Hi, I've posted this all over the place and no one is responding and I'm getting desperate. I own a peugeot 106 phase 1, 1995 1.1 petrol.
Basically I filled it up both oil and coolant last week and the car is running sweet. However i noticed at the weekend that the coolant seems very oily and I had a tiny bit of mayo on the radiator header tank (which is bolted to the rad on the 1.1).
I read in the haynes manual that on some models the coolant goes through the oil cooler so would this explain the oily coolant?....or is there a bigger problem I should worry about here?
The car runs fine all the time and no signs of overheating or any other problem. I'm just worried the head gasket is on the way out and i have big bills ahead.
Can anyone please help as I'm not near a garage and will have to try and fix this myself unless its a serious problem
Cheers
Dave
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could buy yourself a compression tester that would soon point to headgasket
chris
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The 1.1 has no oil cooler.
You probably have an early HG problem.
HAve you changed the antifreeze recently. Or did you just top up with water?
If yes, then drain the cooling system , refill with the proper mix and try again. If you then see signs of oil in water, try Forte's stop leak (? name).
You can run miles with a HG problem but it will eventually get much worse..
madf
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Thanks for the replies so far. I recently topped up both the oil and coolant as both were fairly low...so now when I open the radiator cap...it looks more like oil than water so I was concerned.
I'll drain it tomorrow and see what happens.
Thanks
Dave
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This is starting to sound like a head gasket job as the high pressure oil way from the block to the head is seeking into the adjacent water gallery. then when you park up the the pressure falls to zero a small amount of water is weeping into the oil way until the cooling system cools down and the pressure drops. Regards
Peter
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Thanks again for the info...so how much should I be paying for a head gasket repair...or can I use this stop leak stuff in the short term?
Will this cost more than the car is actually worth?
Cheers
Dave
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Stop leak will not help. Many Pug technicians at the 42k service undo the head bolts to check the cam and carrier wear and re do the head bolts. They report that it does not disturn the head gasket and the bolts are quite loose and easy to remove. I admit that I backed off and re-torqued the head bolts on my Polo's golfs and a pug 106 72000 miles and some where quite loose relatively speaking. This may stop your leak and save £350 on the other hand if you do not know what you are doing you could bust a bolt or pull a tread. Regards Peter
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Hummm, I would assume you should be looking between £300 to £400 notes to have a garage to the job.
If you have the corrrect tools then it is well worth checking the torque of the bolts, but with a car of your age I would be more willing to say the gasket it past her best...if the bolts were slightly loose then this would not have helped.
I assume that she is using a little more oil then usual as well, it seems your gasket may well have gone from the oil rails to the coolant.
Have you thought about doing the head gasket yourself? it may seem a little scary but head gaskets are not that bad (esp on a 106, try a 306DT or Rover 214 Arrrr)
You say that you are not near a garage, where are you??
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Before you go too far,
Does the car use/lose coolant or oil in noticable amounts?
Have you had it long?
Do you do mostly short journeys?
Does the oil in the coolant seem to be increasing?
Have you just noticed this?
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I have had the car just over 2 months and its not leaking oil or coolant. I just topped them up as they were both a bit low. I travel 52 miles each day and that's it. I've just noticed the problem as the radiator header tank coolant looks a bit oily...ie not like water based.
No other problems to note, doesn't smell of burning oil. Its not overheating or has any noticeable problem. Its not lost any oil or coolant in the last 2 weeks and there is no evidence of dripping on to the floor etc..
I'm really puzzled about this as I'm normally a ford driver....so I don't know peugeot engines at all.
The help so far has been spot on...thanks to everyone how has replied...I've had more replies here in one day than on the peugeot forum in 2 weeks.
I'll be here a lot!
Cheers everyone!!
Dave
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It does sound like the head gaskets on the way out. If everything else on the car is perfect then it might be worth gettign the gasket changed. If the car is in average condition then I'd be tempted to auction it and buy something else.
However if you bought it from a dealer then the onus is now on the dealer to prove that the fault wasn't there when the car was sold or to rectify the problem. I suspect that if you've been doing 300+ miles a week for 8 weeks and its only just shown up then you'll struggle to get any recompense but it might be worth a try, you might just find otu that the dealer is one of the few that is naive. I presume that it didn't come with a warrantee.
