My worst fears......

Hi all, needing some advice. I'm fairly new to the mk1 scene. I've always wanted a mk1 and finally got round to owning one! Love driving it and learning how to maintain and fix it. Any way………..

I'm pretty sure the head gasket has gone on my golf. Car runs ok, no overheating but I do have a creamy substance on the dip stick and on the underside of the oil filler cap. Also get white smoke on cold start up, but none once the car gets going? I've only had the car six months and done loads of work and my confidence has grown tenfold. I would like to attempt to do the job myself but was wondering if anyone has a guide or can give any tips.
I realise a garage will charge a few hundred pounds but it's mostly labour costs? Just need to know how difficult a job is it and do I need any special tools?

The he car is a 1.8gti golf mk1 1990

Any help appreciated, thanks

This time of year you always get lots of white smoke from the exhaust as its the water inside the exhuast burning off.
As for the cream/mayo have you just been doing short trips, under 5 miles?
Try taking the car out for a long run and once the oil is above 80 degrees rev it a bit more in each gear (upto 5,000rpm) go at least 15 miles so it gets nice and hot and the mayo should go as again its condenstion inside the engine and if the engine is doing short trips its normal for mayo to apear in the engine.
If the oil is older than 12 months or over 10,000 miles then new oil and VW filter might be a good idea.

As there is no over heating I don't think you have head gasket problems.

Hi thanks for the advice. What is it about owning this mk1 that gives you paranoia? Does anyone else feel like this?
I suppose I'm just worried, as when I got the car in it there was no thermostat installed and the coolant resembled dirty dishwater! I have since flush the system replaced the coolant, reservoir and thermostat. I did have to top up the coolant a couple of times which I thought was it just settling down possible airlock. Then I noticed the white smoke! And got worried, then the mayo had me really worried.
Will try taking your advice and let you know how I get on.
Cheers

Meant to add, the actually head feels really hot to the touch but the temperature never goes above half way. Is it normall off the engine head to feel so hot? Couldn't keep your hand on it for more than a few seconds!

Yes all normal, even in the hot summer my temperature gauge never goes above 1/2 way unless you stop in traffic then goes to 3/4 then the fan kicks in and back to 1/2 way.

Believe it or not these are reliable cars so long as you service them regular and check the filler neck for rust as dirt in the fuel system causes allsorts of problems you'll be fine.
I've had mine for 14 years and my mother had it for 5 years before me so in the 190,000 miles we've had the car its never managed not to get me home, the only problems I've had are fuel pump relay went, fixed at side of road with a spare bit of wire. Lift pump failed still managed to get home although slowly.

The MK GTI engine produces around 110-112bhp which is around 80+kw. Petrol engines are around 25-30% efficient so 70-75% of the energy is not used to propel the car but released as (mainly) waste heat. If 30% is 80kw the 70% wasted is around 186kw (186 1 bar electric fires) at full tilt, no wonder it gets chuffin hot.

Take it on along run including a motorway blast and a town centre crawl. Does it boil up, does it loose water??? If not, all is well.

 

If your loosing water internally, it might be the oil cooler. as yours is 1990 i think the oil cooler is oil to water. Tend to fail more than head gaskets I think. 

yup as above id look at the oil cooler, keep an eye on your coolant if it goes all dirty/oily again then this is a symptom of oil cooler failure.  you can disconnect the 2 coolant pipes and bridge them together to bypass it for now, then go ahead and change it when the weather warms up again. if you notice oil leaking out of the oil cooelr water outlets than that is a sure sign its blown

mayo on filler cap is normal if car isnt driven so often, but on the dipstick is slightly more worrying but if only a little bit could be short trips and blown/cooler are the casue

Thanks for all the advice. I thought I'd give a little update. Today I took the car for a 20 mile drive no overheating, temp gauge below half. All signs off Mayo now gone. Hardly any white smoke on start up, it is warmer today about 9degrees. I did however have to top up my coolant again it was down nearer the minimum. No signs of contamination in the coolant. So defo loosing coolant somewhere?? No obvious leeks. I suppose the next step is hunt the leak. Or may try bypassing the oil cooler as rubjonny suggested.

cool better news then, if the coolant is clean unlikely to be the oil cooler

check the rad and the flanges on the head and waterpump, liek to give u sneaky leaks there. also can get pinholes in hoses which are a real git to track down.

take off the coolant level sender plug and check for dampness around the pins, can leak thru there and coolant eventually wicks up the wires and corrodes the coolant level control relay