Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster.

I just passed my test, but back a couple of months ago I bought 'Nero' (named after it's paint code) off eBay. It was a real mess and has needed some love to get it this far, but it's got a load of white smoke pouring out of the exhaust, coffee coloured oil, and yellowy/browny coolant all suggesting that it's head gasket is gone.

Does anyone know of any reputable mechanics around Oldham/Ashton-Under-Lyne who could put him back on the road? I've been getting quotes of £400+ and I don't want to drop that sort of money without a recommendation.

Any help you can offer would be really appreciated, additionally, the car came with virtually no history (hence why it was a fixer upper), if anyone knows anything about it, I'd love to know.

Thanks a lot, and glad to finally be here.

you could check out the guide section and do the HG yourself not at all hard on these cars

Ash

That guide absolutely terrifies me. You're surely a braver man than me if you could even bring yourself to get that deep into an engine, it looks like a major headache to get that to work, and if I didn't fix it, I honestly wouldn't know what to do next.

NeroSei said:

That guide absolutely terrifies me. You're surely a braver man than me if you could even bring yourself to get that deep into an engine, it looks like a major headache to get that to work, and if I didn't fix it, I honestly wouldn't know what to do next.

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honestly this is one of the easiest engines to work on as it is a non-interference engine, so if you got the timing wrong then it will not damage anything

last time i did a HG on one of these with a fair few other bits only cost around £100 in parts

Ash

The signs of HG are there but is it actually gone? The car has been stood for a couple of months, thats how it reads to me, also they usually run a bit rough and require regular coolant when HG has gone, well youve not driven this so how do you know?

White smoke - condensation in the system especially this time of year

Oil and coolant - change them both - the oil if its on the cap may burn off if the car is taken on a long run

Do a compression test to find out for sure, and give it a service, theres no history and sounds like it needs it prertty much asap

The worse case scenario cant be ruled out, but it may not occured at all

As Apple Sei says.

HG is a really easy job on these cars. £400 is about £150 more than it should be.

The reality is, you buy an old car because you have no money, but because it's an old car you either do the repairs/maintenance yourself or pay through the nose.

This are very easy cars to work on and parts are cheap...but make sure that you really have an issue with the head gasket! Also change cambelt, water pump and a give engine a good service for peace of mind...

if you need a second opinion m8 let me know .. i'm in the oldham area just of ashton road i'd be happy to call down and have a look for you.

your still alive then goona, not seen you around for a while..

to the OP, as said already, do a compression test first. If it seems ok then a good service and run out and it will prob be ok. Garage wise your gonna get better advice on what garage is good or bad by just asking the locals around where you live..

blu73 said:

your still alive then goona, not seen you around for a while..

to the OP, as said already, do a compression test first. If it seems ok then a good service and run out and it will prob be ok. Garage wise your gonna get better advice on what garage is good or bad by just asking the locals around where you live..

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There's a potential chicken and egg problem here. If it has been sat long enough it won't have an MOT so taking it for a run is not legally an option and with that much water in the oil it definitely won't pass an MOT on emissions...

At the minimum you'll need to do an oil and coolant change anyway, once done leave it running until the cooling fan kicks in (make sure it *does* kick in) and then see what the oil is like. As pointed out an engine left standing produces an incredible amount of condensation and all of that has to go somewhere. Normal day-to-day running boils it all off and the oil keeps itself clean but once it gets past a critical point the only option is to change the oil. Plus if the oil is of any age it will have accumulated a lot of pretty nasty corrosive chemicals that will erode the internals so you need to get rid of them. Lots of water allows those chemicals to do their damage, "dry" oil locks those chemicals up so they can't do anything.

Here's the scary bit though - the oil is only there as a moderator and carrier for the additives that should be in any good modern oil. it has been proven that you could just as easily use water instead - the lubrication is only partially performed by the oil, I've even seen bottles of coke used for demonstration, I wouldn't pour that down my own throat, let alone into an engine...

lol that made me laugh..

regarding running it out, the OP could just book a MOT. then he can legally be on the road, if after driving 'the long way round' its still not cleared up just go home instead of to MOT station. So long as its booked in you will be fine with the law.. I have done this quite a few times now as i never have all my cars on the road at the same time.

Of course all this is here or there until a compression test is done..

It actually has a MOT on it. It was done just before I bought it, which is why I found it so odd that the head gasket appears to have gone. Of course the most technical I get is using the tin opener so I can only go off what Ive read here.

I've got a mechanic coming to take a look this afternoon. I guess it was inevitable that letting it sit so long it would take some work and money to get going, and like I say it was a real mess when I got it.

well ask him to do a compression test and give you the results.. if the HG is gone then changing oil etc is pointless - it'll need draining again to take the head off. Same goes for coolant.

My friend's cinq is loosing coolant and has black sludge in the expansion tank. There are signs of of oil seeping out around the head gasket. There are no running issues but it looks like the HG to me, sound probable?

Are you sure that your looking at the right place? Oil around the gasket could mean your looking at the rocker cover not the head. Otherwise if your looking at the right place then something is definately fubar .

Double check that the oil just isn't coming from the rocker gasket, and the coolant could just be very old with alot of picked up rust and limescale in it.

Thanks

X

Robin_Whitby said:

My friend's cinq is loosing coolant and has black sludge in the expansion tank. There are signs of of oil seeping out around the head gasket. There are no running issues but it looks like the HG to me, sound probable?

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Do a compression test. Nothing else (even pulling the head off) will tell you so much, so quickly, for so little money.