Head gasket 20k miles?

[frenmor]

Dear PHers I wonder if anybody can help me. Around 2 years ago I bought a 20k mile 2013 VW polo from a major used car dealer. Since then I have only used it sparingly as a station car and done around 3k miles.

Unfortunately when driving today I had acrid steam coming out of the engine. I pulled over immediately and saw one side of the engine covered with a mix of oil and coolant. The coolant reservoir was still full, but there was oily water dripping under the car.

Obviously this suggests a cylinder head gasket failure to me and the RAC man concurred. I have had the car recovered to a local Indy and they will get back to me with their findings.

My question is: should it be a head gasket failure, do I have any recourse to the seller or VW themselves? Clearly a head gasket going after 20k miles and 5 years these days should be impossible without a serious manufacturing defect? What are vw likely to say if I take it to them?

What else could it be? The engine seemed to be running ok... no temp warning lights came on...

[frenmor]

Yep full service history...

I just can’t believe it’s a cylinder head gasket tho given car is so young... is there anything else it could be to cause the oil and coolant to mix? As I say no light came on on the dash....

[frenmor]

I know short journeys are bad for cars but surely not had enough to cook an engine in 3k miles? Assuming previous owner didn’t do same.... big assumption

[frenmor]

Sounds like I’m stuffed.... any idea how much Indy will charge me to skim the engine? £1k? £2k?

[frenmor]

By magic of Twitter I have got in contact with the CEO of the dealership network who sold me the car.... let’s see what they can do.

This social media fad may just take off

[frenmor]

It was frosty but not by time I set off. And yes it’s on the belt end of the engine.....

[frenmor]

Steel seal is a false economy I guess... reduces resale value of car to zero

Suppose have no choice but to pay up for engine rebuild and try and see what I can get back off the dealer

[frenmor]

What was the question about frost/belt side about?

[frenmor]

It’s with a garage at the moment being diagnosed but there aren’t many things (to my only semi educated brain) that it can be other than cylinder head... guess repair will be £1k+

[frenmor]

Oil cooler makes sense esp as engine was running absolutely fine when the steam happened. Is that significantly cheaper than cylinder head?

[frenmor]

Monday they’re calling. I’ll report back. Many thanks everyone for the help. Minus a bit of silly “I can’t believe you think you have any recourse you moron” trolling this is a seriously valuable resource. Thanks guys.

[frenmor]

imagineifyeswill said:

With doing short journeys the engine never really gets properly hot to get rid of condensation, this is what causes the build up of emulsified oil commonly referred to as mayonnaise. The polo engine has a plastic breather mechanism on the lower offside rear off the engine which tends to get filled up with this mayonnaise which in cold frosty weather can freeze solid due to the water content, the result of this is the engine cannot breath and pressurises and can eventually overcome the seal on the filler cap or the breather hose and blow engine oil and condensed water out all over the belt end of the engine. Once the engine has warmed the blockage thaws and there is no sign of why the engine would have blown out its oil, its reasonably common on these engines.

I would like to think so but I don’t thibk it was cold enough this morning. And the fault developed when I’d done 15-20 miles..... but would be nice....

[frenmor]

So I heard back from the garage. Apparently the oil is being forced out through the dipstick and the water is leaking into the sump... The only explanation for this is a failed head or head gasket (apparently the car doesn't have an oil cooler fitted???)..

Any ideas if they are correct in this PHers?

[frenmor]

In any case I am getting the car recovered to the a VW main dealer subsidiary of the co. I bought it from. They agree it is not normal and they are going to investigate and try to make a claim under Manufacturer good will for me. Wish me luck.

Also serves to have a 2nd opinion as I just don't see how a head gasket can fail after 22k miles....

[frenmor]

VW dealer is pretty bullish on me getting something back off VW on this... Given extraordinarily low mileage for the issues.

Somehow I still don't believe it can possibly be the head gasket though given no warning lights ever came on on the dash. I await update and official VW verdict on this.

[frenmor]

Well for the head gasket to break you need extreme oil pressure or extreme heat right? So you would expect the oil pressure light or the heat light to come on (obviously in a more "up market" car you have dials for these)...

Perhaps there is no warning for high oil pressure only low oil pressure though?

[frenmor]

Fair enough so the oil pressure light is purely for low oil pressure.. Seems kinda stupid but not surprising. A lot easier when you have gauges for these things.

[frenmor]

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....

[frenmor]

They can’t get the hose off apparently it’s too awkward without dismantling it....

Why does low mileage cause blockages in breather?

[frenmor]

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.