Now the thing with head gaskets is that when they start to wear they start to damage either the head, the block or both. The sooner the head gaskets changed the less chance you'll have of doing some serious damage to the other bits of the engine so its either a case of getting rid of the car, driving it until it dies and buying another or getting it fixed ASAP.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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Ypou said "the radiator header tank coolant looks a bit oily...ie not like water based." What exactly do you mean. If you have been leaking oil into the water you would either find lillte patches of floating semi emulsion on the top of the Header tank or even drops of oil. Not 'ie not like water based' The anti freeze used in the engine if quite a strong mix and it makes it feel slippery but no oil debris on the surface. Regards Peter
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I was given the car by a relative who didn't drive any longer. Basically the whole car is in excellent condition all round apart from this issue.
The fluid in the header tank looks like oil and seems to have the consistency of thin oil. Its very dark in colour and I have had small traces of mayo on the rad cap.
Sorry if my explanation is a bit crap...I'm not really mechanically minded...i have a ford also and the fluid in the header tank actually looks like and feels like water however on the pug its more oily/creamy consistency...hope that makes sense.
Thanks again
Dave
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Stick your fingure in it, what is it, is it really oil and is as the same darkness as the oil on the dipstick. Is it the whole header tank that is full of the stuff or a layer on the top. Touch it smell it rub in, what do you think it is. ?? Regards Peter
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We have to bear in mind that this car is 10 years old. As far as we know it has an uncertain service history. It may be that the coolant has never been changed, and I would have thought that over that period of time some corrosion/debris/chemical breakdown may be making the coolant look oily/dirty. The same applies to the oil and filter.
50+ miles/day is 250/week. If the levels are not noticably unchanged after 500 miles, and the car is running ok, as posted, I would advise caution before any stripping down is done. Another couple of weeks, with carefull checks may save a lot of heartache.
I think the engine in question is a wet liner block, probably not an ideal first candidate for a head gasket change.
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Right, as per peter's suggestion...I had a good look at the coolant. Firstly...it stinks big time...a bit like fish I reckon...lol...not very technical I know.
The coolant is not too bad but has little oily blobs in it here and there...but thats it.....so I'm well confused.
No idea about service history...it doesn't seem to have any and it had very little in the way of weekly checks from the previous owner.
But drove it to work and home today fine...so its going ok at the mo....did 70 without a problem and no sign of overheating.
Puzzled...I am!
Dave
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jediknight,
I must be honest, and with no disrespect to anyone in the backroom, and please bear in mind that I haven't seen your car, I would be tempted to do the following.
1 drain, flush out and refill the cooling system using new anti-freeze.
2 drain the oil, change the filter and refill with a decent quality oil.
3 change the air filter.
Have a good look and check for perished hoses etc while you are at it. Use the car for a couple of weeks, keeping an eye on things and then post back on the results.
I think you posted that you have a Haynes manual for the car. If you have any doubts, please post again. (I have a Haynes in the cupboard)
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If the oil is leaking into waterways.check out the expansion tank walls,they usually get wallpapered in the oil,ie put a finger in and scrape the wall,if it comes out greyish emulsion it will either be,someone has done the job before but not flushed properly-or you have H/G problem oil into waterways-or head is split,either a possible but as mentioned keep an eye
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Steve
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Use kitchen roll and mop/soak up the oil blobs. check water and oil level cold and make careful notes. Drive if for a week then park it in the same place and test again cold. New blobs, more blobs, lost or gained water level or oil. Come back in a week. Regards Peter
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I would confirm MJM's advice.
First basic steps and cheap and easy.
madf
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Hi everyone, reporting back on the outcome of some work done over the last few days. Firstly, thanks to everyone who helped me out...I learned a lot from all your postings.
I flushed out the cooling system and have refilled it. I've done 225 miles since flushing the system and no sign of mayonaising at all....so hopefully all is well.
Since the flush, the car seems to run better and seems to be slightly quicker as well...maybe I'm just thinking it is...lol
Anyway, all is well up to now, I'll report back later if anything else happens.
This forum is excellent.....
Thanks again all
Dave
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Waht antifreeze did you use Pugs, aluminium and thin radiators don't mix well and well wotrth picking up your antifreze from Pug agent. Regard Peter
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Jediknight,
Glad you posted back, pleased it seems to be ok.
Did you do the oil and filters as well?
Peter D is right, I run a Citroen and always use a good quality anti-freeze, and at a "stronger" concentration than the required amount.
The reason the car seems to be going faster is that there is less resistance on the water pump, now the muck is out of the coolant, and the extra fraction of a horsepower saved is making the car go faster!
(If you believe that ----- )
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I've used Halfords Longlife Antifreeze in SWMBO's 106: lasted 12 years so far on original radiator..
madf
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