whilst driving my rover 216 1999 t reg i noticed steam coming out of my bonnet, under further inspection the coolant tank level was low so i topped this up using antifreeze/water mix. i then drove the car for 10 mins when i heard a noise like a kettle boiling and brown water/steam was leaking from the cap on the coolant tank, any ideas how to solve this problem/ is it cheap to repair? many thanks

matt, April 2009

A fairly typical syndrome of a blown cylinder head gasket, I'm afraid, especially if the water left in the coolant bottle has oil present in it....if you're really lucky though it just may be the thermostat that has failed, preventing the cooling water from circulating around the radiator.

John, April 2009