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[Varche]

I am asking here because these sort of problems are generic and there are a lot of knowledgeable chaps on the forum.

My Peugeot 2.0Hdi started having oil appear in the coolant. Lots of it. Took it to the garage in the local village and they bypassed the water feed to the oil cooler and flushed the coolant system (by a special oil extracting machine apparently connected via the rad hoses) . They gave it back to me and said come back in a week (that is now) and let us have a look.

I have been monitoring it as the garage owner said he wasn't convinced that there wasn't a problem with the head gasket.

Any more oil appeared in the coolant. NO. There is still some very small signs of oil but having no experience of this ever before I assume that some drops of oil will keep finding their way into the header tank for some time.? So I am thinking the oil cooler is at fault.

New problem is that the car is using water now - a pint and a half on an 80 mile journey. Never used to. I have had a look for any leaks particularly on the garages temp bypass arrangement. None but there are signs of new water loss around the header bottle. droplets of water. There are three small bore pipes connected to the header bottle. One from thermostat, one from rad and another that is maybe a breather and disappears under the wing - damp patches there too but as below the header tank might just be one problem.   

The temperature guage is the same normal position as always. Might this be a new problem like a failed header tank, failed cap (due to oil gunge?) or possibly a split in a pipe. One other problem to throw in is that the electric radiator fan doesn't run. I think that is maybe a failed sensor unit in the rad and will try bridging the terminals to see if it then runs Or applying twelve volts across the fan.

What I am trying to do is avoid the garage changing everything including the head gasket and me being without transport for ages.

Maybe the small bore pipes are blocked with gunge (The lost oil was about a pint at a guess maybe more). Maybe a pressure relief valve is blocked with gunge?

Any thoughts please? 

[Omegatoy]

Hmm, not good!!
however on balance think i would remove all the pipes and clean them out thoroughly then again flush the cooling system, oil emulsifies in water, so you will always get a small amount stuck in there, but as you say small pipes could be blocked, also pressure relief valve on cap could be damaged, with oil stuck in there, sniffer test on header tank will tell you if its got head gasket problems though?thought the garage would have done that??

[Varche]

Spanish garage- sniffer test? ! Omegatoy, what is the Spanish for that then??!!!

Took breather pipe off and looked for leaks. None. No oil blockage either. Other pipes look clean too. When I say oil it is like when you add a few drops of olive oil or similar to a bowl of water. When the oil cooler was in circuit it was 3/4 inch of gloop in the header tank.

I suspect it maybe a failed rad cap too. I can get one of those easily enough on Thursday (famous last words).

Rad fan works when contacts attached to battery. Must be a sensor problem. 

[Rods2]

If replacing the header cap does not cure leak from it, then I would start to suspect head gasket and do a compression test. Is there a lot of moisture coming out of the exhaust?

[Omegatoy]

Spanish garage- sniffer test? ! Omegatoy, what is the Spanish for that then??!!!

Took breather pipe off and looked for leaks. None. No oil blockage either. Other pipes look clean too. When I say oil it is like when you add a few drops of olive oil or similar to a bowl of water. When the oil cooler was in circuit it was 3/4 inch of gloop in the header tank.

I suspect it maybe a failed rad cap too. I can get one of those easily enough on Thursday (famous last words).

Rad fan works when contacts attached to battery. Must be a sensor problem.

sensor could also be coated with oil new one of them on the list!!
as regards sniffer test, am not actually sure to many garages have emissions equipment!! however if you find one thT HAS, with engine cool remove cap and have engine ticking over, hold emissions tester just above the headertank hole,rev engine and watch the readings, if it goes up then you have a headgasket problem, if no reading then head gasket is ok,regarding putting it onto cooling system, coould still be gone on oil side but i doubt it