running - which won't be until Friday as I also need a new radiator and they have to wait for some parts.

 

So fingers crossed!

[stevemac 0]

They also said that some of the cylinder head bolts were loose! So that won't have helped!

Loose head bolts will give the same symptoms as a blown gasket. :wink: