Mancorr 0 Posted December 25, 2006 How can you tell if your head gasket has gone (1990 1.8 16v)? I have looked under my oil cap and no mayo and no mayo in water bottle although there seems a bit of gunk coming out when i squeased the bottom hose and watched some cooloant come out...maybe a bit of rust or just needs a good flush? Anyway when i started my car this morning she smokes a bit. She has not had a service for over 10k due to prev' owner. What worries me is head gasket with the smoking and gunge type stuff from water coolant. Is there any way of telling if it has gone...power loss or any other signals? Any help/advice would be great Oh....Merry Christmas!! Paul :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dub_nut_g60 0 Posted December 25, 2006 When mine went i had no 'mayo' under the oil cap. I had exhaust gasses in the coolant, and it kept blowing holes in pipes and eventually the radiator. No loss in performance at all, still pulled like a train, just kept losing coolant (stupidly i put it down to old knackered pipes and fittings!) Easiest thing to do is to take it to a garage for a compression test, just for peace of mind!! My advice though is to forget the car, hit the beer/whisky/vodka/wine and have a good christmas! Andy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chubbybrown 0 Posted December 25, 2006 check for coolant useage first. Water in the oil = not good water seeping out through block = err not good. white smoke wont be a good sign either. I tend to get the changed around 100k but the last vw lasted 180K before it was required and funds were available to fix. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Critical_Mass 10 Posted December 25, 2006 My advice though is to forget the car, hit the beer/whisky/vodka/wine and have a good christmas! What Andy said :lol: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
