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Oil in Coolant. How hard is it to replace cylinder head gasket? '08 Jetta 2.0 TDi DSG

12K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  nitroscope8 
#1 ·
Hi, new here, old everywhere else. In the summer oil appeared in the coolant header tank. Local VW garage identified a defective oil cooler and I was semi-ripped off for a new one. Now, four months later it's happening again, but not as badly. Garage boss told me that the oil in the water has made an 'O' ring or seal in the head gasket deteriorate, causing oil to seep into the water. I've been advised by another engine specialist that the oil may be residue from the first leak which has eventually found its way to the header tank, so I intend to flush the cooling system through a couple of times. If the oil returns, how difficult is it to change the head gasket myself? I'm quite competent at wrenching, but don't want to venture into the complicated 'unknown'. :eek:Thanks for any replies.
 
#2 ·
You don't need a head gasket. Get some tide or other degreaser laundry soap and put some in the cooling system. Drive around for a while and flush out the system and replace the coolant bottle. this should cure the remainder of your problem.
 
#3 ·
Many thanks for the help, sorry it took me a while to reply. As the garage which replaced the oil cooler flushed everything out, I thought the oil which appeared in the header tank might be just some residue which had gradually found its way up (oil rising to the top of water as it does) so I got the bit of floating stuff out with paper towels and no more appeared, but the header tank had oil stuck to the inside, also coating the sensor prongs, which had made the alarm go off regularly. I syphoned out the water/antifreeze and removed the header tank and rinsed it out with a quality degreaser (called Gunk in the UK), filtered the coolant back in and it's been perfect ever since..!
 
#4 ·
Glad to hear all is well!. It takes a while for all the gunk to come out.......
 
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