looks like oil and water to me...

[joshiggins]

Got towed home by the AA yesterday.... top hose to the radiator split so lost all fluid, but take a look at this



Looks like oil and water.. does anyone know what could cause this? head gasket?

Josh

[the edmundator]

See if you've got any oily residue in your coolant expansion tank, and take a look under the oil filler cap. You're right, it does look rather like an emulsion of coolant and oil; unless they're separate leaks (unlikely), head gasket is a good call.

[The Autoad]

Mk2 Storm? Can't tell from the pic but you should have a square oil/water cooler sandwiched between your oil filter and its housing. These items can fail and mix the oil and coolant. Another possible in addition to the head gasket pointed out by Mr.Dator above.

[joshiggins]

Thanks, yeah it's a Storm. There doesn't seem to be water in the oil, just oil in the water.

Didn't know about the oil cooler. Got one ordered, it runs too well to be the head gasket

The guy who towed me home said it's not worth fixing!

[the edmundator]

The guy who towed me home said it's not worth fixing!

Did you wait until you'd got home, then punch him in the face?

I hope it's not your head gasket, but don't let good running fool you into thinking that's not the problem. I had a very smooth drive home when I bought a mk2 with a head gasket failure a while ago, red light flashing all the way. However, I didn't get any oil in the engine bay like that. The Toad may well be right.

[roccoGTX]

Had the same prob. Oil in the header tank. No mayo below the rocker cover. It was the oil cooler.
It's water cooled so the water & oil mix with the oil cooler on top of the oil filter, breaking down.
Had loads of people look at it and flush it all out.
Get a new oil cooler while you can flush averything out with VW approved stuff.
VW experts sorted it out for me -they knew what they hey were talking about.
Needed the whole cooling system sorted as the oil got into the coolant hoses and rotted them. Top hose burst due to oil contamination. Had to have new hoses, water pump etc.
I believe that you can change this oil cooling system for an air cooled one similar to the Mk1 Golf. (Not sure - but have a look).
The cooler for the 'Rocco is becoming rare now (Get a spare).
If you carry on driving the car it may overheat and you may need the head sorted (skimmed because of overheating and distortion).

Hope this helps (owned a 'Rocco since 1996 and know most of their faults).

Cheers
John

[Nate]

The guy who towed me home said it's not worth fixing!

if you look at it logically, he's right. fitting genuine bits (at retail price) a head skim, timing belt kit, aux belt, oil, coolant, complete head set and labour from a specialist vw garage, main agent or big independant (£60/hr+) then the cost of the repair will easily exceed the value of the car.

seeing as you car is now scrap, i'll give you £50 for it

[joshiggins]

seeing as you car is now scrap, i'll give you £50 for it

hehe nice try!

I got the old girl some christmas presents- a new oil cooler and oil filter, new water pump, new hoses, and whilst all that stuff was off the timing belt was looking tired so got one of those on too!

I've got a head gasket to hand if it needs sorting or skimming, hopefully not, so will probably check it when I get around to looking at the noisy tappets.

thanks for your help!

[mark1gls]

Don't forget to put on a new cam belt tensioner as well when you replace the cambelt.

[roccoGTX]

If you replace the tappet 'buckets' be sure not to start the engine until at least 30 mins afterwards.

Cheers

John