Head gasket 20k miles?
Discussion
frenmor said:
Well for the head gasket to break you need extreme oil pressure or extreme heat right?
Not really. HGF might involve the engine overheating but doesn't have to. None of the other sensors are going to tell you that HGF is imminent or that it happened.
You might eventually see side effects from oil or coolant loss or contamination leading to overheating or loss of oil pressure, but that's some way down the line. You certainly couldn't count on warning lights to tell you that HGF has occurred.
Thanks. Latest update from VW is they think there is a blockage in the breather circuit that is causing a pressure build up in the crank case (apologies if that makes no sense this has gone beyond my automotive knowledge). They are 90% certain its not the head gasket - great news.
Its still not cheap as you have to take apart the crank case to free the blockage but we are getting somewhere at least....
Its still not cheap as you have to take apart the crank case to free the blockage but we are getting somewhere at least....
frenmor said:
you have to take apart the crank case to free the blockage
You have to what the what? 
I suppose you might need to dismantle something to replace a seal if it's been blown out by crank case overpressure, but the breather system is basically a set of hoses on the outside of the engine and I wouldn't expect to dismantle the engine to fix/replace it.
frenmor said:
Why does low mileage cause blockages in breather?
It's likely to be lots of short journeys rather than just the low mileage. Cold running leads to condensation build-up which mixes with oil to form an emulsion on cold surfaces. Breather hoses tend to be relatively cold so it can accumulate there.frenmor said:
Final verdict is that it’s a blocked oil seal. £60 part but 6 hours labour to take it all apart and put back together. Cut a long story short though they have offered to do it for free. Which I thibk is exceptionally nice. Thanks for all the help on here guys - much appreciated.
good result , glad you have sorted it 
frenmor said:
Final verdict is that it’s a blocked oil seal. £60 part but 6 hours labour to take it all apart and put back together. Cut a long story short though they have offered to do it for free. Which I thibk is exceptionally nice. Thanks for all the help on here guys - much appreciated.
Be sure to get back on social media to tell everyone how helpful VW were and thank the dealer principal... Yes was a good shout. I am really glad I got VW to look at it because the Indy was adamant it was a Head Gasket issue. If I'd have paid £1500 to have that fixed would I have had any recourse if/when it didn't fix the issue? Definitely makes you think sometimes worth ponying up for the main dealer service....
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