Dave F Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 My girlfriends corsa goes five miles to the stables and five miles back everyday and never gets a good long run. It has always had an issue with running quite hot in the summer and when I check under the oil cap I always discover the dreaded mayonaisse like substance. This time it looks a bit more than usual could this be the headgasket on its last legs or down to the short journeys? Cheers Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I'm not too experienced in this but that does look alot to me to just be down to short journeys........ I'd drain the oil out the sump and check its condition, if it looks ok then you could just clean up the filler cap area and refill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 It has been gunky the last couple of oil changes but it looks worse this time. I think I'll wipe it off put the cap back on and walk away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Hmm, that looks a lot like my metro when it had head gasket failure (HGF). I'd be surprised if that wasn't HGF, but I'm no expert either.... Keep a close eye on the water and oil levels. What does the coolant look like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Looks ok, no sign of contamination at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboBrett Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 looks like a combination of loads of very short journeys and standing for awhile ("water emulsion" i think my dad called it), i always did an oil change but putting a gallon of Morrison finest(£5 a gallon) through the block and drain before the half de-cent stuff if theres not loads of water in the oil or oil in the water, your not loosing larger amounts of coolent & oil, spraying oil all over the engine bay and has a rock solid idle, the head gasket should be ok:D if it runs too hot check the radiator cap works properly and the water/ antifreeze mixture is correct, if its ageing flushing the radiator could give it a help too..(top and bottom pipes of and hosepipe in the top pipe until the water coming out he bottom is clear ) thats just a few tricks i had to use on le old mini;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movistar Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 It will be fine mate...quite common on the corsa...is it the 1.2 or 1.4 single point injection..looks like it! Put a flushing oil through it and try and give it some long journeys then drain and fill with a good quality oil. It's basically water condensation build up through lack of use and as steam rises it ends up at the top point..your rocker cover and oil cap. if you really want to make sure you have it clean take the rocker cover off and clean it out off of the car...you might want to check the breather/oil return too that's situated on the cam carrier at the back..you can see it in pic three. Headgaskets on these will show up through the coolant bottle..usually! and various other sign's too long winded to go into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay_vr6 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 The rads on the corsa have a very good tendency to block up with crap, so maybe a quick rad flush will help too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molak Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 dont worry, its only condensation! And NEVER flush the engine it will cause problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movistar Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 (edited) If it's done correctly it wont...iam guessing you mean engine and not coolent!? Edited July 20, 2008 by movistar (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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