S40 V40: Sludge in dipstick but none under cap ?

[damov70]

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

[skyship007]

I would contact the seller and try and get my money back, because although the water in the wheel well might just be the rear door seal or something simple, cream on the dipstick just after an oil change is probably a head gasket failure. The fact it happened so quickly after an oil change indicates it is a serious one and that means fitting a new HG and checking to see if the main bearings or rings have already been damaged, even before looking to see if the head was overheated enough to warp it.

If you can't get your money back, then consider selling it for spares or finding a good used engine. A used engine will often cost less than a full HG job if you shop around.

Does the engine have GDI or Volvo on the top cover, cos the GDI is not too popular and is probably not worth fixing if the HG has gone ??

[damov70]

It has Volvo on the plastic cover, just wandering are you sure its head gasket failure as having just driven home there is actually very little now on the dipstick ? There is no smoke from exhaust or lacking in power. Having searched through this forum I was wondering could it be a "pcv" problem as there are no oil leaks anywhere ??

[dmiller]

I don't know if these engines are the same but my old corsa would get the white mayo sludge on the dipstick if it had sat for a while and did some short journeys with out warning up, a good run would sort it out usually.

I always thought it was some kind of condensation that usually evaporated away when the engine warmed up.

Skyship your on fire today mate :-)

David.

[damov70]

Thanks for that, it doesn't make sense to me as I checked everything before buying and all was as it should be, I had to drive about 120miles back home and there was nothing either. Checked her a few days later and the sludge(Mayo) appeared. Did an engine flush changed oil & filter which seemed to have done the trick, yet 2 days later it was back again ????

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by damov70

Thanks for that, it doesn't make sense to me as I checked everything before buying and all was as it should be, I had to drive about 120miles back home and there was nothing either. Checked her a few days later and the sludge(Mayo) appeared. Did an engine flush changed oil & filter which seemed to have done the trick, yet 2 days later it was back again ????

Mayo under the oil filler cap can be caused by short tripping in damp conditions and it should go away after a good run, BUT if it's in the sump that's a different story and any traces of emulsified oil cause a big, sometimes terminal increase in bearing and ring wear.

Anti freeze causes ten times more harm in oil contamination terms than water, so it is possible if the coolant does not contain a lot of it that the water will evapourate on longer runs.
A blocked CCV valve won't cause this type of issue, BUT I would take a look at the oil filler cap O ring, because that can cause moisture to enter the crank case.

Has this engine got a K&N filter and is it missing the plastic engine underguards ??
In damp conditions a K&N that is mounted in a bad location can suck water or mud spray in and some of that will get into the oil.

Is the coolant level changing and can you confirm that the mayo(sludge) you have seen is coffee cream coloured ?? If it's just dark brown, that might be normal sludge!

If it was my car, then I would just dump the oil & filter (Just use something cheap, in case it's heading for the breakers) again and see if the mayo traces in the oil return, although it would be good to get the cooling system pressure checked (You could also try one of those test kits).

A 20 liter drum of Mannol 5/40 Acea A3/B4 is real cheap on Fleabay and you might need at least half of that to get the sludge out of the engine. Dropping the sump pan does help.

[DXMachina]

Originally Posted by damov70

I had to drive about 120miles back home and there was nothing either. Checked her a few days later and the sludge(Mayo) appeared.

Did the coolant level drop? if you are losing coolant it makes the possibility of an HG failure more likely, but general opinion is that isnt a common problem with these engines unless seriously abused.

Ages ago I had a weird case where I topped up a fully-synth sumpfull with semi-synth oil and had emulsion appear the day after, but it was gone after a week and never recurred.. I put that down to some weird chemical interplay between two different oils.

[danielm85948]

Originally Posted by damov70

It has Volvo on the plastic cover, just wandering are you sure its head gasket failure as having just driven home there is actually very little now on the dipstick ? There is no smoke from exhaust or lacking in power. Having searched through this forum I was wondering could it be a "pcv" problem as there are no oil leaks anywhere ??

just put an engine flush into the oil filler cap to flush the engine out then drain it after running it for ten min.then do a oil and filter change .the last owner may have run into a flood .

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by danielm85948

just put an engine flush into the oil filler cap to flush the engine out then drain it after running it for ten min.then do a oil and filter change .the last owner may have run into a flood .

I think the OP said he had already done just that in his second post:

Did an engine flush changed oil & filter which seemed to have done the trick, yet 2 days later it was back again ????
__________________

That's why I asked if the coolant level was changing, as we do get a number of HG problems reported, but I've never read a post reporting mayo as a routine matter in this forum.

I know it's damp in Ireland, but not so damp it forms emulsified oil in 2 days. There are other possible causes of the mayo, like a defective thermostat combined with short tripping and badbly worn rings allowing blowby related steam into the sump, BUT they are very rare.

There is one additional possiblity and that is the engine was involved in a major mayo forming incident just before it was sold (Like some clown putting water in the oil fill) and it formed a lot of mayo just above the normal sump oil level which was then washed down when the oil was changed.
I've seen that happen with a Ford V8 in a van, because the screen wash and oil filler caps are right next to each other and the half cut driver was just trying to top up the washer bottle. That engine survived after 4 oil changes because the oil level was checked before the next trip.

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by damov70

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.