oil in header tank

[popper 0]

Help! was looking over my engine bay last night and found a trace of oil inside the header tank. Car doesnt seem to be showing any other symptoms of a blown headgasket but ive only had the car a week. Is there anything else it could be? if it is the headgasket gone, how much am I going to be looking at to get it done? The cars booked in at my local garage next week, am I safe to drive it until then? :(

[gaz the geezer 0]

it may be the heat exchanger unit that the oil filter sits on ? what flavour c you got ?

[olly elworthy 0]

as gaz says, your water / oil heat exchanger / cooler has died, get yourself down to gsf for a new one they are only about 40 sheets,,

 

make sure your local garage change this first,, as i have seen many a headgasket changed when this is infact the fault,,

 

dont drive it about before then either,,

[popper 0]

wow, hell of a relief if it is that. The guy i bought the car from said it had had an oil leak recently which was caused by a faulty switch(think it might have been an oil sender switch?) which is attached to the oil filter housing. This is now replaced but could it have been something to do with this?

Just so I know though, how much will I expect to pay if it is the headgasket gone?

 

Thanks for the advice, youve brightened up my day. :)

[NickRStorm 0]

Heat exchanger is the big silvery thing to the right of the oil filter. They're a well-known weak point - they rust through from the inside. Oil sender won't have anything to do with this failure.

 

Changing the headgasket on a VR is never going to be cheap as there's a lot of labour involved. The gasket set alone is nearly £100 IIRC & you also need new head bolts too. Depending on age, you might want to look at doing the valve guides / seals, timing chains etc. Budget a grand for that lot.

 

Basically, just pray that it's only the heat exchanger!

[TomB 0]

It could be something that's gone wrong in the past and just left clart in your header tank. How fresh is the oil? I only mention this because the one in my Golf has a lot of black grease in it from a previous failure and it had me similarly worried...

[popper 0]

Its already had the timing chains etc done a few years back, as they snapped on the previous owner- so had most of the engine rebuilt. Could it be left over from then? Dont think its done all that much mileage since it was done.

The garage are going to do a gas test thingy, will this definetly tell them if it is the headgasket gone, or could it still be the heat exchange thats at fault?

Not really sure how fresh the oil is, hard to say will have to go take another look.

[CazzaVR 0]

Sure it's oil? Sometimes you get a kind of rust/sludge residue from old radiators etc which build up in various places (including the expansion tank) in the cooling system.

[dr_mat 0]

Well, that's only about the fifth story of timing chain snappage I've ever heard of!

[popper 0]

Um, got me confused now. Does look like kind of a rusty orangey colour. Think I might take a pic and post it up for you guys to decide.

[CazzaVR 0]

Pic would be good. I've had rusty orangy deposits with all 3 of my valvers, and they've been fine. Remember, these cars are old now, so it's likely that there is a bit of rusty residue inside the coolant system.

 

If it seems to increase a lot, change the oil heat exchanger first, give the tank a good clean and see if it comes back at all. I just wipe it all off every few months.

[popper 0]

taken a pic of said oil/water/rust. What do you think?

[CazzaVR 0]

Can't see it, mate.

[popper 0]

sorry, couldnt figure out how to get picture up - something to do with the size, trying again - here goes.....

[CazzaVR 0]

Ah, right. I would say nothing to worry about. That's the sort of thing I've had on my Rados in the past, with no adverse affect.

 

On one of my previous valvers, it used to build up over a couple of months, and I'd just wipe around the top/inside of the expansion tank to get rid of it.

 

You could also change the oil heat exchanger/cooler as there may be a chance a seal has gone. Not sure if you can just change the seals.

 

Maybe change the coolant and give it a good flush by leaving a hose to run through it for a while. Expansion tank is cheap and dead easy to change if it's mucky.

 

TBH, I'd be surprised if it was the head gasket.

 

Anyone else?

[Mr Sands 0]

I have a similar residue in the header tank of the VR. Don't think it's a concern.

[popper 0]

Cool, all is looking positive then. Only had the car a week, hardly driven it cos i was concerned - will still get it checked out though and maybe replace the oil/heat exchange - probably worth doing anyhow.

:)