iv just filled oil up and noticed white nasty gunk under my oil cap now iv heard a few things about head gaskets n stuff and basically want to know what it is and why its raping my engine :\ i drive lots of short journeys and heard that can cause it :( help me please

Sounds like headgasket - the coolent system need topping up alot? Or is low?

Loss of power?

deffo sounds like the headgasket

unless you've had a something and mayonaise sandwich and drop a bit?

deffo sounds like the headgasket

unless you've had a something and mayonaise sandwich and drop a bit?

Could be possible or get abit excited whilst topping up your oil...

Sounds like your just not driving it enough.

Take it for a good long run (20 miles+) including a nice stretch of motorway. If it's not cleared it away after that then check for coolant loss and good running temperature. Could be the early signs of headgasket failure but probably just short journeys in cold weather.

nick

my old 6n had this going on short journeys and the car not warming up to temp, also had gunk in oil breather pipe, headgasket was fine, is your coolant going down fast??

In response to this, i usualy only drive 4 or 6 miles per trip usualy to either my girlfriends or work.

sometimes around 13 miles when i go to some mates houses.

That enough miles to stop this happening to me?

Probably but you don't need to worry about it happening. All it is is condensation in the engine mixing with the oil. On a long run the oil and engine get hot enough to burn this condensation off and therefore no mayo. The only time you should worry is if the mayo is there and won't go away or gets worse after long runs and you start having to top the coolant up a lot.

Nick

didnt expect this amount of response thanks alot guys and alot of you are asking if i have to top up coolant... i haven't topped it up for about a month and half because its always on the max mark when i get up in a morning have a quick check and everything is fine no coolant loss i do drive alot of pointless journeys taking my nana about 500 metres down the road and back home so yeah pretty pointless ill get tank filled and go for a blast to blackpool and back see if it gets rid lol =]

you said you do short journeys, take it for a long blast up the motorway or dually for a good few miles, if the white gunky crap is still there then it is the headgasket. If ti is the headgasket anther sign is a film of oil on the top of the coolant in the coolant bottle, doesnt always have to be low coolant level for a sign of the gasket failing.

ah, this is a definite sign the weather is getting cold, threads on here with people thinking mayo on the bottom of the filler cap must mean headgasket failure.

Basically it's just caused by condensation inside the engine due to cold weather and short journeys. It's only a sign of headgasket if you're having to top the coolant up.

ah, this is a definite sign the weather is getting cold, threads on here with people thinking mayo on the bottom of the filler cap must mean headgasket failure.

Basically it's just caused by condensation inside the engine due to cold weather and short journeys. It's only a sign of headgasket if you're having to top the coolant up.

i love you!!! i was looking for another car i was thinking about scrapping mine... ohhh what was going through my head when i got all the posts about headgaskets lol gettin rather upset actually haha... I'm going to take it to blackpool and back thats a good 140 miles haha should clear it up heeee yayyyy hopefully =] thanks to everyone for help with this

haha no probs, you'll see one thread like this pretty much every week from now till next spring when the weather warms up again

hehe cheers mate i was well worried... if i see any threads ill pass on the info haha

haha good news mate

out of interest, what exactly is so bad about head gasket failing? if you KNOW that your head gasket is going before it goes bang then why can't you just change it and carry on as normal?

haha good news mate

out of interest, what exactly is so bad about head gasket failing? if you KNOW that your head gasket is going before it goes bang then why can't you just change it and carry on as normal?

ummm getting quotes like £300 is why its bad haha takes a long time to do i think its as simple as changing the other gasket forgot what its called lol but instead you hafta take half the engine out in order to change it so yeah headgasket failure for me would mean scrapping and starting again as i baught the car for £625 and have spent nearly that much on repairs in 6 month of owning it haha

Probably but you don't need to worry about it happening. All it is is condensation in the engine mixing with the oil. On a long run the oil and engine get hot enough to burn this condensation off and therefore no mayo. The only time you should worry is if the mayo is there and won't go away or gets worse after long runs and you start having to top the coolant up a lot.

Nick

Why arnt all responses as informative as this!

Thanks for that!

when i first bought my mk3 i had exactly the same problem. i bought it off some old dear who'd been using it for short shopping trips once a week for the past 10 years lol.

got it home, looked in oil cap, and there, to my horror, the dreaded mayonaise. got a friend to look at it and he said it'd be the headgasket and suggested changing it. but to be honest i was too lazy and skint to do that, so i just drove it round anyway, giving it a good clean out with short fast accelerations and then giving the engine a good work-out with a 100-mile motorway journey.

got back home, looked in cap, mayonaise had gone. that was... nearly a year ago, not seen the stuff since :-D

My mum's astra had this same problem. It was due to the thermostat was not opening and shutting properly. I've got the same problem, but its cuz i do short distances. Oil Change Time!!! lol

bit of an update today i took off my airbox and inside the oil breather pipe there is the dreaded mayo what does this mean isit the same as under the oil filler cap and just mean that I'm driving too many short journeys?? or isit really my headgasket??

Edited 9 November, 200916 yr by MattyHolmz89

has your coolant level gone down mate? if it hasnt then dont worry its just condensation just needs a good old clean up and alot more driving once the engines warmed up, seen so many cars come in to my work place with the mayo under the cap, all because they keep going short journeys

I'm gonna say yes it has but its dropped just below the min mark in about 2 month :\ so i dont think its headgasket... how do i go about cleaning the oil breather pipe?? I'm gonna take my cover thing off tomoz and give that a good cleaning =]

i think if its in your breather pipe that it maybe a headgasket as i heard something along those sorts of lines at college, take the breather pipe off and start the car, if oil comes through i think that signals headgasket, will double check when i go in to college tomorrow for you mate

thanks alot mate =] hope it aint fucking head gasket could deal without that right now haha if it is I'm probz gonna get rid I'm just pumping money into it :\ even worse money i dont have lol

bit of an update today i took off my airbox and inside the oil breather pipe there is the dreaded mayo what does this mean isit the same as under the oil filler cap and just mean that I'm driving too many short journeys?? or isit really my headgasket??

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THIS!

seriously, this always happens. happened in mine when i had it. its just emulsified oil that has built up cos of the way the breather pipe works (it breathes out like.. oil vapor) so its bound to get clogged up at some point.

as long as you did what you were told previously, took the car for a big run and the mayo from filler cap disappeared then you are still ok.

top up the water and have a look and see if there is oil in it. there probably won't be.