Astra 1.6 Y-Reg - price of new head gasket?

done properly the total job will top 500 quid

Glorious. Just bought a new gearbox (old) for it at a cost of £540 including fitting. This Astra is a complete money-pit, it's only done

66,000 miles.

Could excessive moisture/goo in the engine oil be a signal of anything else? The odd thing is the coolant level has always remained the same and it's perfectly orange, no goo or oil in the coolant at all?

BGN gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

That's HG.

not necessarily head gasket, the only way to be sure is with a gas test. Lack of correct oil changes, short journeys, blocked breathers, faulty thermostat can all cause mayo in the top. Coolant loss does not always happen when the hg goes (but often does)

Get a second opinion and get the gas test done (also known as a block test, the kit costs about thirty quid and should be available at any good garage.)

If it is the head and you have the time, patience & a lot of googling I'd recommend having a go yourself. I did my astravan diesel after a cambelt went & mashed a few valves. Head was also cracked so about £30 off ebay got another & about the same for all the gaskets & bits. Took some time but now running great and also gives you that satisfaction it's done with your own sweat & tears lol.

My van had the same symptoms, especially noticable in winter as it never really warmed up either, it turned out to be the thermostat.

Bit of a pig to get at as the timing belt had to come off, so i replaced the belt and waterpump while i was at it.

Tom

The oil changes would appear to have been done at least once a year (service book is stamped, if one believes a stamp) but it does a five mile journey in the morning, and two hours later the same journey back, three days a week it does an 11 mile journey, then 11 miles back so 5miles * 2 days * 2 for the return journey then 11miles * 3 days *

2 for return journey then a number of ones about 6 - 7 miles back, so I guess they're not that short.

Re: Faulty thermostat: Did notice when I first got it that the engine ran rather cool, on a 22 mile round trip it would hardly move off of minimum, but since I got the oil changed this morning I noticed the engine takes a few miles to get warm then it's sitting between 83c &

87c. Not sure why an oil change would fix the thermostat as they shouldn't ever meet.

I'll give it a week on this new oil & filter and see if it's started to mayo up again. National Tyres & Autocare did it (Cost £30 for the oil & filter change including an engine flush).

I am now only going to think happy thoughts about the delightful Astra and ignore logic.

theres your problem ^^^^^^ !

if its just around the oil filler cap i wouldnt be that worried, ive seen a few when ive serviced them with the same problem, all i do is wash the cap out with a bit of brake cleaner, your more then likely find the "mayo" in the breather tube as well.

But as Mr C says, a more definitive answer would be a block test.

Those are short journeys, double the frequency of oil changes to twice a year and you will probably be fine, and only use the proper GM oil/filter, it is not expensive.

Nope, that's short, so it's supposed to be changed twice as often, as apart from anything else it'll get condensation in the oil & mayo. Not that that'll sound familiar :-)

If that's all the problem is then I'll be super happy. I will sit here and hope!

Bad karma i know to reply to ones own post but i think i should point out that my van is also a Vauxhall 1.6 Petrol, but is a 2003 Z16SE engine.

Tom

Not always, it can be a broken oil cooler. Experience is far better than people who sit and Google, then post anything they see!

no coolant loss and no goo in the coolant might point to it not being the oil cooler, but it is certainly a good idea to suggest it.

Does a 1.6 Astra get an oil to water cooler?

Maybe, certainly some astras have them, the diesel and the 2litre for sure.

In message , Adrian writes

Sure about that? 66,000 miles, goopy sludge in the engine oil, couldn't possibly be just condensation because it's never run up to temperature?