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I'm looking to buy a car at auction and am wondering the safest way to check the car's head gasket. Any other quick checks I can make as the car is stated up before the sale?
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If you can get under the bonnet, take off the oil filler cap and check for mayonaise. Although not conclusive - short journeys can cause mayonaise to be there - it will give you some indication. Also take a look at the coolant header tank. If the water looks murky, then walk away.
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If the top hose feels rigid with the engine running, suggests compression of the water system by exhaust gasses.. = HG.
madf
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To be honest, any sharp-witted dealer is going to clean out the rocker cap and coolant bottle if he wants to shift a car with a dodgy head gasket.
There is no clear way to spot it under these circumstances - but rough start-up and idle would be a giveaway, as would steam from exhaust. Also, avoid cars prone to HGF (common sense really!).
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Another way to test for possible head gasket trouble is to run the engine for a few moments with the coolant filler cap off and if there are bubbles present, then it is likely that the head gasket is blowing and allowing air into the system. Also run engine with cap on for a few minutes and if pressure builds up quickly, HG failure is inevitable. If you drive a car with a blowing HG, the cooling system will pressurise and coolant will be forced out of the rad cap and over time it will get worse and fail totally, possibly damaging the head at the same time. Not good!
So, if you look at a car you're thinking of buying and there are signs of HG trouble- don't go there because you'll soon regret it.
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Agree with Aprilia.My mate sells at auction.Last one he sold had H/G problems.He cleaned up filler cap area.Also blocked the expansion tank pipe/s. then filled with water to normal level. which worked due to engine not running long enough to see any faults..after all it only drives into hall-bid is made-driven out.
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Steve
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