I've mentioned the saga of the daughters car in another thread. It's a 2005 Corsa 1.2 Twinport with 77k on it. Basically the thermostat went, the AA were called out and did a temporary fix to the thermostat (cut the seal) and said it should be replaced along with the water pump. She then decided to drive it around and the car broke down on the motorway and she had to be towed home.

Last night the pump and the thermostat were replaced but when the car was started there was a burning smell and a lot of white smoke/vapour coming from the exhaust. This increased significantly under load. infact I was considering hiring it out to the Vatican.

Anyway what do people think. Something simple and cheap to repair or what I fear - an expensive engine rebuild.

Any thoughts good or bad gratefully received as always.

She's only had the car 6 months!!! After trashing her first car!!!

Have a look under the oil filler cap. If the oil colour is a light creamy sludgy colour that is a sign of water in the oil. Typical cause is a blown head gasket, so water and coolant is going where it shouldn't. That could explain the white smoke and smell as coolant is burned . Is the temperature gauge riising as well ? less coolant = running hotter, the expansion bottle level would drop to support the above assumptions. Head gasket is the easy option, other causes could be cracked block.


The gasket can be fixed easily. A crack can not. Head gasket failure is very common. Costs ? Don't know, on a car that's only worth hundreds of pounds a main dealer job would be silly money . At £50 an hour from a local one man band sort of place £200-£300 ?

Surely the mechanic who replaced the pump and thermostat had a opinion on the cause ? 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I looked at the oil before the pump was replaced and it looked ok. Will check again.

The coolant level goes very low under pressure but then goes back up to the 'cool' level. Saying that it has only be run for 15 minutes. The temperature gauge rises to the middle position. the mechanic also put a thermometer probe on the engine and was happy that it had stabilised at 89 degrees.

He said what you said - could be either a head gasket or a crack.

Anyone tried k-seal by the way?

The head gasket will have Cooked,there very common on this engine. it only mixes oil and water if the water and oil jacket seals have gone, the water jacket into a bore could have gone causing it to use water (white smoke) and if it pressurising that's another sign, as exhaust fumes are entering the coolant system. If your very lucky it won't have warped the head beyond re-skimming as it usually does, there a bit like rocking horse muck to find a good used engine as they have all been uses ! Also It's not a straight forward headgasket job to do you need timing tools for the chain and the sump needs to come off to remove the oil Strainer bolts to remove the rear timing cover. You'll be looking in the region of 350-550 for it doing inc head pressure test and skim and new timing chain kit,

heyho wrote:

The coolant level goes very low under pressure but then goes back up to the 'cool' level. Saying that it has only be run for 15 minutes.

Cheers for everyones advice. There isn't a bleed valve on the 1.2 engine, just the drain plug at the bottom of the water pump housing. Corsa forums say fill up, run, check and fill up until the required level is reached.

At approaching £500 I am not prepared to invest that in the car. I've forked out enough for the bloody daughter on cars over the past two years. Enoughs enough. A bus pass seems the best solution to me

I will however spend a tenner on some K-seal Ultimate and hope for the best!!! Yes I know it's far from ideal. But it is last chance saloon

heyho wrote:

She then decided to drive it around and the car broke down on the motorway

Learning anything. Hmmmm.

I might sound a miserable old fart but don't you think things have changed since we were all kids. My first car, a Capri, was a sizeable chunk of my savings and disposable income. I treasured that car.

nowadays what with mobile phones, other electronic stuff etc there seems to be so much more disposable income available for the younger lot to chuck at and say 'oh well if its knackered I can get another one'.

Heyho. I think you're the one that needs to learn - keep giving your kids cars and they won't look after them - why should they? They break, Dad pays. Been there, done that! Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Saw a young girl with her Dad in a filling station yesterday, green "P" on the back so obviously a new driver. Dad shows her how to fill the car with petrol, she follows his instructions then gets back in the car. Dad goes in and pays. #beentheredonethat 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

heyho wrote:

Learning anything. Hmmmm.

I might sound a miserable old fart but don't you think things have changed since we were all kids. My first car, a Capri, was a sizeable chunk of my savings and disposable income. I treasured that car.

nowadays what with mobile phones, other electronic stuff etc there seems to be so much more disposable income available for the younger lot to chuck at and say 'oh well if its knackered I can get another one'.

The big difference is of course when I was a kid , you could drop the gearbox of an HB Viva in the street and whip the head off there too. Your Dad, Uncle et al had all got a basic idea, they had brought you up on valve lapping ! All you needed was a set of feeler gauges and a toolkit. No fault codes, no digital anything. just you , your set of King Dick, a 2lb ball pein and a well thumbed Haynes . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

heyho wrote:

Learning anything. Hmmmm.

I might sound a miserable old fart but don't you think things have changed since we were all kids. My first car, a Capri, was a sizeable chunk of my savings and disposable income. I treasured that car.

nowadays what with mobile phones, other electronic stuff etc there seems to be so much more disposable income available for the younger lot to chuck at and say 'oh well if its knackered I can get another one'.

Tried a last resort of adding Steel Seal. At first I thought it had done it - no more white smoke from the exhaust but after only 7 miles the header tank was empty. Took it to a garage and got the usual c£500 quote for replacing/skimming the head gasket.

So it's stuck on the road outside our house. She will now learn the hard way - using her legs and public transport - as I am not putting another penny to it. She's on about getting a 2 year old basic Ka on finance for £90 a month. That's up to her!!!

Welcome to modern parenthood. I have three in their early 30's. They are all financially self sufficient but at the least sign of a problem about anything I get a call. One has her own house, the two boys work away but still have their own rooms at home and come home regularly at weekends. One even keeps his Porsche here taking up half the garage. I left home at 18, now you are lucky if you can be rid of them in their 40's! 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

bought my son his first car, an old corsa 1.2 as a learner car. It sat on the drive for 8 months through winter 2010 covered in snow. He then sold it for what I paid for it and bought himself an 2002 Astra, a 2013 Insignia and now a 2010 Audi A5 convertible. Hes self sufficient in cars but has bounced in/out of home now 3 times. Ive told him im applying the 3 strikes and out ruling !!
My daughter on the other hand, bought her first car herself, upgraded to a brand new Vx Adam, and now got a 1 year old Fiesta Zetec S. She didn't want any help at all from me for transport , She moved out to live with her boyfriend and has just moved back into mine..... with said boyfriend in tow........ so she is on strike 1 !

its massively hard for kids these days to get on the housing market, but its scarily easy for them to get finance to buy depreciating cars