head gasket failure

[doffy66]

Hi,
Just joined the site and was having a great time with my 1.6 petrol DStyle DS3 since picking it up in the middle of march till last friday.
As I was returning home it seems my head gasket has gone after 1319 miles of normal driving and wondered if this was a regular occurrence on what is a common engine with the new mini too?
When I called the RAC they said there was 2 noises from the motor. It seems the oil had contaminated the water and the second noise was the chain tensioner for the cam chain. This obviously not getting enough pressure from the oil supply.
Still waiting from luffield motors in loughborough for the exact diagnosis but wondered if it had happened with others. To be honest the car had always sounded noisy from cold till the oil warmed up but put this down to hydraulic tappet noise.
Mark

[John S]

Haven't heard of anyone else with a failed head gasket.
As an aside you do know that the DS3 (and all Citroen cars) is covered by breakdown service provided by the AA [ for the 1st year at least]

[gar074]

Nope, I can't remember anyone else on here having a head gasket problem.

That's really unlucky, Mark. Hopefully it'll be a straightforward repair. Did the engine overheat when the gasket failed?

[SiM22]

Same s Gar and John if i am honest.....have not heard anyone from the forum have this problem. Hope you can have it repaired as soon as possible and get back to driving

[ZACK]

There's A Guy On One Of The Other Forums Who Had This Problem Months And Months Back ( Summer 2010 ) - Nothing Said About The Outcome Though ?

[CooperKiller]

Not something I've heard about either Mark. A friend of mine had the poor taste to buy herself a m*n* thing and as it shares the same 1.6 petrol lump no problems there either (unless I sabotage it that is!) Sorry to hear you have had such a bad experience of what is otherwise a great car. Hopefully it was an unfortunate one-off and you will be back on the road and enjoying the car soon.

[doffy66]

Just spoke to citroen but they claim its not the gasket! they are having to investigate more as they don't know how the water has been contaminated with engine oil or how the engine sounds like there is a bag of bolts in the cylinders. I think they did a compression test which if the gasket has gone between the water and oil jackets won't show in the test.
Thanks all for the help and I hope its an easy fix. No problems with transport as have a hire car (new astra errr). Just wanted to see if the fault had happened to others.
I got the car on the top gear review which I know was on the sport and the fact my son who is 6 foot 3 can fit in the back, something impossible in a mini. It has a bigger boot too.
Only down side with DStyle and the mini (even the base 1.6) is that has a 6 speed box and the style only has 5.
Glad they is a club like this.

[doffy66]

Just to keep you informed with the situation.
Luffield motors in loughborough had the car for 10 days.
The technician said that the car was knocking badly for 10 minutes when he started it but it then stopped making the noise and they tried but couldn't get it to do it again. He told me there had been oil loss and the water level was higher than the max on the expansion tank.
They contacted citroen who said 'I' had to monitor it. They didn't even change the water that had oil in it and can still be clearly seen in the expansion tank.
All they did was top the oil up and use quarter of a tank of petrol (which I wasn't reimbursed for) and told 'the engine is noisy from cold' like I hadn't a city and guilds in car mechanics.
So I am going to drain the coolant and refill it with fresh water and anti-freeze and see what happens. I will also save a sample of coolant to show luffield motors.
Then I will write to citroen and luffield and complain about the treatment I've received. Not even checking the head gasket for failure even if it somehow cured itself is not good working practice IMO.
Again thanks for the clubs support in this matter and I hope I don't write from the middle of nowhere with a engine covered in steam and a cracked cylinder head as I have no confidence in the engine or luffield motors.
Sincerely someone who wish he'd bought a fiesta zetec S or focus!

[AndyG]

Have you another dealers nearby, dont stand for this, did you tell then that you have notified a forum like this its bad pr in their eyes, well to CUK anyway. I would be phoning CUK in this matter and demanding an acceptable solution to this, especially seeing how your driving a car to which you have no confidence iin and the mechanics and CUK;s attitude to the matter doesnt help

[DS3 DOCTOR]

Hi Mark
I have been doing some endurance testing on this engine and I can honstley say we have had no issues other than high engine temp oil burn off which is not unusal.
Did you have any other problems with your DS, and what was the route cause of the failure and is it running ok now?
nice to see fellow DS3 owners discussing a shared topic.

[Dangerousfish]

Hi Mark
I have been doing some endurance testing on this engine and I can honstley say we have had no issues other than high engine temp oil burn off which is not unusal.
Did you have any other problems with your DS, and what was the route cause of the failure and is it running ok now?
nice to see fellow DS3 owners discussing a shared topic.

Probably worthwhile checking the date this was originally posted, bud

[Tony DS3]

I'm sorry but come on you shouldn't have to change anti freeze your self.....if you do that and not use Citroen approved parts your warranty is void just return it to them and refuse the car till its done ......it seems they want you to drive the car till it goes bang :....

[doffy66]

has never happened again

Apologies for not replying sooner but after 11,600 miles the head gasket has not failed again
However since this I've had 2 new rear discs at 10 months old and now at 2 years and 2 months since I bought it the exhaust bracket forward of the rear silencer has rotted away after 11k

[Chris_Blue]

Blimey Doffy66- 4 posts in over 2 years- that's going some LOL
Wonder when I will get a reply to this?
Hope yer motors OK

[harleyrider]

DS3 1.6 dsport HEAD GASKET

Today whilst sat at the lights my girlfriends ds3 1.6 petrol d-sport started chugging as if hydrauliking,
we pulled over i lifted bonnet the header tank was empty, so i topped it up which immediatly disapeared.
I dipped the oil and to my horror it was like clotted cream . Car now being diagnosed as head gasket failure.
No warning just went.
Only done 14,000 ml. 12 plate.gonna be exspensive.