APT head gasket failure

[titticarcar]

Hi, ive got a 2000 x plate 1.8 petrol passat with APT engine code, had head gasket fail last week, the expansion bottle was full of mayonnaise and no oil in engine, had the car back 2 days and done 60 miles, and now got the same scenario, except the car has now dropped oil on the floor as well as filling the expansion bottle, getting to the end of my patience, any suggestions as to what could be doing this, all help appreciated, thanks....

[shooey88]

alot of people replace the head gasket as the obvious thing but would have been the oil cooler faulty instead!!!!!!!!!!! need to replace that maybe as oil and coolant mix together in there and common to fail. flush the sysytem out properly after clearing all oil from coolant pipes and radiater gathered to clear system.

as for the oil on the floor..depends wheres the leak coming from?

[titticarcar]

Thanks for the advice, where is the oil cooler on this vehicle hidden then, I can see the condenser and radiator at the front of the vehicle but could not see another cooler????

[shooey88]

its where the oil filter is attatched too. look under the plastic manifold. theres two coolant pipes and oil going to a square grey block that has a oil filter attached to it. if you remove the oil cooler with the oil filter taken off. pour water in the pipes where coolant will flow you can test to see if it leaks into the oil channel. it be broken inside.
ok?

[titticarcar]

What a star man, thanks for the advice will have to look tomorrow and check this out. :o :o :o Hopefully this is the case and saves me a small fortune. Is the cooler a dealer only part??? Is this a common problem???

[shooey88]

common problem. iv fitted quite a few. but u have to clean out the oil from the coolant system by flushing it out as if not there will always be oil in the system again. iv only worked for main dealer..so dont know if you can get elswhere but i should imagine you should be able to get it cheaper from german and sweedish for example. replacing the oil cooler is alot cheaper and easier fix then a headgasket.
good luck and let us know how u get on.
regards

[titticarcar]

Is the oil cooler the same on any of the other VW's or Audis???
Thinking if I can get one off a Golf/A4 or Octavia of a smilar age that it will be the same??

Once again, thanks for the advice...:o :o :o :o

[shooey88]

i shouldnt think they are the same as i only know the oil cooler to be faulty on the APT engines. so theoretically they must be different to other makes and models otherwise they would suffer similar problems.
i shouldnt think it be too expensive to get a genuine one of VW. also, if a part is commonly faulty you will find normally that if you get a new part from VW it will be modfied in design or material from the old part to stop the problem reoccuring. so i would say its best to get one from VW.
for example, since the radiators are common to leak on the passat the new radiators are modified and are different to the old ones to eliminate same problem.
you dont want to get an old one of an old car and have the same problem. id advise against that.

[titticarcar]

Thanks for all the advice, it was the oil cooler, fixed easy enough and only cost £35 plus VAT, from the nice blokes at Euro Car Parts Canterbury, (thanks Michael and Jason). the car is back to normal and so far so good!!!!
:o :o :o :o :o

[shooey88]

should have came to me before u had the head gasket....as i imagine that was a huge waste of money...
im glad u got it sorted anyways.
all the best

[titticarcar]

Wasn't too bad really, had the cambelt done too as it was due and service done as well, work with Citroens at work so hadn't heard of this problem before, but yes I wish I had known you were about for advice!!!

Thanks again and all the best :o :o :o :o

[shooey88]

just out of interest.....r citroen really that bad? i wouldnt work on them and stick to VAG as been told that they are a nightmare. one mate from AA tells me all he deals with in breakdowns is french cars as they are famous for it. cos u work for citroen but dont have one of there cars n opt to drive a VW instead was wondering why

[titticarcar]

they are getting better but they have so many electronic gizmos and toys they get over complicated, and if it gives you any clues I drive a VW and my wife has got a Nissan, the stuff I work with doesn't really make me want to drive one!! Out of my team of four techs and an apprentice, two have got Citroens, but one has a Nissan, one has got a Toyota and my apprentice must have too much money cos he's got a BMW!!!!! One thing I will say about them though, if any trends become apparent, they do sort them out quickly and won't hesitate in doing recalls or updates etc. :o :o :o :o

[shooey88]

working with a particular car can cloud ur judgment...cos u seem to see them breaking down, going wrong etc
but i would say all the etchnicians in my garage all drive VWs nearly so they are liked...i was on 2 pound an hour when apprentice and wud never have afforded a BMW
i did Drive a golf mark 4 and stick to VWs as i can get cheaper parts and have the technology and experience to fix it. but sold it to make money on it. :biglaugh:
any other problems with ur car again give us a shout....all the best mate