Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

My V6 has started to Loose a little coolant , could this be the head gaskets going or something else that I've not thought of?

Does it overheat? Is there oil or sludge in the coolant reservoir? Hopefully it's not the oil cooler that's gone as they are a nightmare to do from what I heard. Any leaks on the ground under the front end?

No leaks and no over heating, coolant seemed a little down since I checked it last there was no oily deposits in the coolant either

What about the oil itself, are there any mayonnaise-like deposits around the filler cap or on the dipstick?

before jumping to conclusions of head gasket failure, look at any visible signs of leakage.

On a car of this age, your rubber hoses will all be past their best, if they have not been replaced in the past ten years.
So look for dried residue around hose ends.

My header tank developed a fine hair-line crack close to the filler neck.
When the coolant got pressurised through heat, some coolant leaked through the crack, staining the crack.

I use long life red / orange fluid, so when that leaks, you cannot miss the reddy orange residue where the fluid has escaped.

Weak spots are: -

Split or perished hoses.
Loose hose clamps.
Leaking water pump
Cracked header tank or weak seal on the cap.
Leaking heater matrix - if it is still the original item (feel for wet carpets in the foot-wells)
Leaking radiator.
and head gasket.

If your gasket has failed, then it may cause any of the above, but a good check is to whip out your plugs, and see if any look unusually clean or different from the others.
Also - ordinarily a leaky head gasket could cause the top radiator hoses to swell or become very hard (harder than usual) due to internal elevated pressures caused by exhaust gasses escaping through the gasket into the water jacket.

It is hard to tell from a distance, but I have been advised in the past that if you suspect a duff head gasket, then you could get the coolant header tank "sniffed" by a probe, to see if any exhaust gasses are present whilst the engine is running.
(Obviously you don't open the header tank cap when the coolant is hot. It is safer to warm the car up with the cap off.) - Public safety notice just in case - ha ha.

Checked coolant today I've only done two trips of 7 miles each way, I've checked it when it's completely cold. The antifreeze is just at the cold kalt mark. No mayo on the dipstick or around the oil cap either. And the antifreeze is a lovely orange colour no oil deposits . Maybe it's just me being paranoid

Probably just nothing then, if the coolant hoses are really stiff when the engine is hot then it's ok, means there's good pressure in the system. Just keep an eye on it from time to time.

chrisash86 wrote:Checked coolant today I've only done two trips of 7 miles each way, I've checked it when it's completely cold. The antifreeze is just at the cold kalt mark. No mayo on the dipstick or around the oil cap either. And the antifreeze is a lovely orange colour no oil deposits . Maybe it's just me being paranoid

That sounds like everything is fine.
Just need to learn to chill and enjoy the car.