Opel Astra loosing coolant

[littlebird]

Hello everyone! Hope someone out there can help me. I unfortunately don't trust my mechanic on something and need some more opinions.

I drive a 1998 Opel Astra that I have had for about a year. In the last month I noticed there was no heat coming into the car even at full temp. I checked the coolant and there was nothing left in it. Every Sunday I check my oil, water etc so it had disappeared pretty quickly.

I stocked up on more, fixed the problem with the heat. However after only a few days driving, I was almost totally out of coolant again. Went to my mechanic, he says (without checking a single thing on the car yet) that it is definitely a head gasket about to go. He also thinks it is the water pump.

To repair both, he wants €1300! I asked him to check for leaks but he is adamant that it isn't a leak even though he hasn't even lifted the bonnet yet.

Any opinions?

Thanks anyway

[larsen_huw]

Well the coolent is going somewhere! :)


Off the top of my head i can think of three places it can go ...

1. out the engine ... pretty obvious to check ... fill it up with coolent ... run engine for 10 minutes .... move car forwards .... if puddle of coolent where car used to be, it's coming out the engine! :)

2. into the combustion chambers ... symptoms of this include huge clouds of white smoke billowing out the exhaust, and car not running. :)

3. into the oil, which'll leave a mayonese like deposit in your oil ... can often be seen on the bottom of the oil filler cap.

Once you've identified where the coolent is going, then you can work out what's wrong.

Hope that's of some help.

[littlebird]

Thanks Huw.


In terms of the leak check, I have done that. Sorry, forgot to mention it. There are no pools of coolant anywhere on the ground. However I will investigate the white smoke. I have noticed a lot more of it coming out of my car which is unusual.

Thanks again

[GerryB]

1300 euros for a headgasket and waterpump!!!. Guy must have a big window on his garage cos he saw you coming from a long way!!. Seriously though it should cost around 400-500 euro for that job including parts labour(not in a main dealer) and getting the cylinder head skimmed. It seems to be losing coolant very quickly for a head gasket, can you smell coolant when the car is running or see steam coming out under the bonnet?

[tich]

Check front footwells for wetness. Possibly heater radiator (matrix) can be leaking and spilling coolant into car. Unlikely cos the amount you are losing should be fairly apparant but modern carpets can soak up a lot before you realise. Possibly a fishy smell to accompany it also.

What engine size is car? head gasket failure is fairly common, and some engines very complex so could well affect costing of repair but E1300 does sound heavy.
Not a scientific test but sniff the contents of the coolant bottle, if you can smell exhaust fumes in there its a good sign of head gasket failure.

What does the temp gauge show also? Does it run hotter than normal when coolant level ok?

[littlebird]

1300 euros for a headgasket and waterpump!!!. Guy must have a big window on his garage cos he saw you coming from a long wayWell not really coz I haven't agreed to anything yet. I did say it was a lot of money and that I would get back to him on a decision.

I am bringing it to my local Opel dealer anyway during the week. I feel they will more likely give me a better service though it may cost a bit more.

Thanks for all your help...everyone. I decided to put some of larsen_huw's suggestions to action today. I decided to go back and check for a leak. Guess what, I have a leak. Seems to be from the very centre of underneath the car.

Just to answer your questions Gerry, no smell of coolant that I can get but that could just be me. And no steam from under the bonnet.

[littlebird]

What engine size is car? Sorry, should have mentioned that before. It's an 1.4 XE Club.

[larsen_huw]

...

Thanks for all your help...everyone. I decided to put some of larsen_huw's suggestions to action today. I decided to go back and check for a leak. Guess what, I have a leak. Seems to be from the very centre of underneath the car.

...
Okie dokie then ... the good news is that it MAY not be your head gasket then ... :)

Too early to say for certain either way ... did you check the oil as well? And any excess white smoke?

