Oil in water- has this been worsened by friend trying to fix car?

In short my water kept going down very quickly in my car, and friend suggested that the head gasket might need replacing( upon taking engine apart , it wasn't). The job was a very long one ( taking all the engine apart). He thought he had fixed it but then I got oil in the water.


The car is now at the garage and they are still unsure why there is oil in the water ( going to be an expensive repair)


Has my friend worsened the problem by taking the job on in the first place?





Only answers please from those with mechanical experience, not interested in silly / sarcastic comments !!


Thank youOil in water- has this been worsened by friend trying to fix car?
If he was inexperienced then he might have not tightened up the head bolts correctly or missed out something else....





Head gaskets can still fail, even if they come out in one piece. I wouldn't go blaming your friend, but if he didn't really know what he was doing then he could have caused other problems. ie. if the gasket had gone, he'd replaced it but didn't do the bolts up right, then it would still leak.





If the car never overheated, then I wouldn't have thought the block or head is cracked. A new engine might be cheaper than trying to pull apart this one again...











PS. My gf is looking for one of these, how much would you sell it for? I'll fix it ;-%26gt;Oil in water- has this been worsened by friend trying to fix car?
He probably did not worsen the problem unless he lost parts or installed something incorrectly.





Of course the delay in getting it fixed hasn't made it any better, and clearly whatever was done didn't fix the problem.





A head gasket fault IS commonly associated with oil in the water or water in the oil, so he was right about _suspecting_ the gasket. However, as another answerer suggested, there could be a crack (or some other leak) somewhere else that is allowing oil to escape into the coolant.





As the old saying goes, it might be time to ';jack up the radiator cap, and drive a new car under it!';





(oh, sorry, I forgot you didn't want silly comments)
It is possible that the cylinder head is cracked or that the head is warped, unfortunately both of these problems will be worsened after trying to replace only the head gasket.
What kind of car?





If the engine had been hot before he took it apart to change the head gasket, the head could be warped or even cracked. Tell me what car and I will tell you my experience with that particular engine.





Please reread my question to you- had the car overheated BEFORE he took the head off?
was the head machined? was a new gasket and head bolts fitted? if yes either the head or the block is cracked. and require pressure testing to eliminate.
possibly, if he is not a mechanic he had no business messing with it. if the head gasket was blown he should have probably been able to tell when he took the head off. it could be a cracked head or block