[N11EYA]

Good afternoon. As above I have issues and from reading on here have my suspicions on the eventual outcome of this but am asking if anyone diagnosed this themselves & can confirm my thoughts.

Original symptoms, a few cases of "low coolant" which required minimal top up, as when I removed the cap the level increased most of the way back. Did a chemical sniff test, which showed no signs of combustion gases in the coolant, in fact I never got ANY gas bubbles in the coolant, but obviously it wasn't pressurised.

Second symptom, one case of "high temperature slow down" which I didn't see the run up to as when on CC the temperature display becomes the cruise set speed. I stopped, allowed it to cool, then topped up & went home to park the car up for the last 2 weeks & borrowed Mrs N's car to go to work. On the way home the temperature was initially very sensitive to load but with the heaters on full the temperature did settle down to normal after a few minutes & remained stable/normal for the remainder of the drive home.

Yesterday. Hooked up my OBD tool on live data to show engine temperature, took off the cap, bled the coolant & ran it up to temperature to do another sniff test. At about 70 degrees the level dropped to min, which I think was showing stat opening, the level remained stable after this. When it was up to temperature I ran it at a fast idle (around 2.5k) for 30 min with still no signs of combustion gases in the coolant.

Towards the end of this time (still no cap on the expansion tank) there came some very obvious signs of oil emulsifying in the coolant reservoir. At this point I obviously shut the engine off & checked for water in the oil, of which there are no signs.

I am now guessing that I either need a new engine or a few £1000 to throw at my local garage.