Next step is to isolate where the leak is coming from ... I hate modern cars as they're crap to work on ... I've got no idea how easy/difficult it might be to see down the sides of the engine in the Astra, but if you can isolate where the leak is coming from, it'll tell us a lot more.

Best case scenario ... something like the water pump gasket has gone ... simple and cheap to replace.

Worst case scenario ... head gasket gone ... expensive ... but shouldn't be as expensive as you've been quoted!

[rivolette]

Thanks for all your help...everyone. I decided to put some of larsen_huw's suggestions to action today. I decided to go back and check for a leak. Guess what, I have a leak. Seems to be from the very centre of underneath the car.
You know, a very simple and inexpensive pressure test will pinpoint the exact location where you're losing your coolant. If you haven't found it yet of course.

[littlebird]

Ok, the update is, I brought it to Crosson Opel near me. They were able to confirm that it was a head gasket and water pump. With the head gasket gone, it caused a build up of pressure in the 4th cylinder (?) and this is what caused the leak.


It is still with them at the moment (since wednesday) and will be finished Sat morning. It is costing me €420 and that includes a full service. I have a full breakdown of how much everything has cost and the labour is only costing €100. I think that is pretty good. I double checked the cost of the head gasket and waterpump in other places and it looks like they would set me back about €290 on their own and about €85 for a service kit so I think I have done pretty well with them.

Thanks Everyone who helped out. I appreciate no end. At least there is one place I can now rely on for help with my car trouble. I'm an IT person not a car person but I'm slowly learning.

Cheers everyone


Oh and one more thing, turns out the white smoke I had from the exhaust was antifreeze...duh. Looked like a right ditz.

[rivolette]

I don't know about the price structure where you are but €290 sounds pretty good to me for a head gasket job. Glad you finally found the problem.

[littlebird]

There I was, waiting patiently for the call back from the garage today to see how the car is doing. Whattaya know, the mechanic accidentally broke my oil pump and they can't get a new one, til Monday afternoon. They will cover that cost as it was their mistake but I am really peed off now.

Amazing how you realise you rely on your car so much when you haven't got one. Public transport is useless!

[boss]

Hi make sure that you have an extra 500 with you because they are going to say that they found more things wrong with it and rip youre wallet out of youre pocket, It doesnt matter what the told you before it was probably an estimate not a quotation,

They have your car and you want it back + youll have to cough up the ransom.

I am based in Dublin and could have looked at it for you for a small fee,

I would have had the water pup replaced first then monitored the cooling system to see how it performs.

Unless you totally cooked the engine IE burning smell under the bonnet i doubt that youre Head gasket has gone,

Service people are programmed to tell lies and to turn over as much work as possible, unfortunately they are not mechanicaly minded and only relay messages from mechanics whether they have two weeks exp or 20 yrs.

To make sure you are having a good job done at a good price then you must have a good one to one contact with youre mechanic.

Unfortunately for you the road of learning is an expensive one and hope all turns in your favour,

Let us know the outcome

[littlebird]

Well 'boss' you wanted to know the outcome. Here ya go.

Took the car into the garage, it was completely shot of any power, cut out on me 4 times on the way there and was very lumpy to drive. But you already know this and that they broke the oil pump. Seems whatever he was changing (think the timing belt - needed doing anyway so decided to get that done at the same time) and the bolts were superglued in. Whilst undoing them, he somehow broke the oil pump. Anyway, that was Wednesday week. They were to get the oil pump in on Monday, didn't happen til Tuesday. Got the car back that night.

The head gasket was gone (according to them) and it was something to do with the 4th cylinder. Sorry, not all that mechanically minded so don't know how they are connected. Anyway, replaced the oil pump, water pump, head gasket and at a separate charge, the timing belt. The original quote was €290 without the timing belt which cost €110. The final price was €330 + €110 for the timing belt.
So altogether, €440. Had I not got the timing belt, I actually think that was pretty good.

Boss, I may keep you in mind for future problems. Where in Dublin are you based? Send me a PM if you prefer.

Thanks everyone.