Following my burning oil thread, I have realised that is has not been burning oil at all but its steam and thats why it gets worse as the engine heats up.
I took off the rocker cover to find lots of creamy mayo in it, and the radiator header tank looks a tiny bit contaminated.
I am not sure what to do, I am not taking this car in to be fixed, I will just either have to live with it (its not drinking much coolant yet) or pray K-SEAL fixes it.
I have also never seen the fan kick in, so I am guessing this has failed and caused the HG failure :( I feel like a fool. Also when trying to fix the temp gauge I discovered the reason it dosn't work is because its been disconnected on purpose :( The thermostat is at least still connected.
PS Its a Fiesta 1.1
To be honest if K seal dosn't do the trick I am selling the car ASAP. My only concern is shouldn't a HG failure been picked up at service?
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Mayo in the rocker cover isn't NECESSARILY head gasket failure. It can happen on cars used for short journeys too as the oil doesn't get hot enough for the condensation to evaporate., so it builds up and causes the mayonnaise effect as it mixes with the oil The fact that your car isn't using much (any?) coolant is a good sign. Expansion tanks murk up if coolant is regularly changed, so again it could be a false symptom.
That said, if it is a head gasket, what a perfect car to do it for the first time on. OHV, so no valve timing issues to worry about, and the parts will be cheap and available from any independent motor parts place.
If you want to confirm hgf, get a compression and coolant "sniffer" test done at a garage and go from there.
Cheers
DP
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I agree, get a boot, or look on the internet and do it yourself if you have somewhere to do it and basic sockets, spanners, screwdrivers etc... I should imagine it will be pretty easy, cost about £25 in parts and sundries, take a few hours. It will be small enough to easily lift off too.
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Thanks :)
I just left it ideling for 10 minutes, revved it to about 3000 revs for a second then it let it idle, I then pulled off the oil cap ( I made sure the pipes were not hot first!) and a lot of steam came out, is this normal?
It is so frustrating not being able to drive it to find out for sure :(
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it will "breathe" some out of the oil filler cap on older engines, but your going round in circles, you need a compression test to identify if the h/g as gone or this mayo is just condensation?
the head set is about £20.00 it may need a skim which costs £25.00 approx, then change oil & filters, plugs.
as said this is a good basic engine to do your first h/g a compression tester is about £15.00 to buy yourself if you want to. let's know how you get on!! good luck.
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ALL Fiestas 1.1 and 1.3 produce mayo in the rocker cover.. it's normal. Normal NORMAL. It means nowt. It's a design characteristic Son's does.. always has done..
You can do a separate test. When the engine is hot and idling feel the top hose. It should be very hot and soft (wear gloves). If it's hard it is being pressurised from a leaking hg...
Thn check the coolant system expansion bottle. Are there bubbles? Oil on the surface ? If yes, HG has gone. Take usual precautions about not opening the cap when hot...
If neither of these test confirm HG, go to a garge...
madf
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Unlike other engines, a head gasket change is ultra-simple and quick but I have never heard of a head gasket failing on one of these engines unless someone has been running it with no coolant in it.
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