mayonnaise!!!

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shaunthesheep
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mayonnaise!!!

Post by shaunthesheep »

HI all its Dom again. Well i've had the engine steam cleaned and the garage can't find an oil leak!!, so when i got it back to the hotel i investigated further. I took off my oil filler cap and it looks like mayonnaise!!!it has been suggested to me that it could be the head gasket blown but i dont know of other signs to look out for?any help from you guys would be much appreciated. Cheers Dom.
CITMAN
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Post by CITMAN »

The symptoms of head gasket trouble and depending on the way in which it has failed are the following: -
Oil contamination of the coolant
Coolant contamination of the oil leading to mayonnaise with loss of coolant
Excessive bubbling of the coolant with the engine running
Loss of power
Smoke from the tail pipe with the engine hot but dont worry if it does it when the engine is cold because its just condensation, with loss of coolant
Water droplets on the dipstick
Excess pressure in the cooling system.
If i were you id get you garage to put their Exhaust emmisions tester into the expansion tank not in the coolant to see if they can detect any combustion gases which would signal a head gakset problem. However if they didnt detect any emissions it still doesnt mean that the headgasket is okay becuase it can fail in a number of ways. Between water way and oil way, between combustion chamber and water way leading to pressurisation, leaking oil to the outside world and so on.
Citman
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

To my experience - with 5 events now on blown head gasket (NO - not the same car/engine [;)]) - it's the extended bubbles from the coolant cap that's the most sure indication.
Only in one instance - I had a gasket blown between 2 cylinders - clearly giving (very) reduced power. This was also clearly indicated by a compression test - but no other symptoms seen.
Recently it was a blown BX19D (n/a) headgasket - which had huge external oil spillage down the engine at rear left. Here oil was clearly seen in the coolant too - but no bubbles. This engine had no (noticeable) power loss.
If you suspect that mayonnaise is caused by coolant in the oil - then almost certainly the oil will also turn/be grey coloured because of the large water content. Otherwise mayonnaise is caused by repeated short trips - the engine never get's so warm that any water (from combustion) is vented out the engine oil properly.
The remedy is to clean all the fume hoses - since the mayonnaise may freeze in frosty weather - blocking off the normal pressure build-up in the sump. This causes your oil-dipstick to "Geyser" out - when starting one frosty morning [:p]
alan s
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Post by alan s »

I reckon you guys over there should refer to the period of time between about September & April as "Salad Days;" everything seems to be swimming in Mayonnaise[:p][:(!]
It doesn't <b>have to be</b> a blown head gasket, in fact in most cases it's not!
It is usually moisture contamination of oil vapour in the breathing system caused by condensation. The condensation comes about by cold air making contact with warm oil vapour, kind of like the fog you get if you breathe on a cold window. This then emulsifies with oil and the lot turns into this white milky mess that stinks like a sewer at times, clogs breathers & can create blockages. It's also worth remembering that it is <i>water</i> so not the best lubricant in the World & can cause major problems if too much gets into the oil supply or sump.
<b>To successfully remove:</b> Clean out as much of the breathing system as is practical. This may have to include the tappet cover in some instances (another place where it can accumulate) after which it is adviseable to do an oil & filter change, so it is adviseable costwise to do this at normal service time unless it's particularly bad.
The mineral oils seem more prone to moisture attraction than synthetics & semi synths, hence the use of those types is more recommended.
<b>Cause and cure:</b>It's long been accepted that short runs in cold weather are the cause of this problem. This is aided & abetted by the longer service intervals, mineral oils and motors running cooler than normal.
In practical terms though, it has to be remembered that the cars didn't do this when new and the fault whilst being reasonably common is not applicable to <i>all cars</i> hence, we need to look for the reason why or the fault that has caused it. Common makeshift cures include only doing long trips & reducing the number of short ones, increasing the number of oil & filter changes, altering the circuit of the breathing system as well as insulating parts of the breathing system all of which work to a degree but are really hiding symptoms rather than attcking the cause.
Experience has shown that thermostats in a lot of these cars are either faulty or inoperable and as a result the ability to claim that the car runs <i>"cool as cucumber in Summer"</i> is in fact a sign that the thermostat is either faulty or totally inoperative. The job of a thermostat is to hold the coolant within the motor until the recommended temperature is reached, whereupon it releases it into the radiator at which point it begins to circulate <b>warm water</b> throughout. This in reality takes minutes to achieve and doesn't require a 50 mile round trip, so in most cases a cheap little thermostat if replaced every two years will prevent future build ups; just remember to go through the process of properly removing the stuff in the first place, change oil & filter & see what happens. People who have always followed a routine change of thermostats tell me it's a problem they never have experienced.
Hope that explains it in (and not too much) detail.[:D][:D]
Alan S [^]
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

My zx 16v had amazing amounts of mayo in it. The breather pipes were solid. This turned out to be down to the thermostat jamming open. Therefore it always ran cold and never got up to any sort of normal temperature on my journey to work. Once i changed the thermostat, cleaned out what I could from all accesible pipes and took it for some thrashes it eventually burnt it all away and has had none since. It was only doing 25mpg when it was running cold as well, up just over 30 since I fixed it
Jon

Post by Jon »

Wise words Alan.
Unless I'm missing something here Dom, what other problems does the car have? An appetite for coolant? Running too hot? Is there water contamination in the oil when you pull out the dipstick?
If none of these apply it could be simply mayo caused by short journeys and maybe blocked breathers. Citman offers some valid points. I'd like to add the suggestion of a pressure test before you go any further. This will prove by pressure drop (if there are no EXTERNAL leaks) that coolant is being forced in to the oilways, by pressurisation caused by a blown head gasket or craked head. Most garages should be able to carry out this simple test. As Citman mentions, waving the wand of an emissions tester over the open rad/header tank of the running engine to check for exhaust gasses is another simple test to check for a blown head gasket.
Good luck.
But maybe start with cleaning the breathers, and replacing the oil, filter and coolant before you spend strong money.
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Post by jeremy »

Dom
Was your engine really steam cleaned or simply blasted with hot water? If the mayonaise has suddenly appeared after the cleaning its possible that some water has been blasted into the oil through the filler cap or some part of the ventilation system. If so it will probably have gone by now.
otherwise what everyone else has said is true enough.
Jeremy
shaunthesheep
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Post by shaunthesheep »

well after driving from doncaster to ipswich, all seems ok [:0]
stopped after 50 miles to check all was ok, no mayo in the filler cap, no oil visable in the coolant etc...
so it looks like when it was steam cleaner so water got mixed with the oil in the filler cap.
thanks for all who helped me with this problem, but it looks like i will be selling her soon as age is starting to get the better of her[:(][:(].
dom
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