Volkswagen: 1991 VW GOLF - Oil in WAter., james bowyer, head gasket

Question
Hi Ron,

I hope you are well.

I am in the process of trying to fix my car. I'm not sure whether it is a worthwhile exercise or whether I should look to buy a new one.

I recently had problem with the water / rediator leak. The water has been escaping somehow - perhaps a water pump problem?  The car was overheating a lot. I have just been replacing the water every other day - all of the time checking the oil, which has been fine. This is due to current financial difficulty. Am using my wife's hatchback at present but its causing probs as we have two small children. I digress.

I came to put some more water in the other day and noticed that there is now oil in the water - again I checked the oil - which has all gone. There does not seem to be any water (gunk) in the engine but there is gunk (oil) on the water cap. After putting some more oil in I noticed the oil is leaking out onto the engine - I could not pinpoint exactly where its is coming from.

Does this mean the head gasket its on its way out? Is there anything I can do, if only to prolong its life a little longer ??

Its a brilliant service you provide here.

Kind regards,

James Bowyer.  

Answer
Hi James,

Hope you are well too!

There is good news and not so good news.

From your text, it appears as though the head gasket is indeed blown.

The good news is, a head gasket is under $12 USD.   

However, it is quite expensive to have repaired.  (about $600-800 USD).   This is due to the fact that there is much labor involved to remove the cylinder head, clean the radiator, etc.

If your car has less than 90K Miles on it, and is in fairly good condition otherwise,  I would suggest you have the job done.  

Conversely, if the car has very high milage on it and is in poor condition,  you may consider getting it off your hands.

There is really no way to prolong your car with a head-gasket blown.  Eventually, the engine will overheat and finally cook itself.   Given your description, it probably has about 100-200 miles left on it.

I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.

Feel free to contact me with any further questions!

Ron