Initial Stages Of A Blown Head Gasket? (gti-6)

[Joshy 0]

Right.

 

Last night on the drive home I realized that my car had gotten upto normal operating temperature (90C) extremely quickly, I mean sub 10 minutes when usually It takes about Half an hour for it to have warmed up to that sort of temperature). I was worried, but once the fans kicked in the temperature didn't rise above 90C, so I kept an eye on it and continued home, and got there without any issues.

 

Today I got up to go to work, hopped in the GTI (forgetting about the cooling issues the night before!) and started driving. I noticed that I had a bit of a misfire at 2000RPM(ish). Not any higher, not any lower, just at 2000RPM(ish). "Odd" I thought, seeing as how today isn't really THAT cold and usually the car runs great, even from stone cold. I had also realized that it had taken just 3 minutes for the car to get to that magic 90c mark, the fans kicked in again and it stayed at 90c, After 5 or so minutes the misfire had disappeared so I continued driving.

 

I had a few spare minutes after I finished "working" so I decided to bring the car into the workshop and stick it on a 2 poster to give it a general inspection and change the Oil, etc. I then decided to check the expansion bottle, I topped it up last week, so I didn't expect it to be needing any coolant. It was nearly empty! I stuck some coolant in, and drove home. The extremely quick warming up problem had gone and there were no misfires, "happy days" I thought, until I pulled outside my house, turned off the engine and went to the boot to get some tools out and I realized that the exhaust was still steaming rather badly, even though the engine had been shut off. I started the car up again and a puff of white smoke bellowed out of the exhaust, baring in mind that the car was completely warm at this point, isn't that a bit 'odd'?

 

Am I wrong to be thinking that I may have a HG issue? I mean, the misfire, the disappearing coolant and the excessive white smoke seem to suggest it, at least to me. When driving about there isn't much white smoke, well, no more than I'd expect from an older car in cold climate

 

Not really THAT much of an issue if it is the HG, as it is looking increasingly likely that I'll have to have the Head rebuilt anyways.

 

Thoughts?

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Sounds pretty likely it is the HG from your description.

[Cameron 16]

Is the coolant bottle also getting highly pressurised when the engine has been running? Be very careful when checking this though, as coolant can come pouring out when you open the top!

 

I'm with Tom on this, it definitely sounds like a HG issue.

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Agreed. 'Fraid so dude.

 

Get the pulleys pinned, the head off and checked/resurfaced. New gasket, belt, head bolts, tensioners (if the old ones are noisy) AND be sure to stick very closely to the workshop manual for re-timing/tensioning it all up, otherwise you'll end up with 'a tapper'.

 

A day's work and perhaps £100-£150 of parts/work worst case if you do it yourself.

 

Hopefully you didn't change the oil already, as you'll lose that all now.

 

Best of luck.

[Joshy 0]

She's already a tapper! (First I hoped it was an oil/fitler problem, hence the change today, and I'm holding out a tiny hope that it is loose plugs, but most likely it is the valves), thus me needing to have the head off anyway.

 

Oh well, that's my new car plan down the drain, which could be a blessing in disguise. On the 'warmer' days of this week I have found myself wanting to find an excuse to keep it. Today's drive back with the windows down, sunroof back and radio on in the 'sun' today was flipping awesome, it really made me remember why I like these cars. I guess I'll take her off of the road for spring, have the head rebuilt, the suspension and brakes upgraded and fit my Goodwood leathers so that the car will be ready just before summer. Who knows, I may be able to stretch to some ITBs! .

 

It's odd, I always thought that I'd be gutted when something major went on my car. Right now I've got an 'excited' feeling because it is an opportunity to do something special .

Edited February 20, 2010 by Joshy

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

That's a good attitude.

 

I'm sure you know this, but don't forget uprgading to ITB's is something like £1000-£1500 all in. Worth it though.

[GLPoomobile 958]

I find this quite interesting, as one of the things that concerned me when I bought my Mi (must be nearly 3 years ago) was how quickly it got up to temp compared to what I was used to. But it never overheated. I've not driven it much in those years, and I've now got a failed HG. I wonder if it was already on the way out when I bought it, or if I'm just reading too much in to this.

 

Actually, maybe not, as I remember doing a comp test and it gave excellent readings. I'll get me coat....

[Joshy 0]

Hmm.

 

I took the car out for a bit of a drive to further investigate. From cold the car ran just fine, no misfiring, not even any smoke from start up. The car ran absoultely fine, pulling hard and fast, it warmed up nice and slowly, taking about 35 minutes for the coolant to get to 90c and no signs of it wanting to creep past that.

 

Pulled outside the house, shut off the engine and checked the exhaust, and yet again there was a stream of "steam" escaping from the tailpipe. Fired up the engine and a puff of white smoke bellowed out, before it running clear again? I'd have thought on a HG issue it would ALWAYS steam out of the exhaust, not when it has just been shut off after a nice long (1 hourish) drive? Like I said earlier, there wasn't any smoke on start up, nor was there any when I was driving, or even any after I 'cleared' the system with the second start up.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Joshy

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

The steam comes out when it feels like it. When my Mi alloy block (copper) HG was failing, it'd drive fine, then when parking up I got clouds of steam.

 

Only a short while after did the HG go good and proper.

 

You ought to get this sorted, as you may get caught out in traffic one day and end up panicking, watching it like a hawk. What you don't want is to warp the head by leaving it too late.

 

It certainly sounds like a HG by all of the symptoms you've explained, the main one being having to top it up considerably with water. The water should go nowhere!

[Joshy 0]

But it isn't really clouds of smoke, more of a wisp of steam (at least I think it is steam, it doesn't smell of anything) when the engine is shut off and then the temporary 'cloud' when fired up. As I said, in every other situation it is business as usual. Heck, I don't even know if the car has done the smoking thing before as I've never checked what my exhaust did when I shut the car off, nor have I had to fire it up as soon as I've switched it off, so maybe it is normal?

 

Bare with me people - I believe I'm in the second stage of dealing with a Blown Head Gasket, Denial .

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Steam doesn't smell. Water disappearing. Power issues.

 

HG. Get sniffin' that coffee.

Edited February 21, 2010 by DrSarty

[Rallyvan 0]

One of the easiest ways to check is to take the cap off the header tank, then run the car up to temp then if there is a constant flow of air coming up, it's pretty much nailed on that the HG has gone.

When you rev the engine there should be (in most cases) more air coming up through the header tank, this is a result of the system over pressurising.

Although not recommended it will run ok but the pressure has to escape somewhere, therefore there could be a chance that you bust the heater matrix as this can be a 'weak' point.

Hope this helps.

[RP1983 4]

I would agree with the others that it sounds like a head gasket issue.

 

To confirm this why not do a simple compression test?

It's a simple thing to do and all will be revealed, you will be looking for results of ~190 psi on each cylinder and all within 10% of each other.