General Checking a headgasket

[harm_of_will]

Would any kind person be able to tell me from scratch how to check whether or not the headgasket is ok in a MkI Punto

Bear in mind that I lift up a bonnet and have not got a clue what I am looking at

Thanks guys

 

[Ned]

Losing coolant but no visible leaks, you can have a slight missfire when startint the engine first thing or even have a missfire all the time ,lack of power but the best way is to go and have a "Block Test"done at a garage, they will use a chemical that smells the fumes from the coolant which would indicate that the combustion gases are mixing with the coolant= Head Gasket failure

 

[thefishdude]

couple of quick things you can do is take off the cap were you top the oil up and look at it. if there is any mayonaise looking subsatnce on it then head gasket has gone and water is getting into the oil. also take off the cap from were you top the water up for the radiator. check in the bottle make sure the water is not brown and gloopy that means head gasket gone and oil getting into the water supply. i had that on mine once. another thing you can do is drive car and check for white smoke from exhaust you only get this when the gasket goes big time though.

oh yeah make sure engine is cold especially when taking of the cap for the water as its pressurises when hot and can spray out if you take the cap off when hot.

 

[smokeme]

Easiest way would be to do a compression test along with the other suggestions already posted

 

[dave]

Easiest way would be to do a compression test

of corse all girls carry the tools to do that in their handbag how could people forget

 

[arc]

compression doesnt always show it either.. my head gasket had cracked in two places yet it passed compression tests *shrug*

edit: it also passed the chemical test that ned is talking about

 

[smokeme]

of corse all girls carry the tools to do that in their handbag how could people forget

Since someone mentioned dye i just though about mentioning it.

 

[harm_of_will]

Hehe, I wouldn't even know what a compression test was, let alone how to do one

I was talking from the basis of when I go to view a car to buy it, how can I quickly check for the gunky stuff hehehe, so thanks everyone for all your help. Now I just hope that when I look, I'll be able to spot the place where you top the oil up

 

[smokeme]

Hehe, I wouldn't even know what a compression test was, let alone how to do one

I was talking from the basis of when I go to view a car to buy it, how can I quickly check for the gunky stuff hehehe, so thanks everyone for all your help. Now I just hope that when I look, I'll be able to spot the place where you top the oil up

Don´t feel bad about not knowing what a compression test is, probably a lot of guys on this forum don´t know either, and even more don´t know how to do it(but think they do!!)

 

[craig 980]

the most reliable way to check is to have a leak down test done. far more reliable than a basic compression test.

to add confusion....
you can still get a 'mayonaise' like goo if the engine has mostly been used for short journeys, which isnt a problem.