Hi, bit of a long one, any help is greatly appreciated.

I've just bought my first Impreza Turbo, it's a 1999 with 62,000 miles on the clock. The car runs great and pulls really well.

I noticed the other day a couple of drops of oil on the drive where I park, I got my head under the car to have a quick look. The sump has oil on it along with the pipe towards the front of the engine below the belt cover.

There was also alittle oil on the top of the block towards the rear below the turbo (ish).

This got me seriously looking at the engine and I noticed some black specks in the washer bottle, I have been led to believe that this is an indication that the head gasket is either going or gone. Upon further investigation I found a brown mayo substance in the coolant filler neck (yet another sign of HGF yeah?) also the rad cap has it underneath, so know i'm seriously thinking my HG has gone!!

But the oil cap is clean, I was under the understanding that there would be Mayo on this if the HG and gone

I'm getting the car up on axle stands this weekend and having a good look underneath.

Is there anything else I should look out for to indicate HGF? Or is there a possibility that it has failed at some point and been replaced but the coolant system not cleaned out?

I have some mechanical knowledge but not confident attempting a head gasket, unless it can be done on a driveway? Having just bought the car I can't really afford the £800 (quote from API) for it replacing.

Thanks for reading all this and I hope somebody can verify my fears

Cheers
Ash

 

I would think giving everything a good clean out first would be the cheaper option. Rather than coughing up for a head gasket that is not needed. The washer bottle has nothing to do with the engine unless it is connected to a water injection system, then no oil should get into it as the water is being sucked out. More likely the oil on the engine could be from a badly fitted rocker cover gasket or one that has perished. I think there are few threads on here aboutrocker cover gaskets.

 

Does the car overheat or flow coolant from the bottle behind passenger side headlight?

 

if the car has been standing the mayo may just be condensation
as to the washer bottle try and remove specks with tissue then add a product called k seal
this should cure minor headgasket probs if you have any or flush the system with a rad flush then recheck after a few weeks

 

Cheers for the replys guys,

360ste: I'm going to clean the engine down on Saturday, and i'll check over the rocker gaskets for any signs of bad fitment etc

Tucker82: I havn't had any issues with either overheating or coolant flowing from the bottle behind the light. This is another thing that makes me think the HG is ok, I'm just confused as to why there is the brown mayo substance in the coolant system.

Cheers
Ash

 

black spots in washer botte is probably just dirt oil got no way of getting into washer bottle

 

Cheers patrolman

The car had in fact been stood for a couple of months before i bought it, I'll try the rad flush.

I'm feeling abit better know Was starting to worry I'd bought a lemon

Ash

 

Brown Mayo doesn't mean your gasket is breached...

I would only worry if the car starts to overheat. Just keep an eye on coolant level!

The oil leak you mentioned could just be something minor. Try to clean everything and look daily to determine where its coming from

 

Hello mate, my car has just suffered a head gasket failure. This also only on boost. Was very hard to pin point as no oil in water or visa versa. What i did was take a 2lt Coke bottle, drill a hole in the top of it, duct tape the bottle to the battery and connect the overflow pipe from the overflow bottle ( in front of battery ) and go for a short, hard ride. If there is water in the bottle, you got HG failure.

Good luck, hope you are good.

 

Cheers for the tip about the coke bottle, I'll give that a go this weekend

I'll report back after the weekend as to how it goes.

Cheers
Ash

 

just get an old fashion block test done and as for the the new sniffer test they are rubsih and only show whent he head is really gone

 

What is this " sniffer test"? I hear about it a lot.

 

That'll be your front crankshaft seal. Easy fix but the belt has to come off.

 

When oil and water mix it causes methane gas, hence the sniffer test
Take the cap off the expansion tank, rev the car and if the water is forced out then you have air in the system.
Then worry how that air got into the system as it should just flow around the system with no problems

tony

 

que?

 

the old fashion sniffer test is like a tube which goes over the header tank which will turn the liquid a different color if it got oil in with the water or gasses in there but the new ones are on a computer and they are really bad and only show up if it is well and truly gone