saxo vtr head gasket gone or not ??

[bebaz]

hi, this is my first post, bought my first saxo 4 wks ago 02 reg with 76000 on clock, mint condition with lots of paperwork for jobs done. i had the belt done last week cause had no proof of that being done.weekend just gone i was gonna service it , took off the oil cap and it had milky mayo oil on the cap. quite gutted right then !! I'm no mechanic but my wives last car was an mgzr, so i know all to well what this means. but...
for it to be the head gasket gone would there be other signs,it doesn't use water, the oil on the dipstick is nice and black, temp gauge goes half way an stays there, blowers inside car get warm.
so can there be other things giving me condensation inside the rocker cover ??
when i bought it one of the black thin air pipes on top of the engine was split and sucking in air, fixed now but just thought i would mention it anyway.
any help muchly appreciated before i have to start getting it took apart to find the cause.

[saxova]

May just be a build up over time.

I'd clean it and keep a eye on it to see if it builds back up.

Does the water smell like oil?

[vtr91]

it could be caused by small journeys, condensation will collect there if used around town ect.
Doesnt necessarily mean headgasket :)

[bebaz]

cheers guys, do you suggest taking rocker cover off, cleaning up then resealing and doing oil change an see how it goes then ?

[vtr91]

tbh, id just wipe the cap.
If there is no oil in the header tank, you should be fine.

Could you not run it to a garage to do a sniff test? that way, you will have a more difinitive answer :)

[bebaz]

yeah, i cleaned the cap up on sat an today its started collecting there again. i can take it to a garage , what is this test ???

[vtr91]

basically, its a test instrument you attatch to your header tank.
It will contain a gas sensitive solution and when the cars at operating temperature, it draws air in and the solution will pick up if there is any hydrocarbons evident in the coolant system. If there are, it will turn from a blue solution to a yellow/green (depending on petrol or diesel)
Fingers crossed it will stay blue and its just condensation building up

[Mickswan]

They should do a sniff test, chemical will change colour if there's exhaust gas in the system.

[bebaz]

cheers guys, will find out if anywhere near me does that test tomorrow, get it sorted asap. will post my findings out soon.fingers crossed, thanks.

[bebaz]

hi again guys, i had the test done, and its come back fine.
ive had the rocker cover off cleaned it all up, it was full of creamy oil all around the oil cap.i put a new rocker gasket on too.
but today i checked again and the inside of the oil cap is all wet and got ( mayo oil )
it does have a bit of back pressure though, if that could be any cause I'm a bit baffled now.
still not using any water, not overheating, running fine.
probably shouldn't worry about it but I'm sure it shouldn't be doing it.

[Cam]

If its not lost coolent and oil is staying clean, no need to worry.

[graham12]

Back in march I bought...well swapped another car and got my 2nd citroen
xsara ( its my 2nd )....I had previously had a xsara 1.9lx diesel on a 99 plate
that I had for 6 and a half years.....best car I've ever owned . On a wim I
traded it in for an MGZR and like the other guy looked like the head gasket
was going, so traded that in for a hyundai getx 1.1 on a 2005 plate .
Anyway I spotted this citroen on a garage forcourt, it was my mates boss and
he is a multi-millionaire with his own car sales business and talked him into a
swap. the car is a 2003 plate 1.4lx . it came with 4 new tyres, new exhaust,
new battery and new radiator with all the thermostat housing done, with all
the previous MOTs' and a documented mileage and has just over 58k on the
clock, and also came with a full service history. Probably the best deal I've
pulled off on a car .
However, a few months back in the summer following a regular clean, I was
checking the oil & water and the water in the expansion tank looked rather
dark and putting my finger in was surprised it came out with what looked like
oil. I got a mate to have a look and he thought it was head-gasket .
The car went in the garage and was flushed out and re-filled with fresh
anti-freeze and K-Seal . I actually bought some K-Seal and have mixed this
with anti-freeze for when it needs topping-up .
However, and again like the other guy, the car has and continues to run
absolutely fine, especially for the mileage . Its not overheating and the
temp gauge is always fine. Its not using any water and the water in the
expansion tank hasnt got any worse and the oil in the engine is clean as a
whistle with no mayo on the oil-filler cap, only the expansion tank cap .
So I'me now wondering whether citroens suffer from condensation in the
rocker-cover area that make it look like head gasket problem, especially with
the older models such as the saxo's and xsara's .
I'me gonna get the car through the winter and get it all flushed out again and
see how it goes, but I was thinking of trading it in again but now I've got
2nd thoughts, as its such a great car .

Graham