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[Rob_G]

Hi all Im new to this site so bear with me , Ive just bought a 2.6GLS estate .2002, Drove it yesterday , temp gauge went through the roof , noticed it , pulled over and the car cut out , waited a few minutes and released the header tank cap slowly , when it was finally off a thick brown gunge came burbling out for about 5mins . Got towed home , towed car to garage this morning , still wouldnt start and was squeaking turning over , garage recons head, head-gasket and water pump    , does anyone know if this is a common fault , also has anyone got an engine for one !!!! can swap/part ex Calibra red top eng and box , Thanks all ,Robert

[damon80]

It sounds to me like oil cooler failure - commonly misdiagnosed as head gasket failure.
But no doubt someone much more knowledgable than me will be able to give you more info!  

[miggy]

Hi all Im new to this site so bear with me , Ive just bought a 2.6GLS estate .2002, Drove it yesterday , temp gauge went through the roof , noticed it , pulled over and the car cut out , waited a few minutes and released the header tank cap slowly , when it was finally off a thick brown gunge came burbling out for about 5mins . Got towed home , towed car to garage this morning , still wouldnt start and was squeaking turning over , garage recons head, head-gasket and water pump    , does anyone know if this is a common fault , also has anyone got an engine for one !!!! can swap/part ex Calibra red top eng and box , Thanks all ,Robert

When you say, just bought it, was it bought as a non runner or have you been sold something dodgy

[Paul M]

Almost certainly oil cooler failure. The oil is at higher pressure than the coolant, so when it fails loads of oil gets into the cooling system. Not a huge job (certainly a far easier one than a head gasket) but there is a fair amount of work involved. There is a how-to in the maintenance guides section that you should have a look through. I haven't had to do one myself but quite a few people on here have. They are around £80 I think, and if you're lucky you may be able to flush the oil out of the cooling system. In some cases the radiator is too sludged up and has to be replaced.

[Paul M]

BTW I just hope it hadn't been like that too long, as overheating is a distinct possibility due to the poor cooling of oil/water mix!

[Rob_G]

Thanks all , yes just bought it   , when checked there was no oil in water and no water in oil , had only driven it about 30 odd miles , will try to contact mechanic to suggest oil cooler , would that make engine go to "safe mode" then not start again ? thanks again all

[Dazzler]

Was it a private sale or from a dealer??

[miggy]

I would deffo make the issue known to the person/dealer you got it from, see what the response is.

[Rob_G]

Bought from auction , will be contacting them tommorrow  >:(as it was supposed to have full history but its not had a service since 89k and its now at 118k with timing belt and water pump not marked in service book (will be contacting dealerships involved to see if they have been done)

[ffcgary1]

Rob  your car is in need of some serious servicing and pronto too. i would guess that the cooling system had been drained and flushed  prior to the sale to hide the problem. The oil cooler would not fail big time just like that with that amount of oil in the water. there is always some tell tale signs of pending cooler problems and oil coolers nearly always fail due to lack of servicing and incorrect  coolant mix levels. The head gaskets very rarely fail on the v6 motors, so that is not the place to start the diagnosis.    

[theowletman]

When you buy from auction you must listen very carefully to the auctioneers description of the car and its condition. By the sound of it the only thing that you can quibble about is that the car has been mis- described, ie not full service history. In my experience the auctioneer will usually say how many stamps are in the service book, all the auctioneer says is normally recorded. Try and get something back, good luck, but don't hold your breath.

[ians]

Rob,

While this all sounds like you've been done (depending on what you paid of course), its not the end of the world.

But you do need to plan on doing the oil cooler (don't try to drive it as is) and a new cambelt/water pump asap.
Plenty of help/advice on here if you tackle it yourself

Cheers,

Ian

[Rob_G]

Thanks again all , contacted auction house today B.C.A told them they said it had FSH (was actually due 6 months ago) tried to get my point accross saying that a FSH is yearly or 20,ooo miles whichever comes first , also managed to track down a garage who looked at this vehicle for previous owner 4 weeks ago and advised him that the r/h head gasket was gone and gave him the costs which he wouldnt pay . So someone has knew what they were doing ,flushed the water tank , and put fresh oil in then took it to auction !!! thare are some unscrupulous people out there . Have been in touch with trading standards and they say I have a case in being sold an unroadworthy vehicle , so I am looking into that area , have also had my mechanic take a look and furnished him with all your info , he's holding off doing anything until next week , have ordered head gaskets, bolts, water/oil pumps and timing belt kit just in case , thanks again everyone , will keep you informed, Rob

[ians]

hope you can return the head gaskets and bolts as almost certainly not needed.

How much did you pay may we ask?  It may be you still have a decent buy, but just needs sorting out.
Still pursue them for compensation though

[Rob_G]

Hi , paid £1500 its a 2002, in A1 condition apart from this , can return any unused parts , unfortunately car has now went into safe mode and dont know if battery is flat but engine only turning slowly and wont start  !!! Hope its not too serious but checking the cooler first , still going to do belt and pumps if its only the cooler though , wont be beaten ,always had vauxhalls but never the 2.6 so dont know too much about engine !!