Water Pump/head Gasket

[58regblueaygo]

I have a 58 reg aygo, bought 2nd hand from dealer, as of today it has 12,610 miles, we have had it two years.

last year under warranty a leaking water pump was replaced and now today according to the same main dealer there is oil in the water which was caused by a blown head gasket. The warranty runs out soon so the work will be done under warranty but knowing something about cars, neither should happen on a car less that 3 years old with such little mileage.

The car is far from abused, is it typically driven 6-7 miles a day 5 days a week with very little motorway time and that is on weekends only for short distances.

any comments welcome. thanks

[ormi]

crap ive never seen a head gasket go on one of these yet and ive worked on these since they came out....if its due to mayo on the oil filter cap thats normal and tell them to bolt!!

[another_pleb]

The car is far from abused, is it typically driven 6-7 miles a day 5 days a week with very little motorway time and that is on weekends only for short distances.

Using a car for short distances only, where the engine doesn't get to heat up properly is not very good for it. The various fluids need time to warm up properly. Also, if the metal of the engine block and head expand is allowed to expand with heat and contract with cold too often, it can lead to problems.

Motorway trips are actually the easiest thing on the mechanicals that you can do in a car; even at 70mph, the Aygo's engine is spinning at less than 3500 rpm.

Warming up the engine properly with gentle driving and then indulging in some spirited driving every once in a while is not a bad idea either.

[daveyjp]

How do they know there is oil in the water? The test for a blown headgasket is to test the radiator header tank for exhaust gases, you will also be needing to top up the header tank.

If all they have done is take the oil filler cap off and seen what looks like mayonnaise they are pulling your chain as regards the headgasket. On short journeys condensation mixes with the oil and causes the mayo. Go on a decent run and it disappears.