Head Gasket issues

[ceejay007]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help me out with the wealth of information held by the members of this board.

I've never owned a VW before, but have been looking to buy one. I saw a T25 1.6 diesel turbo yesterday, which was in good condition, however i think it may have an issue with the head gasket.

The header tank had about an inch of coolant in it, about border line with the lower hose - I only noticed this whilst the van was running. The water in there was slightly turbulent, with the hose either trying to suck the coolant in, or out... couldn't really tell as the bottle wasn't very transparent. The expansion tank had sufficient coolant in it, however there was a slow, but steady stream of bubbles coming from the hose from the header tank. The oil was fine, no water mixing in it. No white smoke out of the exhaust either.

Is this what you would expect from one of these lumps with a blown head gasket? The engine has done about 140k miles...

Thanks in advance!

Ceejay

[dave friday]

The header tank should be full,have it topped up and see if it looks ok.

[ceejay007]

Unfortunately, it's a 3 hour drive away! Probably should have done that then and there. Is it typical for the header tank to be empty, and not the expansion tank?

[dave friday]

The expansion tank [your calling it header ] should allways be full,the top up tank [behind the flap] should be filled up to the filler!

[ceejay007]

I thought the top up tank was the expansion tank, as that's where the water flows into after it's expanded by heat?

Either way, header tank empty, top up tank up to the line with bubbles... i might see if the owner can check it out for me.

[LeeME3]

There's plenty for sale at any one time - any reason you are particulalry set on this van?

[ceejay007]

Struggling to find something suitable to be honest. Turbo diesel hightop for a reasonable price, in good condition. they're few and far between!

[Ian Hulley]

The expansion tank [your calling it header ] should allways be full,the top up tank [behind the flap] should be filled up to the filler!

The header tank is in the engine bay, the expansion or as I prefer to call it 'top-up' tank is behind the cat flap

[LeeME3]

Struggling to find something suitable to be honest. Turbo diesel hightop for a reasonable price, in good condition. they're few and far between!

Does it have to be diesel? Petrol with an LPG conversion may be worth considering also (if you get really lucky it may already have an LPG kit on it - an increasing number do).

[ceejay007]

I'd consider an LPG conversion... already looked at one that someone was trying to flog, and it had a blown head gasket.

I'm a bit wary of the petrol motors, plus we'll be using it for a trip around Europe, so LPG might not be as widely available in some places. But if there was one with a rebuild, then I would definitely consider it.

[Ian Hulley]

plus we'll be using it for a trip around Europe, so LPG might not be as widely available in some places.

LPG/GPL is available widely throughout Europe (You'll need the 2 types of adaptors) .... some places harder to find than others but you always have petrol to fall back on.

Ian

[LeeME3]

LPG availability in most of Europe is fine (although you can't use channel tunnel) - plenty of discussions on here about it (you do need an adaptor ring but that's no major hassle). My personal opinion (and we all have differing priorities) was to buy a van with decent bodywork and sound mechanical underpinnings pretty much regardless of powerplant (I then had the LPG retro-fitted).

That said i then promptly bought unseen (DON'T DO IT - it's only since joining this forum I realise how incredibly lucky I've been!).

General consensus is that LPG improves driveability as well.

ETA: high top can be retro-fitted as well (clearly the cost starts to get silly if you buy a van and then retro-fit EVERYTHING in your wish list!). So if you find a pop-top or tintop van that otherwise meets your spec (eg diesel or LPG) maybe you could consider that. About £1000 gets you a nicely fitted kitted out new hardtop from a place in Nottingham I can't remember the name of but easily found via this place.

[ceejay007]

Thanks for the advice.

It's so tempting to buy on unseen! I almost did it the other week as it was a great price for a Westfalia TD. Whoever bought it is now renting it out on Gumtree! There's rarely anything local, so I'm forced to scour the countryside looking for one. The right one will come along soon enough though.

1k's not too bad to convert to a hi top. I'll keep that in mind.

[LeeME3]

Found the hi-top link: http://www.timbertechnicians.co.uk/13301.html

No personal experience or affiliation but they are highly recommended on here if you do a search

[dbz864]

"I almost did it the other week as it was a great price for a Westfalia TD".Youl proberly find it was a scam when you saw it advertised,gumtree is full of them.