Head Gasket Gone!!! or suspect

[plumbc007]

hi all again,, yes its back AGAIN with what I suspected from some time ago the classic vw but re positioned injectors (done by ford) Head Gasket noooooo.  The header tank in the morning would hiss and fill up the bottle more or back to max mark when I took of the pressure cap. I read through its service tickets and had found out that it had been head skimmed before and replacement bearings, Gulp. Anyway the car has never moved above the norm 90 mark on hard driving uphills etc etc. yes the water pump system works fine cause in the morning you can see the water coming back out of the return pipe nicely when the lid is off. One morning I get in it and start it up and BEEP check coolant comes up oh sugar. I undone  the cap and it filled up a bit but not much I topped it back up. Since then about 1 month it does not seam to ever really go down the level but today I put a little water back in it... my question is, my friend who is a mechanic sort of (he preps cars instead nowadays) said in his vw golf it done the same sort of thing and it was the head gasket.. do u think it could be the head gasket !!!!!! no power loss at all only brought the car about 2 months ago and spent quite a bit on already    and if so will it really be about Ã,£1000 to do ? if so bye bye galaxy

[Chrispb]

The very fact you have pressure still there and fluctuating level when cold suggest early stages of gasket failure.
You don't normally get power loss or water in the oil with this problem.
Sounds like you bought a bad one.

[plumbc007]

a bad one is an understatement, head has gone so time for the shotgun , now u no why I wired up the front light to the other side I don't care anymore ,,,, the car is really now BER (beyond economical repair) shame though cause I do love her and hate her at the same time bit like land rovers lol