Bloody head gasket has gone.

Or going. No steam, no overheating, but a header tank full of milkshake and the header was pressurised enough to squeeze neat oil out of the header tank past the very tight cap.

Nothing in the oil. Starting it with the header cap off, no bubbles, no fountain of goop.

Reply to
Elder
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Shit news. Flog it, and tell the buyer its oil cooled? (c:

Is it deffo the head gasket or the oil cooler a shared unit with the radiator on these? Any other possibilities for coolant to mix with oil?

Reply to
Douglas Payne

Could be turbo (not much cheaper) and it still boosts well so not=20 likely.

Don't think there is an oil cooler on these, the autos use a liquid=20 cooled transmission cooler, but manuals don't have one.

Going to check the oil in the morning but the goop smells like engine=20 oil. And the seepage that forced past was dark brown/black but clean and=20 had the feel of engine oil between the fingers.

Reckon it will cost about =A3500 with all the gaskets, labour, flush and=20 fluids and filters, plus a new poly bush engine top mount as the old one=20 is a bit ropey and needs to come off while the head is off.

It had a replacement trans/clutch at the roughly common time for the=20 age, and it has mostly history, and I do like driving it. Feels nice and=20 tight still.

Waiting for a firm quote from the guy who had been maintaining it, he is=20 the tech officer for the owners cluband knows his stuff.=20

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

They do it when cylinder pressures are high and temperatures are low. and its normally just combustion gas. If you are getting oil in the water it has to be an oilway under pressure leaking into a waterway. Unusual I think?

Could be turbo (not much cheaper) and it still boosts well so not likely.

Don't think there is an oil cooler on these, the autos use a liquid cooled transmission cooler, but manuals don't have one.

Going to check the oil in the morning but the goop smells like engine oil. And the seepage that forced past was dark brown/black but clean and had the feel of engine oil between the fingers.

Reckon it will cost about £500 with all the gaskets, labour, flush and fluids and filters, plus a new poly bush engine top mount as the old one is a bit ropey and needs to come off while the head is off.

It had a replacement trans/clutch at the roughly common time for the age, and it has mostly history, and I do like driving it. Feels nice and tight still.

Waiting for a firm quote from the guy who had been maintaining it, he is the tech officer for the owners cluband knows his stuff.

Do it yourself! Takes a couple of hours and you know its done right. And hugely cheaper!

Reply to
Burgerman

Good luck. You don't deserve automotibe heartache.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

Seems to be quite common on Saab engines at that sort of miles when used transvers.

Didn't seem to affect the same engine when used longitudenally in the

900 and 99.

Seems they tend to break between the cylinders.

Reply to
Elder

Really really, really bad news. :-(

Any chance you could take a few days off and DIY ?

That would save a right few bob.

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

It's five hours labour when you know what you are doing. Timing gear has to come off. One of the more technical guys on the forums said "I did mine, it only took me two days, and the cam timing was only one tooth off".

I'm a ham fisted clutz and I know my limits. Its usually cheaper to get them to do it once, than get them to look at a pile of peices then suck through their teeth.

Reply to
Elder

I got it for a good price. I paid =A320 more than the garage who=20 maintained offered to buy it back for if it didn't sell (I confirmed it=20 with the garage and they knew the car).

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

Yeah, I know what you mean.

When I had the XM, the local garage stalled for so long on doing a clutch on it that I eventually took it away. Took it to Mr Clutch and the guy happened to be an XM expert. The job took something like 2 hours.

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

Best change it now then... Is the header tank, rad, pipework etc ok? My old Escort burst a header tank years back.

Reply to
Abo

But theres no oilway between cylinders...

Reply to
Burgerman

on a 99 they let go between a coolant channel and a cylinder in my experience. never had any problems on my 9000's.....

head gaskets are almost a maintenance item on certain alloy head/iron block engines. If you're lucky you can get 200K on a gasket.

Reply to
mike

Don't be driving it. If it's sending the oil out of the bloody header tank neat under pressure it'll be out of oil by the time you get to Manchester!

You're not having much luck lately with cars, are you?

Reply to
Pete M

Oil level looks fin this morning. Barely lower at all. And the mayo on top of the coolant is thicker, but still plenty of clear coolant under it and room for expansion.

The scum is brown oily, but what was forced over the top was like black old oil.

I wonder if a HG has been done in the past and the rad hasn't been flushed. The level where the scum starts tallies with the small rad overflow pipe.

Reply to
Elder

I need to get it closer to work. The garage I want to use is in Glossop which is a lot closer to work than home.

Reply to
Elder

Two words: Breakdown cover.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

I have the AA but I called them out a couple of times when I had the=20 Rangie.

Was fine driving today. Warmed up a bit quicker and left normal a bit=20 sooner in traffic but as soon as the fan kicked in or I moved it dropped=20 back.

Been to Tesco today to buy a turkey baster to suck the crap and most of=20 the coolant out of the header, replace it with plain water (leave the=20 rest of the coolant until I can flush it), and see what happens.

There doesn't appear to have been any extra boil over and the gunk isn't=20 any thicker or deeper in the header.

Just waiting confirmation, but it is going to cost me =A3500 for New HG inc Labour, camcover gasket, headset, and timing case cover, New engine torque arm/top mount bushes(bit ropy and they need to remove=20 the top mount to get the head off). Full service (made sense to get the rest done while the oil and filter=20 and coolant was being done). While they have the arch liner out, fix the rear washer jet. Think might=20 be a pipe off. It worked when I got the car, then stopped, but the pump=20 works and the water comes out infront of the front wheel instead of on=20 the rear screen.

That is also going to include a loan car while he has it for a couple of=20 days.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

Cue Steve H...

You not fancy a crack at it yourself?

Reply to
Abo

I have seen mentioned that if you want to avoid removing the manifolds=20 from the head, a hoist is essential if you are doing a one man job.

The head is a very heavy piece of metal.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

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