Blown Head Gasket

[RM955I]

Well the good news is, it was in fact the oil cooler as suggested by cheshired5.

Seeing that much oil in the expansion tank made me fear the worst but the old girl is back up and running sweetly so hopefully has a few more miles left in her to add to the 207,000 on the clock.

If I had the time and the inclination I’d have done it myself but on this occasion I just needed it fixed. The bill wasn’t too eye watering. It had 3 lots of coolant run through it and there’s still some residual oil coming in to the expansion tank so I’ll run it for a few weeks and then change it all again.

Obviously it needed new oil (which was only changed the day before…bugger!), filter, 3 x coolant flush, new oil cooler, 3.5 hours labour and a bit of a steam clean.

Thanks to everyone for the advice…oil cooler didn’t even occur to me in my panic.

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by RM955I

Well the good news is, it was in fact the oil cooler as suggested by cheshired5.

Seeing that much oil in the expansion tank made me fear the worst but the old girl is back up and running sweetly so hopefully has a few more miles left in her to add to the 207,000 on the clock.

If I had the time and the inclination I’d have done it myself but on this occasion I just needed it fixed. The bill wasn’t too eye watering. It had 3 lots of coolant run through it and there’s still some residual oil coming in to the expansion tank so I’ll run it for a few weeks and then change it all again.

Obviously it needed new oil (which was only changed the day before…bugger!), filter, 3 x coolant flush, new oil cooler, 3.5 hours labour and a bit of a steam clean.

Thanks to everyone for the advice…oil cooler didn’t even occur to me in my panic.

Really pleased for you.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by RM955I

Well the good news is, it was in fact the oil cooler as suggested by cheshired5.

Seeing that much oil in the expansion tank made me fear the worst but the old girl is back up and running sweetly so hopefully has a few more miles left in her to add to the 207,000 on the clock.

If I had the time and the inclination I’d have done it myself but on this occasion I just needed it fixed. The bill wasn’t too eye watering. It had 3 lots of coolant run through it and there’s still some residual oil coming in to the expansion tank so I’ll run it for a few weeks and then change it all again.

Obviously it needed new oil (which was only changed the day before…bugger!), filter, 3 x coolant flush, new oil cooler, 3.5 hours labour and a bit of a steam clean.

Thanks to everyone for the advice…oil cooler didn’t even occur to me in my panic.

Great result.

How much did it cost, if you don’t mind me asking?

[RM955I]

£430 inc VAT, which may sound a lot to replace a £60 oil cooler but it all stacks up, plus I'd rather pay someone else to get covered in oil or get it all over their drive/floor!

I know it took a bit of time just flushing/decontaminating the cooling system and cleaning the mess in the engine bay..

I haven't got the invoice in front of me but from memory.

3.5 hours at £60 p/h
New oil filter £8ish
New oil £40-something
3 x coolant flush £18 total
Oil cooler at £60ish

...something else which I can't remember !

[Ian21401]

Pleased to here it’s sorted. You have your car back and it was a lot cheaper and less trouble than trying to source a replacement.
That doesn’t seem too bad for a filthy time consuming job which probably has some form of guarantee. Is the oil cooler OE and did they put the correct oil in? That seems a cheap price for the correct fully synthetic oil.

[RM955I]

The oil is correct - remember that they’re paying trade price and that’s ex-VAT.

Oil cooler is not OE which doesn’t bother me - 60 quid for a decent aftermarket part v about £240 for Volvo part which isn’t made by Volvo anyhow.

This car has 207,000 miles on it and I have to be sensible in terms of how much money I’ll throw at it.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by RM955I

The oil is correct - remember that they’re paying trade price and that’s ex-VAT.

Oil cooler is not OE which doesn’t bother me - 60 quid for a decent aftermarket part v about £240 for Volvo part which isn’t made by Volvo anyhow.

This car has 207,000 miles on it and I have to be sensible in terms of how much money I’ll throw at it.

Does the oil cooler have the same number of fins ? Volvo use the high efficiency ones with double the fins .

[Stu B]

Great result! I had an old Golf GTI do similar once when the oil cooler / heat exchanger split that sits near the oil filter and allowed the coolant system fill with oil. Alarming results and took some flushing on the driveway

[RM955I]

Originally Posted by Clan

Does the oil cooler have the same number of fins ? Volvo use the high efficiency ones with double the fins .

Yes…as far as I know. The garage commented that it is the same as a Focus RS so they seemed to know why they were doing.

[RM955I]

Originally Posted by Stu B

Great result! I had an old Golf GTI do similar once when the oil cooler / heat exchanger split that sits near the oil filter and allowed the coolant system fill with oil. Alarming results and took some flushing on the driveway

Got some more flushing to do…they say they ran 3 lots of coolant through it but the oil keeps coming out. I’ve read that a dishwasher tablet works wonders (obviously as a flush not to be left in there) and I think I have a few water and dishwasher tab flushes to do before I refill with proper coolant.