Astra 1.7 DTi LS Engine oil mixing with water.

Sep 27, 2005 2 Replies

opened the bonnet to my Astra 1.7 DTi LS on a 2003 plate (No more warranty :-( ) and found grey matter oozing out of the water expansion bottle. After opening the bottle top I realized it was full with the stuff, I took out the bottle and emptied it, reconnected and it started



filling up again. The engine starts and runs fine, there is no water in



the engine oil at all however the level is decreasing. The oil in the water isn't just a streaking it is a high density gunk ! If it was the head gasket I would have expected water mixed with the engine oil or the car to over heat or the water level to go down. Is there any place else other than the head gasket where the oil can seep in to the water system?


Thanks in advance.



Dixons in Hull did that to us - car parked exactly where we left it...

It can be the head gasket - remember the oil is at a higher pressure than the water, so that's the most likely traffic direction. Worse, it could be a crack in the head, or even in the block. I had this on a 1.6 Sunny a couple of years back; I could clean out the water system (Jeyes fluid and a pressure washer!), but the oil kept coming back. It ran really well until it overheated! Scrapped the car in the end, it just wasn't worth replacing the engine.

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