Oil in the Water?
 

No Not mine. Phew. but my aunties Mk1 ZS180

i was speaking to my uncle last night & as he don't have a computer I'm asking on his behalf.

he was checking all the levels on the Z Saturday & noticed that the water tank ( expansion tank? ) had oil in it, it was floating on top of the antifreeze & didn't go right down to the bottom of the bottle.he took it out & checked the dipstick & it had no mayo on it. we seem to think its leaking it in from the head gasket, how likely is this to blow? i know with the MGF when it went it put water in the oil. but this is the other way round, is it just more of a annoyance or worse?

any help would be appreciated & ill pass the info onto him, my auntie is so worried as she cant afford it to be major. :(

Thanks.

To me it sounds like HGF but i'm no expert. Although on the KV6 it's unusual... Lil sis' 214 put the oil into the water rather than the other way around which is more common.

A rare case if it is. What's the age of the car and mileage? From what I can remember the very early ones had trouble, but these were probably pre-production versions that were registered, but were not updated in some way.

Maybe there is a defect that has caused this, best get a garage to carry out the 'sniff' test to be sure.

Its a 2003 with 66k on the clock, oil sits nicely ontop off the antifreeze, got no over heating & runs perfectly still.

Mayo in the Oil (710) cap? :tease:

Unusual for a v6, but it does sound as though the seal between an oilway and coolant passage has broken down.

Sniff test is a good idea, but if combustion gasses aren't entering the coolant system it may prove inconclusive, it would be worth getting some quotes for a head gasket change, as it will be better to do it sooner rather than later.

No Mayo in the oil cap or dipstick.

Just alot of oil in the water,

Has the oil level dropped as well? I'd flush the coolant system and refill... get rid of the oil and see how quick it comes back... :)

Belive it or not he says the oil hasnt gone down, he said he found it empty about a month back & toped it back up & it hasnt shifted. car runs sweet as a nut aparently.


they are going on holiday to spain in it at the end of next month & need to know if it will be ok to drive there as it is.

I would :) but then I do that sort of thing... driving around on a duff gearbox for example... :tease: