has my head gasket gone or not?

Question

I have a Rover 214. When I am driving the temperature stays normal. There is no white smoke coming from the exhaust and no funny smell.
However, when I stop the car there is a water dripping symptom underneath the car - it seems to be coming from under the engine? The water in my resevoir is clean,except there is a fine film floating on top of it. The oil on the dipstick is clean. Although there is no power loss it seems to be extremely heavy on petrol. What is it?

Answer 1

It could be as simple as water condensing off your Air conditioning pipes? Do you have AC?

Moist air touches the cold pipes and condenses. Usually a puddle forms when you park the car.

8 hours later.. just thought of another reason. Sometimes rainwater gets around your sunroof rubber molding. Then the rainwater runs down small tubes to underneath the car. This water should stop in a short time, unless tubes are clogged with seeds and dust (parking under trees a lot in your driveway?)

Answer 2

Based on your description, it is my guess is that your head gasket is probably not the cause of your problem. If water has entered your crankcase, which is the case with a blown head gasket, your engine oil would be an ugly brown color, like a chocolate milk shake. As you have described your dipstick being clean, this is not likely. Another indicator would be the oil level on the dipstick. If it is at the "FULL" line or less, you probably are not taking water into the engine at this point.

Water and oil do not obviously mix very well. The water is thin enough to push past the piston rings in your engine. When this happens it enters the firing chamber under the spark pug, then turns to steam that exits the exhaust valves and comes out as white smoke from your cars tailpipe. This will happen to most cars when enough water is in the oil. You do not seem to have this problem either.

Having clean water in your reservoir, which is at the appropriate level without a need to top it off, it is a good indicator that you have not blown a head gasket. A slight film of oil on top of the water is normal, as some coolants have an oil-like base.

The next thing to look at is the water that you see dripping from under the car. Is it clear and relatively clean? If so, it is probably condensation from your air conditioning lines, which is very normal. If it is yellowish, or dirty it may be caused by a coolant leak from one of the hoses. Water has a tendency to run along wires and hoses before it finds its way to the ground, so the location of a leak may not be directly above where you see it dripping. If the water is dirty, take a few moments to examine all of your hoses and connections to see if you can find a wet one. This will help you locate the cause.

Again, if your coolant is at its appropriate level without the need to top off, and your engine is not running hot, you probably do not have a problem with leakage.

I hope this helps. Good Luck

Answer 3

I own a turbo rover 220 gti tomcat, so i know the fear of head gasket problems. If you've been using the a/c, then it should be dripping from in front of the passenger's firewall, out of little 15mm black rubber hose that sticks out of the firewall about 20mm. This is located behind the front left wheel and in a bit (assuming it's right hand drive). Take it for a drive and then immediately park it on a clean bit of concrete or whatever, then inspect the dripping water.

If its coolant, then it should be a bit green (if you have antifreeze) and taste a little funny. A leaky head should tend to drip oil rather than water, as water evaporates off engines. Have a look around the head gasket however, and look for signs oil leaking. You could also use a torch and a mirror, and try and trace the location of your water drip, as it might be leaky hose clip or something. The front water manifold rusted out on me once and a quick trip to the wreckers and some hose clips fixed everything. I can't explain the petrol use, but to be sure, make a mark on your header tank (the tank that holds the coolant) after its been sitting for an hour and check to see if it goes down over time. If it drops at unusual rate, then you should start to worry

Answer 4

If you want to check your head gasket remove the radiator cap(when cold don't want u burning yourself)with the engine idling if you see bubbles rising to the top then its a good indication that you have blown a head gasket. Also the oil in your sump will turn a whitish grey colour which indicates that water has mixed with the oil. If you still cant find problem l would suggest that you take the car somewhere so they can do a pressurized cooling system check which will pin point the leak. Good luck l hope this helps.

Answer 5

I'd suspect that if you dont need to add water on a regular basis say every 2 or so days that the head is fine and that the dripping water could be condensation from the air con which would also explain the heavy fuel consumption of your vehicle

Answer 6

probably just condensation. the 214 engine is known for head gasket failure caused by running with too little water in the reservoir which warps the head. Undo the oil filler and check for a brown murky goo under the cap.

Answer 7

either it's condensation from the A/Cm or it's the "weep hole" from the water pump indicating the bearings on the water pump are failing. To tell the diff, when it drips rub some between your thumb and forefinger,, smell it, it it smells like coolant, it's the water pump,, if it's just water,, it's A/C condensation,, normal.

Answer 8

a blown head gasket would cause heavy exhaust. do you need to add coolant regularly? if so you could have a water pump leak.

Answer 9

no not the head gasket