Hoping someone a bit savvier with cars than myself can help.

For a few weeks now my car's been struggling to start. It eventually does start which seems to be some kind of compression issue in the diesel engine. This is despite a change of glow plugs so it's not that.

When the car does start sometimes I hear a bubbling noise whilst driving (possibly from the radiator) and the coolant has needed topping up several times in quick succession which is weird. The last week the low oil light came on and I topped it up. It's come on again today and it's a little low but no milkyness on the dipstick. I am starting to suspect that it's my head gasket that's starting to fail and I've kept my driving very minimal until my mate who's a mechanic can look at it.

Are there any other things that you'd suspect could be causing my car's problems?

If it is the head gasket how many hours labour is it for a mechanic to do on my make/model?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Edited by Ricardo_Ding on 30/03/2025 at 12:54