Help Please - oil in coolant

Arnie

I guess i know where this is going, but i'll cover off the problem:

driving home last night i notice the coolant light come on - i have had no problems with coolant levels previously. I initially assumed a coolant leak and topped up the bottle last night, this morning the level of the coolant has dropped and there appear's to be no sign of a leak, and it looks like there is a little oil in the coolant bottle 🙁

Additionally the oil level has risen a lot.

Im guessing this is some sort of head gasket failure, so a couple of questions:

Am i looking at having the car towed to the garage or could i risk the 20 minute drive. Is there anything i can check to confirm the issue?
TIA

Clive

sdbutler10

I would not drive it tbh mate you could do even more damage ie warping the head or even cracked. It does sound like the head gasket has gone.

JohnnyN

Initially I thought head gasket failure, but, have you considered the oil cooler unit could have failed?

:crazy:

vocky

I would also say check the oil cooler, but the usual suspect is a cracked head after changing the plugs

either way it needs further investigation 🙁

Arnie

Thanks all,

Plugs havent been changed in a while by me, but it did go into vaux for an MOT and they serviced it by mistake...which at the time I thought was a bit of good luck as we agreed that i would just pay for the consumables ( it was due a service) however I'm going to check whether they changed plugs.

I presume that if the crack is around the plugs it will be fairly obvious with coolant or oil in the wells?

vocky

if they changed the plugs they have probably cracked the head, very difficult to tell as the crack is inside the head

a pressure test would confirm the damage, but the head needs to come off 🙁

might be worth getting the dealer to pay towards the damage as the work was not authorised by you

Arnie

Ok it's been pressure tested and no problems - so im looking at the oil cooler. VAux are quoting me £650 quid for a new one and thats with a discount :wtf:

Any ideas where i can get one cheaper??

MikeS

u can block the valve off, well u could do on the redtops as the valve / stat was above the oil filter

vocky

try the breakers, they must have loads

Arnie

Here's an update on my situation mainly because Im quite disgusted (maybe unreasonable) with my local vauxhall dealer. I felt I didn't have the time to work on the problem myself and having never gone deeper into the engine than changeing cams I was also a little releuctant.
I had the car towed to a local dealer where I explained the symptoms and left the car with them. Couple of days later they had performed some sort of emissions test ( not a pressure test as i was initially led to beleive) on the exhasut from which they explained that the problem was most likekly the oil cooler and that they would need to replace it. 3 weeks later this has been completed and the probelm still exists and I now have a spare good oil cooler ( £650 a pop).

They are now suggesting they need to take the head off and pressure test (something I thought they would have done in the first place) and are quoteing me 85 pound an hour, 4 hours + the cost of the gasket(s) plus anything else needed to sort the head out.

I have phoned up Plans Motorsport a local company i have used a lot (who laughed at that hourly rate and will beat what ever price they come back with). before I name and shame the dealership, am I being unreasonable in my expectaions of this garage? I had expected that they would be able to correctly diagnose the issue and fix it and i was content to pay for that, what im unhappy about is the hit or miss approach they appear to be takeing and the effectively open ended costs they expect me to pay. This is not a small garage and is one of the "authorised VX220 specialist dealers"

My feeling is pay for the work so far cut my losses and take the car to plans who at least have never tried to bullshit me, opionions please.

TIA Clive

baldie87

i think they should of diagnoised the problem better rather than just guessing as that what they have seem to have done. i have a poor view on vauxhall customer service with my past history. they could of done this to get more work through the work shop.

MikeS

solicitor and small claims court

go see a solicitor and get em to write up a letter and give em 14 days notice to rectify the problem

if they dont respond then small claims court

oil in coolant is prob head gasket but you paid your dealership to fix problem, you have paid em and they have not fixed the problem, the car is not road worthy, they have broken various laws

a few consumer acts and possible motoring acts

dealerships are franchises, they are not owned by vauxhall so their is very little the manufacturer can do

i given my advice and i doubt the dealership will break unless you threaten legal action

cpwfos

the office of fair trading is a good route to go down tell them your story and they will give you advice for your next actions as soon as you mention them to any business they will listen to you coz they could be shut down after investigation

MikeS

they can advise but dont expect much support

they sit on the fence cos they dont want to be summoned to court and testify to alledged comments made about the defendant or in support of the claimant

go find yourself a solicitor or speak to the CAB

Arnie

The only thing to make clear, is i havent paid for the work yet as the car is still with them and they aren't saying it's fixed. they are just saying they tried the oil cooler and it wasnt the problem and they want to try the head gasket next

Why does it seem that main dealers are always so bad 🙁 you never even get to speak to the mechanic just some clueless service "manager". Apologies for drifting off topic into a rant

Arnie

Does ayone know what the purpose of the immisions test they carried out on the exhaust gases to "diagnose" the problem is. I'm guessing it is to detect excesseive water vapour in the exhaust gases?

If that is the case i cant understand why they simply couldnt have opened the drain plug as the car had not been driven since i added the coolant and the oil level had clearly risen so it must of been sitting on the coolant ( i explained all of this)

My feeling is they garage missed a basic step in simply draining the engine. Can anyone of the forum mechanics comment?

TIA

clive

If this is now off topic please feel free to move to the correct forum

vocky

the emissions test was probably to check for a water leak, but really a coolant test would be better ?

ask them to refit the original oil cooler as theres nothing wrong with the original.

as for main dealers, they just do whatever the TIS suggests, rarely you get a mechanic who actually uses common sense

Arnie

Well they got to the bottom of it - cracked head 🙁

Couple of questions:

is there a likely cause of this or is it just bad luck ? I have piper cams - rev limit rasied to 6800 as part of my map and the 2.4 inlet mani could any of this contributed? or is it more likely to be overtightend spark plugs at some point?

Since im on the hook for a top end rebuild are there any parts I should take the oppurtunity to get replaced?

MikeS

more likely to be over tightening of plugs, overheating

vocky

Usually the head cracks when trying to undo the spark plug, due to over-tightening or corrosion of the threads.

I would fit a ported head, 'supertech' double valve springs and 'SI Valves' wasted stem valves, they will give some extra bhp 🙂