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Sludge in dipstick but none under cap ?

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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:11   #11
skyship007
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Originally Posted by DXMachina View Post
Breaking my own rule by replying to you.. again.. but

I had an instant charge of mayo on the dipstick caused by mixing a Halfords 10w40 semi-synth with a Castrol 5w30 fully synth. It formed in a single day over a distance of less than 10 miles, it completely disappeared inside a week over about 250 miles, and it never recurred

maybe a fluke but it counters the point that dipstick mayo is always a head gasket.
Have you got any pics of actual coffee cream streaks in the oil ??

You can't get water from a reaction between two engine oils, BUT you might get some sludge as a result of it dissolving layers of varnish. That will be dark brown though and can be temporary.

Mixing oils of different base stocks is not a great idea regardless of the fact all the oil companies say it's OK.

If this was water in the oil, then the CCV or oil cap seal must be getting damp someplace. Oddly enough a good oily type always checks that oil cap O ring and the dipstick O ring every change, cos the can fail.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:25   #12
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Originally Posted by skyship007 View Post
Have you got any pics of actual coffee cream streaks in the oil ??
No, but coffee-cream is a perfect description of the colour, from memory

and varnish wouldnt dissolve to the point of visibility on the dipstick over a 10 mile drive then disappear completely within a week never to return, if it had never been evident before.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:40   #13
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It's not that odd for mayo on the dipstick if lots of short journeys, remember the tube will get cooled better as the air gets all the way around it ,then the mayo will stay in the tube until the engine bay gets quite hot ,this time if year more the 15-30 if in traffic.
Are the o ring nice and tight when it's push back in if not the engine could be venting through the tube as well.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:47   #14
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Spare wheel well leaks are normally the seals on the outside rear light clusters failing, but can also be the boot lid rubber at the top, or through the top of the rear shocks. The rear side window bonding can fail but that normally goes in the scuttles down the side.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:48   #15
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Harvey is correct and seeing as you have just bought the motor it may be running cool because of the thermostat jammed open and it is still cold weather even for a 10 mile journey. Condensation takes a while to evaporate in cold weather and also the exhaust will plume loads of white smoke after even a long urban run because of the moisture!

As you have good performance and no smoke i would just check the basic things such as thermostat and even the temp sensor if the motor is heavy on fuel.....
The temp. guage should be on 90/92C most of the time
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 19:59   #16
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Originally Posted by 960kg View Post
The temp. guage should be on 90/92C most of the time
If your gauge is like mine without numbers then it should be straight up and down with no lean to the left at all. Mine was only one line away but was sitting at 80 not 92...

David.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 20:19   #17
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Originally Posted by 960kg View Post
Harvey is correct and seeing as you have just bought the motor it may be running cool because of the thermostat jammed open and it is still cold weather even for a 10 mile journey. Condensation takes a while to evaporate in cold weather and also the exhaust will plume loads of white smoke after even a long urban run because of the moisture!

As you have good performance and no smoke i would just check the basic things such as thermostat and even the temp sensor if the motor is heavy on fuel.....
The temp. guage should be on 90/92C most of the time
Good point about the thermostat if it is stuck open, it might just cause enough mayo under a cold valve cover to drip down into the sump.

Water dripping from an exhaust is in fact from the petrol burn, not from the oil system, it forms steam but condenses in a cold exhaust until it warms up:

A gasoline (petrol) molecule is made up as such:

C8H18 (or 8 Carbon atoms and 18 Hydrogen atoms)

Energy is obtained from the combustion of it by the conversion of a hydrocarbon to carbon dioxide and water. The combustion of octane follows this reaction:

2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 16 CO2 + 18 H2O

Or better said, you have two of the hydrocarbon atoms along with 25 oxygen atoms, they swirl together into a mix, the spark plug ignites them, boom, and out the tail pipe comes 16 carbon dioxide molecules and 18 water molecules ... at least in a perfect world. Some cars don't put out exactly that ratio. There may be a little bit of carbon monoxide (CO), unburnt hydrocarbons (C8H18), and/or nitrogen oxide (NO2) coming out of the engine exhaust port along with the CO2 and H2O. In this case, the catalytic convertor's job is to help clean these up so you can get closer to the perfect ratio described above.

As described, the water coming out of the tail pipe is a natural occurrence of the combustion process. You will usually see it coming out of the tail pipe when the engine and exhaust system of the vehicle is not completely warmed up. When it does become completely warmed up, you won't see it any more, because it comes out as steam (well, you'll see it in the winter time if it's cold enough, but you get the idea).


I did forget that the OP has a petrol engine, so if it is short tripped in winter AND the rings are bad, it might get some pure (Temporary water unlike anti freeze that combines with the Calcium sulphonate detergent additives).

At the end of the day I still think the OP has bought a car with an Iffy head gasket, as we have not had a case of mayo in the sump that turned out not to be HG related yet.
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 20:53   #18
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Pah, just blow some air down your dipstick tube

If it ain't leakin don't fix it, how many times do you look at your dipstick anyway.

and remember to check those dipstick oring(s) seal things
Just bought another dozen yesterday
FKM for longevity, from the oring shop

because as harveys and happy diver say, venting past the dipstick is bad
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 21:11   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by happy diver View Post
Pah, just blow some air down your dipstick tube

If it ain't leakin don't fix it, how many times do you look at your dipstick anyway.
and remember to check those dipstick oring(s) seal things
Just bought another dozen yesterday
FKM for longevity, from the oring shop

because as harveys and happy diver say, venting past the dipstick is bad
I'd look it every day if the HG was iffy!

In fact I walk past my old red plastic one every time I enter my garage, cos I read the ends snap off when they get old, so I bought a nice steel one from the Volvo stealer (20 quid) and hung the old one on the wall as an oily memento!
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Old Mar 6th, 2015, 21:13   #20
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Originally Posted by damov70 View Post
Hi
I have recently purchased a 98 v40 1.8 & have a few questions.
Whilst checking the oil level after doing an oil &filter change a few days previous, I noticed this white creamy sludge on the dipstick although none under the oil cap. Do I need to drop the sump on this or is it something else ? The v70 I had, never had this problem and I ran her up to almost 300k miles.
Secondly I have quite a lot of water in the spare wheel area, I replaced the rubber around the boot but it still appears, where is this coming from and how do I fix?

Any advice or pointing me in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Damien
These engines are notorious for mayo in the dipstick tube. The tube is exposed on the front of the engine and suffers from condensation particularly on short journeys. My 2.0lt phase1 suffered during the winter as I only ran short journeys to work and back. Periodically I removed the dipstick tube and pushed a piece of rag wrapped round a piece of wire through to clean it out. The engine never suffered any head gasket failure or goo under the filler cap. Oil was changed ever 5-7000mls and was still in good condition when scrapped at 370,000mls. Only scrapped due to bodywork needed.

Water in spare wheel well most likely coming in around rear light gaskets.
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