Hellreign Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi all, hope your all well. Had a bit of a scare the other day when giving my car a quick check over. Took off the oil filler cap to discover a small ammount of white gunk/mayo on the underside of the cap (i check levels once every 2 weeks) I haven't lost any oil, and the rad is still brimmed, so i'm guessing its due to the cold and many short trips (1mile at a time most of the time....i'm lazy i know ) I'm going to get her serviced (3k service - fluids filters etc) soon, but is there anything else i need to look at to make sure its not the rocket/head gasket? She doesn't smoke heavily (obviously in the cold its fairly heavy condensation) and it hasn't built up since i wiped it away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 condensation buddy , from doing small trips , both my gen 4 and 5 have suffered from it , i do about 3 miles each way , the engine isnt getting up to full running temps and evaporating it off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth123 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi all, hope your all well.Had a bit of a scare the other day when giving my car a quick check over. Took off the oil filler cap to discover a small ammount of white gunk/mayo on the underside of the cap (i check levels once every 2 weeks) I haven't lost any oil, and the rad is still brimmed, so i'm guessing its due to the cold and many short trips (1mile at a time most of the time....i'm lazy i know ) I'm going to get her serviced (3k service - fluids filters etc) soon, but is there anything else i need to look at to make sure its not the rocket/head gasket? She doesn't smoke heavily (obviously in the cold its fairly heavy condensation) and it hasn't built up since i wiped it away Hi - most probably condensation. You would be losing water losing water if it was the HG and as you say it would seem smokey(steamy). Is it running fine? Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellreign Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 yeah i'm leaning to condensation also. Did a run to southampton and back yesterday (quite calmly just in case) so i'll have a look under in a bit to see if anything happened. She seems to be driving normally. might get a compression test done when the service happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpsmith79 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Same here, i get it every Winter, never worried about it though as it's just condensation in the engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellreign Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 cheers for the responses guys, just had a quick rumage. All clear after the 80 mile round trip so i guess shes good. might get the thermo stat changed though, she warms up ok, but driving along the motorway brings the needle back down to cold. and then it rises again in town. or is this fine also? (she does idle high on cold starts more so in winter, but under 2k) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth123 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 cheers for the responses guys, just had a quick rumage. All clear after the 80 mile round trip so i guess shes good.might get the thermo stat changed though, she warms up ok, but driving along the motorway brings the needle back down to cold. and then it rises again in town. or is this fine also? (she does idle high on cold starts more so in winter, but under 2k) You would normally get a cooler reading on a motrway because of the cooling effect of the fast air flowing through the radiator. How cold is it reading? Sounds like you have got some car worries in your head and cant get them out! Happens sometimes! Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellreign Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 yeah obviously its bound to get cold doing open continued cruising in this weather, but it drops all the way down. Its probably nothing, my brother mentioned it when we were out yesterday. lol yeah, my ST is to be thanked for all my car worrying, devil car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair_GT Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Sounds like thermostat to me, very common problem. What happens is it sticks open, allowing the coolant to flow through the radiator and be cooled down when doesn't need to. In town/traffic there isn't any air going through the rad so it stays at normal temp, but at speed the airflow through the rad cools the coolant right down. Once up to temp the needle should sit in the middle of the gauge and stay there, no matter how cold it is outside or how fast you're going. Edited January 31, 2011 by Alistair_GT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe588 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Blast down the motorway will sort that out, start worrying when you have the same stuff on the dipstick Or a massive amount of the oilcap gunk, filled to the brim and loads in the rockercover. Edited January 31, 2011 by joe588 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Once up to temp the needle should sit in the middle of the gauge and stay there, no matter how cold it is outside or how fast you're going. x2 Get your thermostat changed. Angus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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