Hi, just been to look at at a vauxhall corsa x reg (2000) (for my sister as first car) all was going well until i looked at the oil cap and noticed a few mayo looking drops not all round the cap just a few blobs here and there same on the header tank cap im thinking head gasket. I intially thought the worst and walked away now after googling it i have read this can happen if the cars not driven alot now the guy selling it knows knaff all about cars and the reason for selling it is his girlfriend doesnt use it anymore as she uses the train so has been sat for a while he did say he had used it yesturday though. the heaters worked fine, from what i could tell no white smoke or overheating temp gauge stayed steady etc. Its done 86k so what do people think walk away or take a chance im tempted to do a sniff test but if i can avoid this and play on the side of caution i can play this to my advantage to get the price down as said the guy knows knaff all about cars lol

Amys car has been like it since i bought it for her 8 years ago, i just clean it every other week.

a few white blobs n the oil cap could be condensation but signs of oil in the header tank point to head gasket failure, walk away my friend

My corsa suffered from the dreaded mayo in the cap and header tank - it then went on to drink all its water in about a week (2000 1.0 corsa b)
So I dropped a pot of k-seal in it - and havnt needed to top the water up in over a year

Point being - if the head is just starting to go , a £12.50 bottle of k-seal may well fix it ........

thats okay if you already own the car is it worth the risk of commiting money to a potential money pit. Ideally tou could do with a pressure test on the header tank to ascertain if there is a costly problem

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the dreaded mayo in the cap and header tank

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there must be plenty of corsas around just wait and find a decent one
mayo in the cap is not normaly a problem as most likely short trips and a good blast will sort it but oil in the water is failed gasket and unless its really cheap and your handy with the spanners its just not worth the agro

Well known that Coras produce loads of mayo if not given long runs.

However older Coras have load other problems especially if oil changes are neglected. They also are a bit prone to engine management faults although these tend to be simple to things like damaged wiring.

Ive found a product called Steel Seal, have always been sceptical about the miracle cures but have to say when tried out of curiosity bloody stuff seems to work, has to be mixed with a certain type of anti freeze or turns to jelly apparently

[Edited on 7/11/11 by blue2cv]