VW Bora Possible HGF?

jake000 · 25 Dec 2011 at 00:42

Merry Christmas all

My mums VW Bora 1.6 Petrol 2001 oil light flashed up the other day and when I put more oil in for her the light went out and the car seems to be running fine. I noticed though that there is white gunge around the oil cap and was thinking it could possibly be the head gasket?

Also with the car being 10 years old now if the head gasket has gone, the clutch is going to need to be replaced soon and who knows what else with the age of it and its done 123k miles. It has been serviced and looked after well but just wondered if its worth spending money on it or to cut losses and look for another car.

Any suggestions appreciated, thank you

[TW]Fox · 25 Dec 2011 at 00:47

Why would the head gasket have gone? Has it overheated or something?

Does it do mainly short trips - its probably more likely to be condensation due to the engine never really getting up to temperature.

I dont think I'll ever understand why everyone is so quick to scream head gasket as if it's something that just randomly happens..

jake000 · 25 Dec 2011 at 00:58

Merry Christmas Fox

It does a 35 mile commute 6 days a week. It never usually uses much oil so it was a surprise that the light came on. Im hoping this thread will cheer my mum up tomorrow mainly because she was the one who jumped to the HGF.

dalin80 · 25 Dec 2011 at 07:55

If it is oil level that has dropped then it isnt going to present a issue in the oil filler cap as that is a check for when the coolant level has dropped.

If it is a HGF the oil has either been burnt which would give you blue smoke, leaked out externally which would be visible or filled the coolant system and would have made your coolant reservoir look like a scene from a oil tanker disaster documentary.

If you have had none of the symptoms I would say its more likely that the oil has naturally burnt off which it can do surprisingly quickly especially in 'modern' engines where weekly level checks are a necessity.

Will · 25 Dec 2011 at 09:19

[TW]Fox;20875306 said:
I dont think I'll ever understand why everyone is so quick to scream head gasket as if it's something that just randomly happens..

Rovers K series and the likes of honest john in the motorist press have done their bit... alas mayonnaise = HGF as far as most are concerned!

Dogbreath · 25 Dec 2011 at 10:58

If the mayo is caused by head gasket failure, then it will be accompanied by coolant loss.

Far more likely that this is simply a combination of cold weather and gentle driving which allows water vapour to condense in the coolest part of the engine i.e. the cam cover. The older VAG engines do seem to be quite prone to this.

ChrisD. · 25 Dec 2011 at 11:31

Just keep the oil topped up, should be checking it at least weekly to be honest.

If there's no coolant loss and not overheating then it's definitely not a HGF.

Deathwish · 25 Dec 2011 at 11:47

Dogbreath said:
If the mayo is caused by head gasket failure, then it will be accompanied by coolant loss.

Far more likely that this is simply a combination of cold weather and gentle driving which allows water vapour to condense in the coolest part of the engine i.e. the cam cover. The older VAG engines do seem to be quite prone to this.

Don't know about the old ones, the new ones do it as well!

2.0 TFSI from 06'