Vauxhall 1.7 DTi 16v, black soup in coolant header

[The_Burg]

We have an Astra 1.7 DTi 1.7 16v.
Checked the coolant header last night and it's full of thick black soup.
Oil looks fine and no emulsified muck in the head.
Any ideas?
Neighbour suggested possibly a previous owner put oil in the wrong hole.
It's back to the dealers for them to sort but would like some insight into what it is.

Thanks.

[that daddy]

Headgasket!sounds like the oil feed to the head is forcing oil into the water jacket,this happens when the seal around the oil feed in the headgasket fails and forces oil out,you may not get coolant in the oil because thats allways around 10Ibs pressure where as the oil is up to as much as 80 Ibs and overcomes the gasket seal, or possibly problems with the oil cooler water/oil exchanger cracked internally,if fitted.Common problem on the Rover K series

[The_Burg]

Bugger!
Well at least it's the dealers problem not mine i guess.
Only done 87k which is barely run in for a diesel.
What would cause it to go like that?
Would over filling the oil cause it? Level was slightly high though not hugely so.

[that daddy]

The_Burg said:

Bugger!
Well at least it's the dealers problem not mine i guess.
Only done 87k which is barely run in for a diesel.
What would cause it to go like that?
Would over filling the oil cause it? Level was slightly high though not hugely so.

No the oil level wont be the cause,if it as failes its only a vauxhall after all,cant say i have had much dealings with this engine so see what your dealer as to say.

[sneakyneil]

If you're not loosing any/much oil over time, the oil mis-fill theory could be correct. That's the only way I could think of to figure out which it is?

[numbnuts]

That will be the oil cooler, cracked internally and mixing the oil and water.

[That Daddy]

sneakyneil said:

If you're not loosing any/much oil over time, the oil mis-fill theory could be correct. That's the only way I could think of to figure out which it is?

Trouble is you only need half a pint of dirty engine oil to turn the cooling system into a gungy mess,when you have a diesel engine that holds 5 litres your hardly going to notice the loss especially as most diesels use some oi,i would consider flushing the cooling system properly(including removing the expansion bottle)and using a proper flushing compound then flush that and refill,then see how you get on.

[motorwise]

sneakyneil said:

If you're not loosing any/much oil over time, the oil mis-fill theory could be correct. That's the only way I could think of to figure out which it is?

if it was miss filled the oil wouldn't be black - sounds like a classic blown head gasket to me - see it a lot on these

[The_Burg]

Car is with the dealer i bought it from at present, will see what they decide it is.
Not sure if it has an oil cooler or not, possibly not as it's not exactly a highly tuned engine.
Whatever it is hopefully it will be fixed promptly as suffering the indignity of having to drive 10 year old clagged out Fiat at present

What would cause head gasket to go so early? Are there other weak points to watch for on this engine?

Thanks chaps.

[that daddy]

What would cause head gasket to go so early? Quote., Answer,,,,Mmmm its a vauxhall,most diesels/turbo diesels or otherwise have oil coolers of latei think you can seek Motorwise,s opinion on this one though hes seen enough.

Edited by that daddy on Wednesday 14th March 08:55

[The_Burg]

Am i better off trying for refund then?
(Only had the car since Saturday).
Whole point of the car is for the missus to get to work a scheap as poss, (300 miles a week approx).
Owned several high mileage diesels before but never had a gasket let go.
(Including 1.7 Vectra diesel which was around 150k when i sold it and still see it about regularly, must have cracked 200k by now i sold it about 7 years ago).
The version we have is apparently the Isuzu motor not the later VX CDTi version.
Not sure if that makes a difference.

Advice gladly recieved.

[that daddy]

Mmm strange i thought you was referring to the vaux unit,those Isuzu lumps are very good for big mileages,never seen one with gasket issues before,and yes that unit as an oil cooler if its turbo diesel(might be a bad one you have picked up),good luck.

[The_Burg]

For clarification, i was told it was an Isuzu engine.
Car is badged as a DTi 16v as opposed to the lated CDTi version. It has got a turbo, although it's minute.
Personally the oil cooler damage sounds more likely though i'm not a mechanic.
I have had a bike head gasket blow and that just pressuried the coolant causing all the coolant to be blown out but didn't make it black and soupy.
Just want the damn thing working so my missus can give me my car back

[that daddy]

Not Isuzu, thats vauxhalls own unit that explains it then.ref MOTORWISE,S reply.

[numbnuts]

If its the dti , it is fitted with an oil cooler, i have fitted 3 in the last 6 months, its a hell of a lot of work to take off one of these heads believe me, so i would try the cooler first(square canister at the back of the engine)but dont forget to flush the intire system several times, and get the rad cleaned out.

[The_Burg]

Got a vmail saying its fixed but i don't know whats been done.
Will call tomorrow and find out.
Warranties are great aren't they

[The_Burg]

Hmmmm, spoke to the garage.
Sales chap not sure what has been done but apparently it's fixed.
I feel a little bit dubious about this tbh.
Mechanic isn't about so no more info available.

Fingers crossed but really unsure.
Still it's still under warrantee and was payed on credit card so if there is an issue i'm sure Barclays will get involved.
Perhaps i'm just being paranoid?
Lets hope so!

[The_Burg]

Car has been returned, seems OK. Trace of oil in the water still but guess it will need another flush to clear it.
They want it back next week to check it anyway so touch wood.
Haven't replaced the faulty MAF sensor though and reckon it's OK but it definately isn't, plug it in and the car doesn't go hardly and eratic tickover, pull the plug and ticks over fine and much quicker.
Is it possible to clean them?

[sneakyneil]

The_Burg said:

Haven't replaced the faulty MAF sensor though and reckon it's OK but it definately isn't, plug it in and the car doesn't go hardly and eratic tickover, pull the plug and ticks over fine and much quicker.
Is it possible to clean them?

I wouldn't even go there TBH, just leave it plugged in so the fault is there and throw it back at them. Faulty maf that they sold you = their problem, faulty maf that you break trying to fix = your problem

[The_Burg]

So far so good, did a good 300 miles at the weekend and coolant is fine apart from a few traces that were in there when we picked it up. Another flush should see it done.