Gaaar, Stupid car

Wossi · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:33

Just picked my car up from it's service and while it was there I asked the garage if they could find out where the oil is leaking from. Unfortunately the whole of the bottom of the engine is caked in oil so they had no chance of finding the leak and have advised me to get my engine steam cleaned so they could have a proper look. When I asked them what they thought the problem might be they said the words I hoped I'd never hear...

It could be the head gasket

. Poo.

A couple of questions for you guys:

1. Is there a way of telling if the head gasket is going to fail in a Rover (620ti)

2. Does anyone local to me know where I can get the engine cleaned as I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't want to do it myself, plus I don't have any ramps to get underneath.

jpmonkey69 · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:42

do you get hot air from the heaters?... if so about how long does it take to warm up?

I take it you've checked under the oil cap and the dipstick for signs of mayo?

What does your coolant look like?... clean? when your car is on and heated up, is the idle steady when stationary?

Do you get the temp gague raising noticeably?... it should be at about half way @ normal running temps.

Wossi · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:44

jpmonkey69 said:
do you get hot air from the heaters?... if so about how long does it take to warm up?

I take it you've checked under the oil cap and the dipstick for signs of mayo?

What does your coolant look like?... clean? when your car is switched on, is the idle steady?

Yup, there is hot air from the heaters. When you say how long does it take to warm up do you mean till there's warm air?

Due to having to refill the oil a lot I've not noticed any mayo, I'm assuming you mean some kind of white gunk.

Not sure on colour of coolant, although it has just been changed for the service I think. The idle is steady ish, it doesn't like cold mornings though, but it might be because it's a tempremental little S.O.B.

jpmonkey69 · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:50

R0551 said:
Yup, there is hot air from the heaters. When you say how long does it take to warm up do you mean till there's warm air?

Due to having to refill the oil a lot I've not noticed any mayo, I'm assuming you mean some kind of white gunk.

Not sure on colour of coolant, although it has just been changed for the service I think. The idle is steady ish, it doesn't like cold mornings though, but it might be because it's a tempremental little S.O.B.

Yes, I mean how long until the air is hot..

Mayo is white gunk.. it's usually there when the oil and water mix due to a cooling system failure, or if you do a lot of short journeys there will be a little may because of condensation. Do you know if you've been losing coolant?

VERY cold mornings are normally lumpy in my car anyway (s reg 620ti).. I let my car warm up a couple of mins before I drive it and it's fine. It could be something silly like needing new HT leads or your spark plugs need gapping properly (or replacing)

TBH if you have warm air and no apparent coolant or oil contamination I'd be reluctant to say you had a HGF.

agw_01 · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:53

R0551 said:
Unfortunately the whole of the bottom of the engine is caked in oil so they had no chance of finding the leak and have advised me to get my engine steam cleaned so they could have a proper look.

Do you mean that the whole of the engine block is covered in dirt and oil, or lower down, at the sump?

I'd be inclined to suggest either the sump gasket or oil filter.

Both of those are leaking on my 220, and the sump gasket was showing signs of leakage on my old 214.

It could be crank oil seals, but it's very doubtful. You'd have to really rag the engine to blow one of those.

jpmonkey69 said:
TBH if you have warm air and no apparent coolant or oil contamination I'd be reluctant to say you had a HGF.

A Rover owner and you didn't even mention the T's fame for its oil leaks! I'm shocked!

If the car hasn't had a HG change in the past few years, I'd make a guess and say it was the head gasket. Don't start worrying yet though, it's not going to blow. It's just a design fault with the oil feed... upgrading to a Klinger gasket will sort this.

Wossi · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:56

Woo, that's what I wanted to hear, I just hope you turn out to be right.

I know the top part of the engine has oil over it, but the garage reckon the underneath of the engine is a mess and until I can see for myself I don't know how bad.

jpmonkey69 · 6 Apr 2006 at 18:04

R0551 said:
Woo, that's what I wanted to hear, I just hope you turn out to be right.

I know the top part of the engine has oil over it, but the garage reckon the underneath of the engine is a mess and until I can see for myself I don't know how bad.

On the t16 engine, it's a common thing to have a little oil showing on the right hand side of the rocker cover seal bit...

agw_01 · 6 Apr 2006 at 18:11

Yep, if the engine is showing oil where the head meets the block (just to the right of the exhaust manifold) it's nothing to worry about unless it starts pouring out.

As for the garage saying that the underside of the engine is a mess, if it is indeed underneath the engine, it's almost definitely the sump gasket. Not a big job and fairly easy to fix... could do it in a morning.

Morba · 6 Apr 2006 at 18:17

R0551 said:
1. Is there a way of telling if the head gasket is going to fail in a Rover (620ti)

/me looks at badge on car
yep, headgasket is going to fail