welshyx

I've only been driving for a few months and was doing my regular vehicle checks and noticed that my coolant level was below minimum. I topped it up with about 0.5 litres of water before my father caught me and told me it needed engine coolant (No one explained this too me!). Got some 50/50 mixture from halfords and filled the expansion tank to the max marker and ran the engine, everything fine.

Until i was doing a callout after work the following day i noticed the heaters were working (Thought the heating was just poor) and then after about 20 minutes I heard a bubbling noise. Checked under the hood and saw nothing obvious but by the time i got home there was steam coming out from under the hood and the top of the expansion tank was wet.

I've taken it too a mechanic and he's had a good luck replaced the header tank cap and thought it was sorted. But 10 minutes later bubbling noise and then 20 minutes later steam from under the hood and wet top of expansion tank.

Since then I've checked coolant levels daily but not driven the car. The level isn't dropping but there is a white scum on top of the engine coolant, from a little bit of research i think it's from putting tap water in there. I've checked my oil and it's black both from dipstick and when looking in filling point.

I haven't got a clue what the issue is and I'm hoping someone here may have an idea of what's going on?

Thank you in advance!

nthorpey

did it have 'coolant' in before or just water? this may have frozen and made a leak somewhere in the recent freeze

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Almost certainly a head gasket, what you are seeing on the filler cap is what is dubbed 'mayonaise', this is from the coolant and oil mixing, the bubbling is because the cooling system is bein pressurised by the engine.

The real solution is to obviously get the HG replaced, for a garage to do this it will be expensive, you could also try the likes of a product like "K-seal" this is added to the coolant and it can be a cheap workaround.

Yours is a 1.8 (1753 CC) engine, this is an old Escort engine.

On another note if the oil is black this may want changing, although on a Derv it will get mucky pretty quickly, it's worth doing if you don't know the history!

Martin

Fraserb

Could be a faulty thermostat.

welshyx

@nthorpy I am not sure if it was water i bought it beginning of December but it sat on my drive mostly until Christmas which since then it has seen regular use. The liquid in there looked pretty clear but i had it looked over by a mechanic before buying and they didn't pick up on it being water. Makes a lot of sense that it could have been caused through lack of Anti Freeze.

@martysmartie I have had it checked over by my regular mechanic and neither himself or his employees mentioned it being the head gasket they seemed to think that the problem was more of a leak. The header tank cap wasn't white it was more of a dirty brown colour almost rust like. The scum on top of the coolant in the header tank is almost pure white with a few flecks of grey but very little black. Which i am thinking is because of water being used.
When i say black with oil i meant there was no white or brown sludge in there as though water had been mixing in.

@Fraserb My boss suggested this earlier and after discussion we thought along these lines.



I will take it up to the mechanic tomorrow and get him to have a good look over it for me and find out what the heck has gone wrong. I seems typical that i only just seem comfortable with driving and something goes wrong on the car.

I am praying it isn't the head gasket as I've seen it can be anywhere from £500 for a replacement.

Fraserb

Welcome to the world of car ownership. My clutch has just gone on my ST170 so I'm looking at bill of £800 plus. The joys of motoring mate

welshyx

Ouch i feel for you man, i am fortunate enough to have been given enough money to get a car and insurance and fortunately I have got enough left to be able to replace the head gasket should it need doing. Without that money i wouldn't be able to afford a new Tyre let alone a major repair.

Nobody explained how much you have to put up with when driving!