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« on: 08 May 2009, 21:35:49 »
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.
