Head Gasket??

Question

I was drving along the motorway and the water coolant light came on and i stopped straight away and opened the cap and this brown sludge came out. I got the car home on a trailer and the AA man said it was the head gasket.

I also must admit it had been misfiring when cold and the engine warning managment light had been coming on an off for a while but was only orange not red so was going to take it in when i had the chance. I do drive the car hard somtimes!!!!

I have spoken to a good macanic and he said it is very unlikley and in the 25years he's been a macanic he's only done 5 head gaskets on VW Golf's. said it was somthing eles to do with the rad hose.

Can anyone advise?

Answer 1

If it's oil getting in the water, not water getting in the oil, then the head is unlikely. If you have a water/oil combi radiator that will have burst between the two sections with a fine split, too thin for the water to get through but as oil is much more viscous it can get into the water. A new radiator will fix this problem, although a bottle of block-seal will fix it too for a fraction of the cost.

Answer 2

An experienced garage mechanic can normally tell straight off if it is a head gasket so the AA is probably correct. A garage can check the pressure in each cylinder and confirm if there is a loss of power in one cylinder, which can sometimes be the case with head gaskets. However, you can also get the case where the gasket fails between a water and oil way and then the only indicator is oil in the coolant water. If you have a thick oily sludge in the coolant then this is almost certainly a blown gasket.

Answer 3

I think the AA was correct the fact you had a missfire for some time and an engine managment light on + brown sludge comming out points to a head gasget.Your mechanic having only done 5 head gasgets on VW golfs in the last 25 years would not be the best person to ask.There is nothing in a radiator hose that will cause your problem.Suggest you take it where mechanics are more familiar with VWs Mick UK own and work on Audis

Answer 4

Our old 1991 VW Polo had a blown head gasket. It wasn't too badly blown, as it was still running. It blew all the water out the radiator. You could see bubbles coming up.

Anyway, me and a friend fixed it between us. The gasket only cost about £20. It seems like a scary job, but if you're careful, it's actually not that hard. The only risk is that it might need skimmed. I got away without doing that and the car lasted another year or so before we scrapped it (for another reason).

The sludge must be oil in the water. I'm pretty sure it could only get there if the gasket was blown.

Answer 5

I would suggest you flush your coolant system. then fill it with only water and a very small amount of dawn dish soap. run it long enough to get it up to operating temp. drain and flush ssystem again. put in a new thermostate and refill with correct antifreeze/ water mix and see what happens. you didn't say how old the car was and I would not want to write it off as a bad head gasket until i had cleaned the system and verified that it was getting oil into the coolant. and not just a product of years of neglect.

Answer 6

i dont know if it is a head gasker but that is just the beginning of your problems with a vw 1980 or older i did lease return inspections for vw for 10 years and had about a 90% complaint rate ranging from motor problems to endless small mechanical failures-- your vw mechanic and shop owner are rich for a reason-- vw 's are pure junk -- i always thought they were good cars until that job-- in the bay area that is all you see-- buy a toyota or honda and you will be a much happier and richer person -- sell it quick-- ooh ya i once fixed a head gasker with something called ceramic block seal -- it is a 24 hour process if i remember correctly but it worked good enough to be fixed enough to sell it-- it did not overheat anymore--- good luck-- ask your local auto parts dealer if he carries it

Answer 7

you probably have got a head gasket fault which would account for the miss fire from cold (water contamination on plugs) also get your mechanic to have a look to see if you have an oil cooler fitted, its located if fitted between the oil filter and cylinder block, these split on vws and the oil will pump into the water system.

Answer 8

Sounds like a head gasket to me too. I had one go out on a VW Golf a few years back.

Answer 9

Sounds like a head gasket to me as well. Radiator hose would mean nothing, not a brown sludge which sounds like oil and water mixing.