1983 1.9 VW Transporter - potential head gasket issue
Posted: 24 Apr 2021, 16:32
Hello all,
Newbie here - please be gentle!
I picked up a 1983 1.9 VW Transporter last week and drove her for the first time this weekend, only to have smoke/steam coming out the back of her while on the motorway. I assumed that when the smoke started coming out it was because i was pushing her 60mph when I was advised by the previous owners to stay between 50/60. However, when I pulled off the motorway (we managed to get 26 miles away from home) she turned off (very sure she stalled) and she would not come back on - put our hazards on and waited for recovery. The red light on the dash was also blinking before we stalled. We also filled up with water (about 10L or so) but didn't seem to top up. When the RAC arrived 4 hours later, they diagnosed us with a missing breather pipe very quickly (didn't have much of an inspection) and towed us home.
Initially, when we got onto the motorway at the beginning of the journey, I thought that it didn't feel like we had any/much power but just assumed that was because it was a big and heavy vehicle. There was also an acrid smell when we drove her the other night (thought it had to do with us struggling with gears)
Before we left, we filled her up with water (behind the license plate) before we left but it didn't need much to hit the max level.
I called out a mobile mechanic, who came to have a look and put 10l of water into the coolant tank and it started coming out the exhaust and he found water in the exhaust and looked at the spark plugs which looked a little bit rusty. When he stuck the screwdriver in the left head gasket, he said it looked like there was water at the end. So he thinks it is a head gasket failure but is going to look into it as he has not worked extensively with this type of vehicle.
Any advice would be great or any recommendations for mechanics who are in Kent with knowledge of VW's please. It's really unfortunate that we managed to get a camper only for its head gasket to blow a week later, it had just passed it's MOT with no advisories and the sellers seemed genuine and helpful.
Photo enclosed
A = missing breather pipe
B = under license plate, where we filled up with water
C = where we are pouring water into and it doesn't seem to ever 'fill' up with water
upload pic
Newbie here - please be gentle!
I picked up a 1983 1.9 VW Transporter last week and drove her for the first time this weekend, only to have smoke/steam coming out the back of her while on the motorway. I assumed that when the smoke started coming out it was because i was pushing her 60mph when I was advised by the previous owners to stay between 50/60. However, when I pulled off the motorway (we managed to get 26 miles away from home) she turned off (very sure she stalled) and she would not come back on - put our hazards on and waited for recovery. The red light on the dash was also blinking before we stalled. We also filled up with water (about 10L or so) but didn't seem to top up. When the RAC arrived 4 hours later, they diagnosed us with a missing breather pipe very quickly (didn't have much of an inspection) and towed us home.
Initially, when we got onto the motorway at the beginning of the journey, I thought that it didn't feel like we had any/much power but just assumed that was because it was a big and heavy vehicle. There was also an acrid smell when we drove her the other night (thought it had to do with us struggling with gears)
Before we left, we filled her up with water (behind the license plate) before we left but it didn't need much to hit the max level.
I called out a mobile mechanic, who came to have a look and put 10l of water into the coolant tank and it started coming out the exhaust and he found water in the exhaust and looked at the spark plugs which looked a little bit rusty. When he stuck the screwdriver in the left head gasket, he said it looked like there was water at the end. So he thinks it is a head gasket failure but is going to look into it as he has not worked extensively with this type of vehicle.
Any advice would be great or any recommendations for mechanics who are in Kent with knowledge of VW's please. It's really unfortunate that we managed to get a camper only for its head gasket to blow a week later, it had just passed it's MOT with no advisories and the sellers seemed genuine and helpful.
Photo enclosed
A = missing breather pipe
B = under license plate, where we filled up with water
C = where we are pouring water into and it doesn't seem to ever 'fill' up with water
upload pic