Not a standard HG query this one, My car on the face of it has no HG issues the temperature gauge is steady, the heater works, and there is no rainbow in the coolant, But Unfortunately oil appears to coming out of it Its been doing this for a while, when I first looked around the car with a mind to buy it there was a small oil stain on the block where the current leak I took it as a bit breathing through the seals but not a leak, Now its at the stage shown on the photos, the amount of oil the car uses is entirely dependent on engine speed and throttle position, If i use a 4.5k maximum change up point i can use as little as one litre every 6k miles but if you rev it more than that and use a lot of throttle you can use half a litre in 500 miles, I suspect it burns oil at high revs as well as spraying it out of the front of the block (I don't know whether oil could gain access to the combustion chamber through the gasket or whether its suffering from a bit of engine wear) Its done 64k and either way a haze comes out of the exhaust when you give it a boot under load and if all the oil was coming out of the front I think the wet patch would be much bigger. The question is whether or not its worth taking a car that is currently running fine to pieces to fix it? Or should I wait till it goes pop? Oh and its a 1998 85 mk1

I may be wrong but looking at photos it looks as if you may have a simple case of rocker cover needing replaced, from what i can see it ceratinly seems to be coming from high up in the engine --if so its a couple of quid and 15 minutes of your time,,

if your not convinced its that maybe remove air cleaner cover?? and take another picture and lets see

Its not the rocker cover, it originally was just on top of the exhaust manifold, I hoped it was the rocker cover, phoned a garage got it booked in for it to which they said Aye bring it down its just the work of an hour, then when the saw the actual leak said thats your head gasket these aluminium blocks are a c**t to work on you'll have to book it in another day, at which point I havent been back

Make sure that the breather pipes on the engine aren't blocked. Take them off and check that they are clear. An engine flush may also help when you change the oil. Keep the engine running and remove the dipstick and see if you get oil fume blowing out of the oil stick hole. If you have it could be worn piston rings causing pressurising of the sump. Certainly change the cam gasket though if it's leaking. Take care to seat the end rubbers carefully when replacing.

Well, I,d be the first one to admit I dont know all the syptoms of Head Gasket failure on these puntos but I dont think the gasket would go and leave you only losing oil, especially as you say you arent losing any water. which is one of the first signs

please, when you have the time, remove cover and take another photo

which bit do you wanna see? It was still hot when i stuck the camera in it'll be cold now so if you want a shot along the front of the engine where the rocker gasket is i can oblige (i didnt want to burn myself earlier)

ffs dunna wait till the h/g goes boom, dosent sound like a head gasket tbh, oil issues can be a number of things tbh, if its shooting oil out of the exhaust it could be the piston rings, could be valve seal stems if its pissin away oil, but it probably isnt, it could just be something very simple i have a mark 1 75 which had similar issues when my head gasket went, it spat oil out, but mine creamed in the oil cap, just keep an eye on it, 16valve engines arent as prone to the gaskets goin BOOOM!

I'm not going to let it go boom as such by pop i meant wait until it developed proper symptoms before doing anything, I check the oil and water weekly or daily if its been driven hard, and it has a temp gauge so i will have some warning of things going south. Got some more photos too

A wouldint worry about it the now, but i would keep checking your oil and water everyday just to be on the safe side mate, soon as the HG gos it will drink yer water like theres no tomorrow.