Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: negivibes on 08 August 2011, 22:28:37

Title: Head gasket?
Post by: negivibes on 08 August 2011, 22:28:37
Hi

I'm new here and after a lengthy decision making process am going to be buying a V6 Omega in the near future

Have a question Re 2.6 Headgaskets.

Was looking at 1 yesterday, took a friend along who is a mechanic to trade, we looked at the oil filler when the engine was cold and is was fine, warmed the car a little before a test drive and there was a slight sludgy, mayonnaisy look too it, but took it for a decent test drive anyway (thinking it may be because it hadn't been run for a bit) car drove perfectly, when we came back checked oil filler again and it was worse, we reckoned Headgasket was on way out and walked away. 

Is there anything else this could be?

There was no oil in the water and the temp gauge sat between 80 and 90
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: Andy B on 08 August 2011, 22:34:35
Mayo under the oil filler is not uncommon on a V6 Omega due to the cold filler neck. Head gaskets don't generally fail on V6 cars.  ;)
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: albitz on 08 August 2011, 22:34:40
Its a characteristic of the V6 engine that mayo will accumulate in the filler neck if the car is used mostly for short journeys, and can be made worse by certain brands of oil - castrol is said to make it worse.
I would go back and try to give it a good motorway blast and see if it clears it. ;)
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: dazzerM on 08 August 2011, 22:37:30
I used to get it on my old MV6 but it went after a proper blast..

You can unscrew the filler neck and take it off and put the cap in its place  :y
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: Gaffers on 08 August 2011, 22:37:37
Due to poor maintenance on my goldie by the previous owner, the head Hawley on mine was rotting but the cyl firewalls and the coolant/oil channels were all in tact.  Even when rotting the HGs on these v6s are solid.
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: Crazycarzowner on 08 August 2011, 22:44:23
Hi mate & welcome,

I have a 2.6 v6 miggy and I found that on my car I had this problem too. I spoke to a few members on here and found out that omegas v6's do this and its quite common especially if used for short journeys. Its due to a condensation build up in the engine which goes to the highest point it can do (the filler neck) then when it cools turns into the creamy sludgey baileys type colour. After some great advise from here I changed the oil and removed the filler neck putting the yellow filler cap directly on to the rocker cover. Problem has gone now, no more sludgey stuff. Also the type of oil used can have something to do with it. I and most others use Vaux 10/40 oil & do frequent changes.

Omega V6's headgaskets failure are NOT very common and some on here would say bullet proof (as long as they are looked after). One thing that can cause problems though are the oil coolers failing or the seal going on them usually manifests itself by you getting oil in the coolant. Even that's not the end of the world really as I found out recently. No doubt others on here will confirm and have more info for you.
Title: Re: Head gasket?
Post by: noel on 09 August 2011, 22:20:43
i have the same problem on my 2.6 v6 but only started doing when i used castrol 10/40 semi synthetic   :y