oil and water mixing

hi  
i got oil in the water on my golf mk1 gti  how do i tell if its the gasket or oil cooler the car was running fine before

Does it have an oil-water cooler?

If so, then you can do a cylinder leakdown test to check if its a blown head gasket. If its not then it will be a faulty oil-water cooler.

hi paul

it has  a oil water cooler 2 pipes going into cooler above filter how do i do the test you said about
thanks ade

You'll need a kit which is basically, an adapter to the spark plug which sends compressed air into the cylinder, then you listen to see where the air leaks out. They cost a lot of money so its basically a garage job, but its the gold standard for checking head gasket failure.

Another way, not 100% but DIY-able, is to do a compression check on the cylinders. You can get a compression tester from Gunson for around ?10-15 or thereabouts.

OK, before getting to carried away, just how did you determine that water is in the oil? By no means saying you are wrong as I can't tell from here, but cold weather does cause foaming due to condensation. Is this just because you have discoverd some brownish milky foam on the filler cap or something?

hi

no its a bit more than condensation all the water hoses are filled with the stuff and its vary messey even rad is blocked

OH, sorry then as if it is that wide spread you are going to have problems. A simple flush or back-flush may not clear things up enough. The heater core and radiator will be very hard to get clean if you even can. Some foaming and brownish coolant might continue for some time as there are so many nooks and crannies in the cooling systen to trap the oil.

Have you checked to see if there is water in the oil? Water in the oil is the most common as the water is under pressure and a small crack or defect will most times only let the water under pressure through. Oil in the water could mean the defect is rather large and I would expect to fnd water in the oil also.

hi

there is no water in the oil at all i was told it could be the oil cooler

The oil cooler is around ?37 + replacement of oil and water + labour. Its a messy job to change it if its "gone". Might be worth getting a compression test done, as a differential diagnosis.