Berlingo Forum

Hello Everyone

I started with this back end of April. The garage could not work on the car and my daughter is away so I have used her car.
MY berlingo seemed to have blown the head gasket and a pressure test confirmed.
However the engine on starting sounds good and now the top has come off it is not apparent where the gasket has failed.
So the mechanic is looking for other possible causes of the car boils very quickly and pressure test indicates head gasket.
He said a cracked block could cause the symptoms.
There is some sign, but not a lot, of emulsion in the water and under the engine cap. The oil dip stick has no emulsion nearly full oil. The car has been using about half pint of water in 6 weeks. The machanic said the emulsion was not really significant in a car dated Feb 1st 2001.

The car has a history of the heater matrix failing and the replacement failing in a couple of weeks and then a few months later the thermostat failed.

Any ideas would be really appreciated.
I really like the car and would like it working again.

Thanks

What were the reasons behind you thinking the head gasket had failed?

Has your coolant level been dropping and your oil level rising?

What do you use to top up your coolant?

Have you check the rad it self i think they are prone to blocking up after time on the mk1
Sorry going through my head file's their not as good as they use to be i mite be wrong it could be the vx corsa
but still check anyway

A Pressure test does NOT prove that the gasket is shot.
It just shows that there's SOMETHING wrong with the cylinders.

You could have worn rings on the pistons, the valves may not be closing properly...

Car boiling quickly can be caused by a lot of things.

The 1.4i for example is notoriously difficult to properly bleed air from.

Which engine model do you have?
Do you have AC or not?

Check that the two? small bore pipes from the cylinder head to the expansion tank are not blocked. A blockage can cause similar symptoms as a blown head gasket.

Is it blowing very white smoke or very black smoke, my head G went and water burns white while oil burns black, you could also have a warped head due to over heating which will need replacing if this turns out to be the issue.