Hi guys,

Just paid £370 to get the wife's W reg 206 through MOT (2 tyres, some wishbone work, exhaust sealing and welding etc..). Was happy until I picked it up and there's an advisory for an oil leak which the guy then tells me is the head gasket and is going to cost about £500 to sort out (including price of a new timing belt which he said was worth doing at the same time as he'd have to remove it as part of the work). He said the leak was quite bad and I should top up every couple of days until its done.

Got it home and it took 15 minutes of idling before my old man and me saw any drips. After half an hour there was maybe 5 decent sized drips had come out. Dad reckons it looks more like the sump - I have no idea on such things. However given that its not coming out much he said to just keep topping the oil up every week and keep an eye on it - sounds much more appealing than another £500 on top of the £370 I've already spent (on a car probably worth about £800!!)

You guys are always knowledgeable about these things - what would you advise?

Cheers,

Riv

Thoroughly clean the sump (or get the engine properly cleaned) and then you can see where the oil is coming from.
You can get a reputable garage to do a sniff test to see if the head gasket is gone.

was there oil everywhere hiding where it came from ?

like supa said, steam clean it so you can see where it's coming from


or sell it quick and get something better

A piddly leak can look like a massive one once you've driven around a bit and its blown all over the place and dripped everywhere, I've plenty of experience running cars with leaky engines. Easiest thing to do is keep topping it up and do what soopah/knighty said while looking for a new car, it's definitely not worth the repair bill if its anything more than a leaky sump.

Leak isn't that bad. I topped the oil up at 18.30 - just popped out to check it and it hasn't moved and there's about a tablespoon of oil leaked out at the most (if that TBH). My Dad's convinced its not the head gasket and there certainly isn't oil everywhere or anything like that - the opposite really its just a bit of oil leaking out.

Cant really sell it on as the oil leak is listed as an advisory on the MOT so suspect thats going to make it hard to sell. Thinking I might just leave it, keep topping the oil up and see how it goes. Couple of my mates have ignored oil leaks in this way for a good couple of years so tempted to chance it.

Its a w reg 206, my suggestion:

Buy the cheapest oil you can get your paws on and top it up as it needs it, doesn't sound often if a few drips came out, repeat until something more serious on the car gives up.. which will happen since its french.

Almost certainly a cam cover or sump gasket, oil leaking from HG is pretty rare.

Quote from: Binary Shadow on February 20, 2013, 20:10:51 PM
Its a w reg 206, my suggestion:

Buy the cheapest oil you can get your paws on and top it up as it needs it, doesn't sound often if a few drips came out, repeat until something more serious on the car gives up.. which will happen since its french.

Almost certainly a cam cover or sump gasket, oil leaking from HG is pretty rare.

Yeah think thats what I'm going to do. Car is cool apart from that only got 63K on it and 4 almost new tyres so hopefully it'll last for awhile yet. I am tempted to take it to another garage to see if its something simple though - I really don't know why this guy thought it was the head gasket but I definitely don't trust him. Car drives fine - I suspect with regular oil top ups it'll live for a long time yet.

Has it had a timing belt change? 63k is high for a belt.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Quote from: M3ta7h3ad on February 20, 2013, 21:45:45 PM
Has it had a timing belt change? 63k is high for a belt.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

W reg is what 2000? so 13 years on a belt is a bit much as well, suspect its 5-8 years interval on them

Oil-leaking headgasket I havent seen many without additional water leak or other problems, valvecover or sump gaskets more common.

Quote from: Binary Shadow on February 20, 2013, 22:00:04 PM

Quote from: M3ta7h3ad on February 20, 2013, 21:45:45 PM
Has it had a timing belt change? 63k is high for a belt.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

W reg is what 2000? so 13 years on a belt is a bit much as well, suspect its 5-8 years interval on them

Not sure TBH - We've had it a year but it had no service history.

Quote from: bear on February 21, 2013, 01:35:44 AM
Oil-leaking headgasket I havent seen many without additional water leak or other problems, valvecover or sump gaskets more common.

Thats what my Dad said TBH. He said he's expect to see more issues if it was leaking from the HG.

I might drop it in to a more trusted garage. Maybe get that sorted and a belt change. I can't see if costing £500...

What engine is it?

The TU engines can weep a bit of oil from the front of the head gasket with a bit of age on them.

Have a couple of them sitting outside with such an affliction.

Way cheaper than £500 to do a HG though. You could do it yourself with basic tools, as long as you have a torque spanner.

Quote from: Binary Shadow on February 20, 2013, 20:10:51 PM
repeat until something more serious on the car gives up.. which will happen since its french.

This.