please please help if you can, im in a really pi55ed off mood, anyway here goes.

got up this mornin started the car and when i held the revs i heard something that sounded like water running around the engine or flooding it,not tooloud but still apparent. so i **** to say the least. took it to my local garage and they thought heater matrix, so i thought not too bad. rang them in the afternoon and theyd took it somwere else to do a compression test on it. now this guy has said that he's had 2 gti/vts's engines in in the past both with same problem/symptom and 2-3 weeks later the headgasket had gone.

so i went to pick my car up and asked how much "its free because youll end up being back in a few weeks with a head gasket problem"

now what do i do? but do i get it done ASAP or just wait and see what happens? will running it whilst waiting for it to go damage oter parts of the engine aswel?

any help appreciated! thanks a lot guys

Right Gary, firstly a compression is a very poor way of testing the head gasket.

Personaly i would take my chances as if the head gasket does fail it would not typicaly damage any other parts of the engine, maybe break down at the worst but it shouldnt cause any damage as such.

Check if your carpets are wet coz if the matrix is leaking thats where it would be leaking, onto your carpets in the footwels.

Have you lost any coolant ? Do you have any other symtoms or is it just the "Running Water" noise ?

nope carpets arnt wet mate, jus the running water noise at present.

people have told me it could be air locked in the coolant and to drain that and flush the system then top up, but really not sure what to do next.

temp etc stays the same, not sure on coolant level at the moment and wether that changes

Does it run poorly when you first start it, cherk you oil filler cap for a white gunk, it may have a small ammount just from damp. Check the water resivor like jay said and check for sign of oil in it. Sound to me a bit far fetched to assume from a noise a head gasket is going to go, if the compression was okay i wouldnt worry to much. I would just keep an eye on the water level, this varys when hot and cold so check when cold. I think its okay anyway, it not even done much miles and i neva see you raggin it.

i do put my foot down from time to time but never really from cold or whatever, only done 60k so not huge amount of miles. just topped up coolant now so gona see how that gets on and if it leaks or whatever itll give me a better idea.

try taking it to another garage, see what one says about the other, they may laugh and say it nothing to worry about. By the way you resivor bottle will make a bubblig sound this is water being pumped back in and out again. runn you engine and listen to the bottle, is that the noise you heard????

resovoir for what mate, coolant?

i can only hear the noise when i hold the revs to be honest just sounds like water running around in the engine..................

Just an idea,
come to the meet next thursday and we can have a listen?

The coolant return.
I think Mr Johhny Alan is pointing you at.

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Does it sound air bubbley ?
Or like running water?

Yes that what happens You have an expansion tank. Thats all it is the more you rev the quicker the water is pumped in and out of the bottle. That all it is i recon. Try it and hold the bonnet up, get sme one to rev it and listen to the bottle

like running water.

ive left paper underneath the engine tonight so i can see if any coolant pipes are leaking which id rather it was because if my coolant level is dropping yet not leaking theres only 1 place for it to go and thats the headgasket.

i take it its a new sound,u wudnt normally be able to audibly hear the expansion tank water returning,if the cap were loose it'd be more audible,hows it been today gary?

yeah its a new sound just out the blue

looked this morning and no leaks (which is bad) and also ran the car with paper underneath for a few mins also no leaks.

next stage is to wait till the car is cold and measure the coolant then hold the revs (when i can hear the noise) for a few seconds at intervals and measure the coolant again. obv if there isnt any leaks but the coolant is going down then the only place it could be going is the gasket ive been told, this sound right?

That sounds right mate, but if the coolant was passing into the cylinders then you would have exsessive whice smoke coming from the exhaust as the coolant burns in the cylinders.

nope no white smoke at all (touch wood)

going to a garage at 4 to do a chemical test to tell if head gaskets gone, then if not they're gona bleed and flush my coolant system as it may have an air lock.

If the car runs okay, no splutering, no white smoke, no water and oil mix, i think its okay, are you checking the water level at different engine temperature casuse if so this will cause an inacurate reading.

no other symtoms reece bar the water running noise to be honest

Do you have PAS, and do you get flat spots when steering?

yeah i have got PAS, occasionally i think steering is abit heavey but its always been the same to be honest.

That 'noise' you hear is the water running thru the pipes in the bulk that give you warm air.

i've got the same problem on my car, car keeps over heating and steam is coming thru the zorst..

i've had to take the termastat out and give it new water thru out the system every day or so coz there are a stupid amount of bubbles in the water bottle.

So now if i see that the temp is rising there might be a problem so saves me extra time to allow the water to cool down and refill.

Since i been doing this there aint been no problems, just kept 4L of water in my car incase i need to change the system while not at home.

gazz , sounds like you head gasket has gone ,once bled you should not get any air in the system .

i know!... good thing it aint a car i treasure.

French w4nk as i like to call it

Check the fluid level on the PAS, the less you have, the noisier it'll be. I had a Rover SD1 and it did a constant water noise, due to leaking rack. Check around the PAS rack for leaks, etc.
Probably not, but worth having a look.