Festiva oilinradiator

[bbrown]

Just discovered I have oil in the radiator. Anyone know what it is from and how much trouble is the car in. Love the Festiva. Owned it for 13 years and don't want to switch now but a bit worried. Thanks. :?

[mattswabb]

Is there any water/coolant in your engine oil? My guess is that it is a head gasket.

matt

[bbrown]

NO, I don't see anything strange when I check the dipstick. No smoke from the exhaust. Ran the engine about ten miles after filling the radiator with fresh fluid but then it was empty when I got home. JUst oil in the radiator. Noticed radiator fluid on the engine when I replaced the headlight this afternoon. No overheating, no idiot lights came on. Have had regular oil changes and just did radiator flush less than six months ago.

[bbrown]

How expensive is the head gasket to replace? Don't want to get rid of the car.

[mattswabb]

A shop may charge 300-500 to replace it.

[bbrown]

Thanks for the help. If I make it to the shop and that is all it costs to fix, then I"ll keep it. Appreciate the fast advice. Hate to lose the car. I've driven it across the US twice. The hatchback seized up but other wise it's in great shape. I'll post again asap.

[mattswabb]

Have them change the timing belt while they are in there and also check for play in the water pump.

matt

[darpien]

just do it your self takes about 3-5 hrs depending on how good you are at engine work. you could change the timing belt yourself and put on a new water pump all at the same time. really all you need to do is take the valve cover off then take off the timing belt covers, then undo the tensioner it should be a small and circular with a spring attached just take the bolt out of the center of it and it will come out. Next take the belt off and take the distributor out, then undo the head bolts then pry off the head. the head gasket might take some scraping to get off but it shouldn't be that hard also you will need to get off any of the gasket that didn't come off with a razor blade. installation is reverse of removal just make sure to line up the timing marks on the crank and the cam gear and make sure that when you turn crank 2 revolutions everything lines up correctly again. actually you could leave the distributor in just disconnect all the wires from it.

[gdawgs]

I agree with darpien. If you have any desire to learn about do-it-yourself repair, do it yourself. Pick up a shop manual and just follow the instructions. It will walk you through it step by step. This really isn't a tough job on this car and you don't need much as far as tools. Basicially a metric socket set, a torque wrench, couple screwdrivers and wrenches and that's about it. And you'll save a lot of money. There's also a large amount of satisfaction with doing the job yourself.

Also if you get stuck, there's lots of help on this forum. Worst case, if you get really stuck, you can still tow it to the shop.