Technical Has the head gasket gone ??

[ANIGMAL]

Hi all, any advice would be appreciated. My 2000 2.0 el petrol ulysse seems to be steaming from the exhaust,i initially thought it was the head gasket gone. But the oil in sump seems fine and clean, the water level dosent drop and it dosent overheat,so what could be causing the large ammount of steam comming from exhaust ?? the temp gauge rises to around 92 degs from cold then drops to around 80 so im guessing stats ok, but when running it seems to constantly go up and down from 85 to 90 approx 20 seconds later back down to 85 then back upto 90,dont know if thats normal ?

 

[Ffoxy]

Sounds normal to me, most IC engines give off a heavy condensation vapour on cold damp days. A failed HG would be seen in the ways you describe if it were gone, poor peformance, dirty coolant, mayonnaise type stuff under the oil filler cap, coolant loss.. one, some or all could be present.

 

[ANIGMAL]

Sounds normal to me, most IC engines give off a heavy condensation vapour on cold damp days. A failed HG would be seen in the ways you describe if it were gone, poor peformance, dirty coolant, mayonnaise type stuff under the oil filler cap, coolant loss.. one, some or all could be present.

It just seems to "steam" more than normal,especially at tick over. There is creaming in oil filler but could be due to fact that car does get used for a lot of short trips (less than 3 miles ) but does start and run spot on. Think im just gunna have to wait and see if it gets any worse or starts using water.

 

[Ffoxy]

There are tests a decent garage can do, such as a pressure test of the cooling system or a "sniff" test in the coolant tank looking for combustion gasses. Try a good long run to see if the "mayo" in the oil filler neck burns off...