tappy 0 Posted September 22, 2009 Hi, I'm in need of some advice on the symptons of head gasket failure on a corrado VR6! I was driving the other day, and my rado lost power from the throttle and started leaking from the radiator. The radiator has now been patched up and the car is running fine again, the only issue being a small drop in water level in the expansion tank. I was advised by a friend to have a head/block test carried out to diagnose whether the head gasket has gone. I had this done by a local mechanic, and although this test took a long time to show any signs of gas present in the water system (the blue liquid eventually turned to amber!), he recommended that the head gasket be replaced. I did check out the link below, which I found on this site, to check for tell tale signs and none of them are currently present. The car is driving fine again now, which makes me think that it's actually okay, but I don't want to drive it too far at the moment in case I do further damage. Dilema!! Could anyone please advise me on this as I've had some quotes for this work with prices ranging between £900 and £1200 and I'd obviously rather not shell out that kind of money unless absolutely essential? http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/HOW-TO-TEST-F ... 0001891247 Also, if I do end up having to replace the head gasket, is it worth doing any other work while the head is off? I'm pretty sure the chains and tensioners have never been touched and the mileage is pretty high at around 120k now! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, ta. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conker 0 Posted September 23, 2009 I've had two HG's go on different cars. In neither case did any mayo become visible in either the oil or the coolant. The only reason I say that is its not always that easy to diagnose HG failure with the well-known signs. The only issue I had was excessive coolant loss (amusingly, in the end, my Golf GTI could boil dry an entire coolant system in 20 minutes flat - it looked like a steam train going down the road!!) I recommend getting a compressionn test to sit alongside the sniffer test results you've already got. Then you will know for sure. PS... When I've got a head off the car, I would see if the valve stem seals/guides etc. need replacing. Good luck! Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
