Ford Ka Loose Of Power, Headgasket???

[n_hudson]

Hi there and thanks for reading, sorry if this is in the wrong section!

The GF started complaining about her car (2002 model ford KA 1.3 Endura E close to 80k miles) it had started to loose power and felt gutless. After a bit of googling, I replaced the spark plugs, HT leads and coil pack with all new parts.

This didnt do much, if anything. I then gave it a service, oil, all filters etc... I then took the oil filler cap off.... Full of cream and sludge!

I thought that as the car only really does the daily commute to work of 10 miles total, it could be the lack of long runs causing the sludge build up, so I replaced the filler cap and gave the engine a flush treatment.

The car responded well and drove like new again, but now nearly a month later the same problem has returned, but to be honest, its probably a lot thicker and the water is much more obvious in the sludge.

I'm a little confused as to wether it could be the head gasket, from googling, it seems the engine should loose coolant or overheat, but the cars not hot and the coolant has not changed colour or leaked out.

I have noticed the rocker head is is quite a bad way and there is corrosion around the filler car to rocker cover.

Could this water in the oil be due to a failed rocker gasket or rocker head and its in fact just air moisture from the cold nights etc?

Any advise or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[jay1981]

What I would do first is take it out for a good long run, say 50 miles or so. You say your not using any coolant, which is a good sign. These engines do suffer from this problem if only doing short trips. I used to have a 1995 Escort 1.3 that used to do this as I used to do 8 miles a day for work, a long rung at the weekend used to clear it.

It is a good idea to keep the oil filler cap and the other breather pipes clear, as it can lead to running problems if too much crap builds up. These engines are very slow and noisy but are pretty tough, I would be very suprised if you did have head gasket problems.

If it feels slow you could always try adjusting the valve clearances, an easy job to do.

Hope this helps :D

[n_hudson]

Thanks for the advice, hopefully your right and its not the head gasket!

Ive double checked and the coolant level and it is still the same as before, so thats a good sign, I replaced the oil filler cap last time and this with a oil, filter change and engine flush sorted it.

Of note is the condition of the rocker cover, i checked this tonight as the GF had just got home and it was nice and warm, there is A LOT of oil seeping from the gasket. I'd never really noticed how much it leaks out before as I hadnt had it open when its hot.

Could a faulty rocker/valve cover and gasket also lead to the sludge problem??

Thanks in advance,