Is the head gasket gone ? no oil/water mix, no water or power loss and no smoke, but.

A few weeks ago my car was loosing water so I had a engine repair shop do a chemical test on the coolant (was using tap water at the time ) and it changed color almost right away and the man said head gasket was bad.

I recently had a big water leak from my car, found it to be a metal pipe had a small hole in it, it has been about 3 weeks since the pipe was repaired and now my car has no more loss of water.

Is it possible that oil had got into the hole on the pipe and that is why the test had changed color indicating head gasket failure ?

My car runs well, no power loss that I'm aware of, no water loss, no smoke, no oil water mixing.

Is it possible that my car actually hasn't got a head gasket issue ?

I would like to know as I am looking to replace timing belt soon and may as well replace head gasket in the process if it is actually bad but would rather just replace belt if head gasket is fine

edit : car was off for a few days, we disconnected a radiator hose which had quite a lot of pressure still in it, not sure if this counts as anything ?

Thanks

Reply 1

Talon

I believe (though I could be wrong!) that usual practice is to test for combustion gasses in the cooling system rather than detecting the presence of oil in the coolant. The oil should separate from the water anyway so you should see residue in the expansion tank of there is oil in there. I would get a second opinion before going to the trouble and expense of a head gasket replacement, especially if you aren't getting any symptoms.

Reply 2

KCLeblanc

Do I remember from one of your many other threads that this car has had headgasket trouble in the past? Did you mention this to the garage, since it could be left over contamination from the last time the HG failed.

I would keep a very close eye on the water level and see where you go from there.

Reply 3

I love life

Original post by Talon

You're right, I think it does test for combustion gases in the coolant. I am looking at getting the timing belt replaced soon so I shall continue to watch closely to make sure I know if it loses any water, but hopefully it won't, however if it does need a new HG then it may be best to do it during the timing belt replacement.

Original post by KCLeblanc

Hi

I was told by a garage a day after I bought the car that the head gasket was gone (car was loosing water, no other symptoms ) and they charged £950 to replace it but since then several friends of mine who are mechanics and even mechanics who I don't know have told me it looks very much like the head gasket wasn't replaced but only the water pump was. I went back to the same garage after the chemical test on my coolant and asked if they were prepared to offer a solution as it was within a year since they charged for the job, but they refuse to offer any solution .
so it's a bit of a pickle, I don't know if the head gasket was done, or if even the timing belt was replaced last year. As I'm not sure I am looking at having the timing belt replaced soon but I want t o hold on a little longer and make sure there is no more water loss because if there is and the hg is bad then it makes sense to replace that at the same time as the HG.

Somebody else who is a mechanic said the same thing as you, about it could be left over contaminants in the system but I don't see how as the water had leaked out when it was leaking and I poured more in

regards

Is the head gasket gone ? no oil/water mix, no water or power loss and no smoke, but.

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