13 replies to this topic

[Rhillbmx]

I have a 1987 mayfair with a 1.3i engine fitted.

I recently found i had an oil leak from the rocker cover gasket, so i went and got a new one from the local shop, couple of weeks later i find i have some cream in my oil, so i checked the water to see if it could be headgasket and the water had not changed. Cleaned it off and checked it yesterday to find a lot of cream, even in the rocker cover when i took it off it was plastered in creamy stuff. But again i have not lost any water. When i looked at the rocker cover gasket it looks like one side was not put it down level so like on one side of it half the gasket is compressed where the rocker cover has sat flush and half was untouched. The gasket was also very wet.

Do people think the cream could just be where i have not put the gasket on right and water has come in from the front and mixed with the oil or something different. The water in the oil has to be coming from somewhere but its not from my water tank and there is no oil in the water.

The car has not overheated, it has not lost any power and is not smoking badly

Any ideas?

[glyn]

Could be a few things has the car had a long drive or is it just used for short journeys? what oil do you use?

[Rhillbmx]

it was halfords own oil the more expensive one if i remeber right. Its had a few long drives but mainly used on shortish journeys. Do you think its best to change the gasket and see where that takes me?

[998dave]

does sound like a headgasket, whatever you do make sure you clean it all out properly afterwards and put fresh oil in!

[crazycoleman118]

quite often short journeys do not give the condensation in the oil time to burn off so it creats that creamy goopy mess, if you had a leak on the gasket its best to change that anyway, but you might want to use some decent quality oil, if im right there is some oil that is specially designed for mini's now but i think its around £30ish so its not cheap (also if your changing the oil dont forget the filter )

[taffy1967]

Halfords Classic 20W/50 oil is fine. But have you checked the radiator to see if there's any oil or gloop in there?

Are all the engine breathers attached?

[mini13]

apparently the duckhams (Green) oil is quite prone to this, if your using it swap to something else.

[midridge2]

as said many times before, white goo in the rocker cover is not always a head gasket gone.
the way to check is a compresion check.

[bmcecosse]

It's certainly nothing to do with the rocker cover gasket! It's because of lack of crankcase breathing - not taking away vapours that by=pass the piston rings. Get hold of a rocker cover with a breather - and connect it to the carb inlet. I would also fit a higher temp thermostat (88) - and blank off part of the grille in winter to raise underbonnet temp.

Edited by bmcecosse, 24 January 2010 - 03:03 PM.

[taffy1967]

apparently the duckhams (Green) oil is quite prone to this, if your using it swap to something else.

I've not had problems and I've been using Duckhams Q Classic 20W/50 oil (which is no longer green and is now out of production since Castrol own Duckhams and have introduced their own classic oil) for years.

[CobraV8]

It's certainly nothing to do with the rocker cover gasket! It's because of lack of crankcase breathing - not taking away vapours that by=pass the piston rings. Get hold of a rocker cover with a breather - and connect it to the carb inlet. I would also fit a higher temp thermostat (88) - and blank off part of the grille in winter to raise underbonnet temp.

I agree. My car had the same issue - and it was during summer. Putting a rocker cover that had a breather pipe (in my case into a catch can) solved the issue.

[liirge]

I wouldn't go to the trouble of a new Rocker cover, i bet you need to replace the oil cap it has a little breather that is required to assist the PCV system, it is a service item that according to the haynes needs to be replaced every 10,000 Miles (i think, but could be less than that). try a new breathable cap and see what happens..

[bmcecosse]

The 'breather cap' just lets fume and smoke into the engine bay - and into the car - where you breathe it - and it's Carcinogenic! The rocker cover WITH breather connection IS the answer!

[liirge]

The breather cap was used on most minis, the cap also prevents the build up of condensation as the water vapour can escape. also if the PCV system is working then it wouldn't release fumes it would do the opposite it would suck air into the rocker cover and through the crankcase into the breathers and into the manifold.

Edited by liirge, 27 January 2010 - 12:42 PM.