12 replies to this topic

[Globule]

About once a week or so i take my oil cap off and there is a thick layer of, well gunge frankly! piled upinside the cap, if i've been out around in the day then it builds up a bit but not much, any ideas why? as far as i can figure is that i need a headgasket because its mixing oil and water but im not especially good with engines so im not sure! i can provide pictures if necessary

[ROD]

About once a week or so i take my oil cap off and there is a thick layer of, well gunge frankly! piled upinside the cap, if i've been out around in the day then it builds up a bit but not much, any ideas why? as far as i can figure is that i need a headgasket because its mixing oil and water but im not especially good with engines so im not sure! i can provide pictures if necessary

pics would help,what colour is "gunge"?


ROD:)

[Jammy]

What colour is the 'gunge'? If its a milky white then it could very well suggest that you need a new headgasket.

It *could* just be that you need a new rocker cap, as they are supposed to be vented, so if yours is blocked it may, at a guess, cause the same problem?!

Has the engine seemed down on power at all, or does it struggle under load?

Moved to Technical.

[minislapper]

Almost certainly 'mayonaise' or emulsion to give it it's technical term.

What do you use the car for ? Lots of short journeys, especially in winter, will also cause this problem and a good blast down the motorway to get everything upto temperature is required every so often.

As said above it could also be the head gasket.......do you need to keep topping up the water level?

[Globule]

Almost certainly 'mayonaise' or emulsion to give it it's technical term.

What do you use the car for ? Lots of short journeys, especially in winter, will also cause this problem and a good blast down the motorway to get everything upto temperature is required every so often.

As said above it could also be the head gasket.......do you need to keep topping up the water level?

nope the water levels are fine! im leaking a bit of oil and some petrol from somewhere but thats about it! i have 2 pictures now, its not as such mayonaise, more brown/greenish! generally i use it for short journeys yeah, only a few miles a day (weekend about 50 miles or so?)

As for the cap, it does have a hole in the top but if i 'pump' the lid it sprays a bit of water and gunge out the top so there is still access i think! just builds up a bit and makes it worse im imagining!

Reckon its the headgasket then?

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[Leonard]

hello mate. As long as the oil isnt this colour on the dipstick. i use my car for short journies, and it does this. It never used to do it with the thin steel rocker cover, but its really bad with thick alloy one. I guess its because it doesnt get warm as quickly.

[Globule]

hello mate. As long as the oil isnt this colour on the dipstick. i use my car for short journies, and it does this. It never used to do it with the thin steel rocker cover, but its really bad with thick alloy one. I guess its because it doesnt get warm as quickly.

the dipstick is fine! all nice and oily but the cover still annoyts me because surely its blocking off the ventilation? or causing some kind of damage!

[Leonard]

get a new cap if youre worried. it's not a problem though

[rozzer!]

i asked my mechanic about this. he said theses engines have this as a common problem, the kent engine found in fiestas and escorts does the same thing. its just due to short journeys. he said its not a problem. just to clean it out every so often.

[dklawson]

As been stated above, short journeys in cool, damp weather are the common cause of this. Wipe the excess from the cap periodically, make sure the other vents/breathers are open, and take your car for periodic highway trips to warm everything up well.

[minislapper]

And every so often take the whole rocker cover off and clean the inside of this because that emulsion will probably be across the whole underside of it.

[Globule]

And every so often take the whole rocker cover off and clean the inside of this because that emulsion will probably be across the whole underside of it.

ok thanks! can't do it now but i'll give it a go tomorow! thanks for all your help!!

[taffy1967]

My sisters Mini had this on the underside of the rocker cover and the main reason was because a garage had left the crancase breather hose disconnected. So after cleaning the rocker cover, I reconnected that hose which was disconnected at the rear of the engine (or where it attached to the carb/inlet manifold? I can't remember now).

But it seemed okay afterwards, even though that Mini generally only did short journeys.