Peugeot 306 - Cylinder Head needing replacement?

[PCadywould]

Hi, my son has an 8 year old manual 1.4 Peugeot 306, and has noticed a little amunt of oil on the ground overnight about the sixe of 3ins by 5 ins. He has looked at the engine block and it seems to be leaking at the joint of the cylinder head/engine block. This seems like a head gasket needing replacement. How can he tell? Could it be anything else? The engine sint losing power or anything, and there doesnt seem to be water contamination of the oil.


Thanks for any advice.



Paul

[kalniel]

I agree that it's likely to be the head gasket, but disagree that it neccessarily needs to be replaced. As long as you can complete any given journey without the oil level dropping dangerously low I'd be tempted to stick it out and top up as required. Keep monitoring the situation and check it doesn't get too much worse, but a lot of older cars have minor leaks without a problem.

Consider using a tray of sand under the car at night to reduce environmental damage too.

[Vimeous]

Is it using water?

[wazi]

and are u 100% sure that the oil is not leaking from somewhere else and giving the impression thats its coming from between head ?/
is there a lack of power ?

[SilentDeath]

As above really. Regually check the fluid levels and give the suspect areas a clean.
Leaking oil is clear and orangey as the dipstick. If its an old car then the whole engine will be coated in thick oily dirt which just ignore.

Compression testers are cheap though, if you do think its a problem. Or if you want to take it somewhere, a cylinder leak test is slightly more usefull.

If the fluids are not contaminated then its not doing any harm other than to your garage :)

[wazi]

you can also buy a leak test from snap on or mac tools which comprises of a vessel to hold indicator fluid in it and then you simply place it on expansion tank , if it goes green ( from blue ) u have head gasket problem from leaking gasses !!

[PCadywould]

Just to say thanks to all who replied.

Paul