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[stevejspm]

First of all.......hello to all, first post!

I have just picked the above vehicle today. When I viewed it yesterday i was suspisious about the condition of the head gaskets after finding mayonaise on the oil filler cap. I managed to do a good deal with the guy selling after telling him ref my suspisions. Also when viewing I noticed the expansion bottle was completely empty, needless to say I still bought the car! I stopped off for fuel on way home & topped up coolant bottle with 3 ltrs of bottled water. Upon getting home (50 miles later) the info centre stated 'coolant level low'. Upon checking the expansion bottle was quarter full & the car had that vauxhall 'hot smell' about it. I topped it up again & got my wife to rev the car while I checked the cars exhaust. Steam & some water expulsion. Checked oil filler cap, even more mayonaise! However...I cant see anything foreign in the expansion bottle (even after a run) I.e oil or sludge.
My predicament is......I have done some pretty extensive research into this & is all I keep seeing is...."dont jump to the conclusion that the head gasket has failed on this model Omega, its rare for a head gasket failure on the 2.6 V6".
The car is a 2001 with 114,000 miles with a full vaux service history. My big question is......are 1 or both head gaskets in a failure condition? & what is a foolproof way of checking before I start stripping the heads off.
I thank everyone in advance for their time.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Hmmmm.......thing to do is check for other leaks first.

The v6 rarely suffers headgasket failure and the 2.6 and 3.2 even less so (they are a multilayer metal setup!)

The classic is the heater bypass valve leaking

[kcl]

Mayo in filler cap is normal to a certain limit, caused by short journeys. I think that the limit is that if you need to wipe it off more than you can with three pieces of toilet paper every week you might be facing heads-off- job.
Vauxhall-smell is most likely the HBV which is leaking on the exhaust. Might as well be the oil cooler joint as it was in my car, lost water and had that coolant smell around. Also one thing leaking is for sure the camcover gaskets, these also drip (oil) on exhaust.

[kcl]

...and of course there's always someone who's faster in typing than I am  

[stevejspm]

Would the heater bypass valve being faulty still give the symptoms Ive quoted I.e steam from exhaust, mayonaise & extreme loss of coolant? By the way I checked under the car & couldnt see a physical loss of coolant.

[kcl]

A GM V6 builds quite a lot steam through the exhaust, even on warm weather and warm engine. As MarksDTM said, headgasket is not the most likely one, and you will not see anything dripping because all is steamed up on the exhaust... My recommendation is taht you check the HBV and oil cooler joints first, and doing that, with the plenum off, replace the camcover gaskets and spark plugs and you'll have fun for a long time with your new car! All these are on the how-to's...

[albitz]

If you put your location in you avatar there may be someone nearby who could offer to help.

[stevejspm]

Well I'll try the HBV & oil cooler joints first tomorrow. Im hoping & praying its not the head gaskets (although I do have the know how to do it, its just so time consuming!)

I appreciate all your help & I'll keep you all updated.

Many thanks.

[Welung666]

Where abouts are you Steve, maybe someone lives local who could throw a glass eye over it with you

[stevejspm]

In Basingstoke, Hampshire.

[stevejspm]

As promised I said I'd update on the problem. It turned out to be the HBV as several of you stated. Picked one up at local Vaux Dealer this morning.....£35.07 with VAT. Vauxhall could of made it more difficult to get at though, not very challenging I felt!!!  (joking!)

Many thanks to you all for help & the very useful 'how to change the HBV' in the maintenance section.

[kcl]

  Good to hear you got it sorted... and that's we are here for, to share our experience and ideas.