[Phantom Italian]

Ok guys, so long story short, the shop I take my car too has found that my Milano has a blown headgasket. I do not have the funds to pay to fix it, nor do I have the experience or tools to do it myself. So I will have to sell it. It's a pretty nice car. It's a little beat up cosmetically but is pretty fantastic all things considered. aside from the headgasket it's got a few little things here and there. about how much should I try to sell it for? Any help is appreciated. I do not have any pictures to show the car as of right now. It's at the shop and the shop owner was wondering how much I want to sell it for.

Thank you guys so much! I do not regret this journey at all!

 

[ghnl]

Is there an Alfa club nearby? Maybe you could enlist their help and make it a club project? You provide the parts and some donuts & sandwiches, club members provide some tools and know-how.

Chapters Search – AROC

www.aroc-usa.org

 

[Phantom Italian]

Is there an Alfa club nearby? Maybe you could enlist their help and make it a club project? You provide the parts and some donuts & sandwiches, club members provide some tools and know-how.

Chapters Search – AROC

www.aroc-usa.org

I'm sure there is, but I have been using this car as a daily and need to get another car as soon as possible.

 

[PSk]

What are the symptoms? I ask because unless it is overheating and causing issues with your daily usage, keep driving it while watching the gauges, and save up for the head gasket job

Pete

 

[Phantom Italian]

My mechanic called me and told me that he took off the valve covers and saw the oil was all milky. I had took it in because it had at least one coolant leak and was still leaking oil after they had replaced the valve covers.

 

[Phantom Italian]

There is AROC of Dallas, and I'm sure there are other clubs nearby, but I wouldn't even know where to begin or who to contact. Hahaha, I'm pretty overwhelmed right now.

 

[PSk]

So as long as the cams, etc. are still been lubricated all good. And a few oil leaks won't stop a car.

I drove a Honda with a serious crankshaft oil leak for about 30000 kms before I got around to fixing it ... yes I wasted a lot of oil and my driveway suffered, but it never died on us. I also drove my 156v6 for like 6 months not being able to use full throttle while I worked out that I needed to replace the MAF sensor. My point being, things are not always black and white and the car is perfect or dead.

Anyway your call, and yes oil and water are mixing ...
Pete

 

[ghnl]

My mechanic called me and told me that he took off the valve covers and saw the oil was all milky.

Did the mechanic do a leak down test or pressurize the cooling system (or at least a compression test)? Simply seeing milky oil does not prove a failed head gasket. Short drives (especially in cold weather) can lead to condensation of H2O under the cam covers with the resultant milky looking oil.

Does the engine otherwise seem to run OK? Does it overheat? Blowing excessive smoke out the tailpipe? Coolant in the oil is not good for bearings. But unless the head gasket is proven to have failed, maybe it just needs to be driven for long enough to get the oil hot enough to distill away the condensation.

 

[Phantom Italian]

Well, I haven't had any overheating issues. It overheated once in summer when the radiator fan quit on me in traffic. I don't know if the smoke is excessive. In cold weather it seems like a lot more is coming out but I assumed that was normal.

 

[Phantom Italian]

You know, now that I have my thoughts together, I'm starting to wonder. I brought the car to get fixed in late December. and they are only now just getting to fixing it due to parts delays. In my experience with the car, I would find a little milky residue under the oil cap after not driving it for a few days in any weather. Would sitting for a month make the oil like that? Is this guy trying to pull a fast one on me?

 

[ghnl]

I don't know if he's trying to pull one over on you. I'd want to know more about how he diagnosed a faulty head gasket.

 

[Phantom Italian]

Ok. I think I'm gonna pay him for his time, have him out it back together and take it home. I work at a chevy dealership and while they may not be alfa experts, we'll definitely be able to see if it has a blown head gasket or not.

 

[Del]

I do suspect coolant seeping into the oil if there is some choco mousse under the cap. Usually happens after the engine is turned off, where the coolant system retains it's hot pressure, and the leak(s) allows subsequent seepage until the coolant gets cold and pressure drops.

Could be the heads should be retorqued to tighten them up. This can often forestall gasket replacement for a long time. Had this happen with my 91S, and been fine for years after retorque. These engines do need a head retorque after many k's of miles.

Have your mechanic, or whomever, try that first before assuming the worst and tearing into the engine. Retorque to the upper value of the workshop manual listed range. And, of course, change the oil and filter. Then drive it for several weeks, checking for coolant loss in the overflow tank and choco mousse under the oil fill cap.

If none, or very little loss of coolant, good to go.

 

[RoryJ]

I drove my Verde for a while with leaky head gaskets, but there was oil in the coolant, not the other way around. The engine ran the same as it always did and no overheating, but the resulting mess took quite a bit of time to flush out of the cooling system when the gaskets were finally changed.

I think Del raises a good approach. Try a head retorque, change the oil and filter, see if there's an improvement. Your shop should be able to accomplish this inexpensively in an afternoon.

 

[archeologist]

If you work at a Chevy dealership have them do the test for compression gasses in the coolant.

And change the oil. Twice. Run cheap oil through it for a couple miles then change it again. That should help get out the milky residue. Then drive it daily for a day or two and check the oil cap and coolant cap. If it's milky again it's definitely bad.

If you do decide to sell it with a bad head gasket it's probably a $1000 car. But a head gasket job should be less than $1k. Maybe one of the Chevy techs can do it for you if you give them the workshop manual.

Good luck!

 

[PSk]

What engine type do you have; the 4 cylinder of v6?

Pete

 

[Del]

No 4 banger Milanos imported into the US.

Just retorque first before removing the heads. Easy to do. Easier than the 164.

 

[PSk]

Oh a v6. Never heard of them having head gasket issues. Are there other areas that water and oil can mix?

Pete

 

[velocedoc]

Since you work at a dealer, ask the manager to lend you a used car to get you by until you can get a diagnosis from one of the other mechanics. You have us for advice. One of the techs can help you figure things out and you can figure a way to pay him on the side. THe shop can write a ticket for it, that covers the insurance, and do the work on the weekends. There are ways of doing this, I know because I worked at a couple of dealers.

 

[vintagemilano]

I was going to do this later but here goes.....

A cosmetically challenged Milano with blown head gaskets being sold under duress is a parts car to everybody else. Not knowing anything, $500 tops. Is it an ABS car? If you are going to sell it for $500 and buy another daily with that money that you think you will be better off with, then keep the Milano and just go and buy your new to you $500 car. Then take forever to fix the Milano anyway. If you really have to change head gaskets, which won't be hard, would be time consuming, it's going to cost you more that $500 anyway, gasket set alone is $200.

Lots of good advise above. This is an old car, period, doesn't matter where it came from. It will need fixing, stop taking it to a mechanic for all this stuff. Buy some tools, at a $100 an hour for shop time, you can start getting quite a few tools. Even if you are working outside, in this instance you can still do a cooling system pressure test, retorque the head nuts. Change oil, take hoses off and on. If at the end of the day this is something you want to learn to do then great, tonnes of awesome help here to guide you. The flip side is, moving close to work and getting a bicycle...

Last thing, a Milano is generally in my mind a fairly robust car, I ran one for almost 10 years (98-06) as my daily driver in where most of you would consider the arctic, (Fort McMurray, Alberta) and it was one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. Sure there was constant tinkering but it always ran. A Milano is worth putting effort into but it's going to hundred buck you to death until you get on the front side of the curve.

Enjoy the journey,