Is this my head gasket or the whole lot??

[spicedwomen]

Hi there right
.......................................one of me kids went into trekiske ok and we live in st austell (justa clue for the reader on how long the car was driving for lol) Right when hubby was picking us up he got half way and the car was steaming everywhere so filled expansion bottle up (the cap popped off by itself) so he did leave it to cool down as the thermastat went up to.Anyway he got us from hospital and the car was fine no signs of over heating again (were ALL happy) so i checked water levels filled up ok went shopping only asda as its down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after spending a fortune making my hubby happy lol i got out of car and heard the car fans on and the expansion bottle was bubbling like a kettle so left it ...................................... in the morning i filled up again with water and left her running (on stand still) and nothing happened we changed thermastat but the water is getting filled up alot!!!!!!!!!!!!! no change to oil but over heating on short journeys???? had a new radiator 3 months ago but i dont like the qoates im getting to fix it and i also would like to know a good mechanic around st austell way This car has had a good 15 litlres of water or more radiator bleed but everyone ispeak to says head gasket without looking are theyallcorrect as thats scary lol thanks for reading Emmsie

[westonwarrior]

Did you do a proper bleed of the system?

as per the fact sheets

[Rhod]

If you can get a garage to do a sniffer (gas analyser) test on the water in the expansion tank when it's hot, this should confirm if you have any hydrocarbons in the coolant system & hence if you have a head gasket leak - at least I think that is roughly what Dandywarhol told me to do a couple of months ago A local MOT station tested mine for free in about 5 minutes.

Rhod

[haydn callow]

I think the clue here is...the expansion tank cap came off by itself.....It could only do that if it was not on properly in the first place.....hence it boiled up....A LCA would have sussed this for you.
Just topping it up was the 2nd mistake...you would have trapped air in the system and simply overheated again.
If you are now confidant the system has been bled properly it sounds as though you have blown the head gasket or worse.
Sorry to be "Doom & Gloom" thats the way I see it.