I have a 306 XSI, I noticed over the weekend that the heater does not warm up to it's full, also the water level in the radiator was quite low but not empty. The thing that was most alarming was an unusual substance in the radiator, the substance was white in colour and quite thick. I have a feeling the cylinder head gasket is on the verge of blowing.
What do you guys think?
Cheers.
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Certainly sounds like a head gasket failure. French head gaskets are made from old Camembert. I acquired a seven year old Citroen AX last week, which has exactly the same symptoms. However it was running very sweetly, no signs of water in the oil, and no excessive pressure build up in the cooling system, so I wasn't totally convinced the head gasket had failed. I flushed the cooling system thoroughly with hot water to get rid of most of the oil, filled with fresh anti-freeze, and now I'll wait to see whether the oil reappears. So far it hasn't. Might be worth trying the same with your 306, provided there aren't any other signs of trouble. When did you last check the coolant level - is this a problem that has just appeared, or could it have been there for months?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Thanks for the reply Richard, I last checked the coolant level about 3 weeks ago and it was full. Although recently I've had some work done on the manifold, the work carried out to the manifold required the head gasket to be removed. As we know once a head gasket is removed we have to replace it with a new one, which is what was done with my car. Since then my car hasn't really been the same, I have been experiencing unusual cut outs when the car is approaching idleness. I have a feeling the torque settings for the head gasket weren’t done correctly when it was replaced, but could a head gasket failure cause the car to cut out? Apart from the car cutting out it has been fine, no power loss, no fuel economy problems etc.
Harry
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