Need advice on head gasket!

tan1a

Ok Im a girl and no nothing about cars. My engine warning light came on (hyundai Amica), I rang up my local garage and he said to check my oil and water first. Took it to Halfords and the kind guy topped it up with oil, but said that there was an creamy stuff all over the oil cap pointing to a head gasket :eek:!! Its an old banger and just cost me £250 a month ago to get it through its MOT...I have done some google shearch and it also states that this can happen due to short journeys. Well I have recently done my back in and not been able to walk the dog on the lead, so have driven less than a mile to our local lake to walk him off lead round there, every day for the last month or so. Any advice would be welcome, thanks in advance.

Joe_Horner

Was the water level ok?

If your head gasket had blown and was letting water into the oil then your oil level would normally be high (because there's water in there as well as the oil) and your water level low (because the water's now in the oil). The fact your oil needed topping up suggests that probably hasn't happened.

A little "mayo" (creamy white emulsified oil) round the rocker cover and oil filler isn't all that unusual, especially in damp weather, because moisture from the air gets mixed with the oil. When the oil gets hot enough the water gets driven out again but, if you've been doing lots of short runs, it just doesn't get hot enough for that to happen so it tends to build up around the filler.

Keep a close eye on your oil and water levels for a week or two - especially if you're heading on any longer trips - but, unless you start seeing white emulsified oil on the dipstick, try not to worry too much about it

tan1a

Thanks you have really put my mind at rest. The guy from Halfords said my coolent level was fine ( I assume thats the water). So if I give it a good run should the warning light go out? There is definately no white stuff on the dip stick. Once again thanks

Joe_Horner

The light may or may not go out on it's own. If it stays on then get your garage to run a diagnostic and clear any fault codes. Sometimes when the car logs a fault it won't turn the light off until it knows it's been checked over.

Bear in mind that the light might have been triggered by something else - possibly something really trivial!

Strider590

I'd say your "mayo" is down to the short journeys and cold weather, your warning light needs checking, the fault code reading, without any major issues performance wise, this may also be down to the short journeys and cold weather.

If you have your radio code handy, it might be worse disconnecting the car battery for 24hours to see if it clears the fault (sometimes works on some older cars).

jaydeeuk1

I'd agree with posters above. Give a good drive round for 20 minutes once a week, or take a slightly longer route to work during winter/cold spells to give chance for oil to warm up.