white sludge in oil filler cap

[viceversa]

I have never seen this before.

 

Does this definitively indicate a blown head gasket? The Loyale runs very well, no problems with acceleration.

 

It had an overheating episode a few months ago, which probably did crack the heads as EA82 is vulnerable to that.

 

Oh yeah, I am loosing coolant.

[NoahDL88]

I would say head gasket, one more good way of telling is to look for bubbles in the radiator. take off the cap, when the engine is cold and check for bubbles coming out, thats a sure sign of either a cracked head or head gasket giving you problems, do a compression check and find out which side, it may save you some time and money.

[Meeky Moose]

unless you got styrofoam in it when changing your oil.. the only thng i can think of that will cause white coloration of the oil is coolant in the oil.. which means if your loosing coolant as well, you more than likely have a blown headgasket/cracked head..

 

it may not be real bad yet, and thats why its still running good, but the coolant in the water will destroy the bearings, crankshaft, etc.. basically it eats the rest of the engine from the inside out..

[beauregaardhooligan]

Clean the cap and change the oil. See if it does it again. If it does, it probably is the head/gaskets.

Some stop leak might help temporarily.

[Nug]

I have seen this in many, many cars. My girlfriend's cabriolet, my S-10, and my beetle, with it's aircooled engine, all do this constantly. I don't think it's indicative of a head gasket, but in your case, it's a possibility. I recommend an oil analysis and the exhaust in the coolant chemical test before you condemn it.

[archemitis]

and there are always the intake manifold gaskets. they often leak. and they can cause overheating, because they relieve the 14-17lbs in the cooling system. stop leak rules in these situations.

[viceversa]

I will look for the bubbles in the radiator.

 

I haven't changed the oil in 4,000 miles (just getting ready to do it). Also the weather conditions have been interesting lately, very cold, snow, lots of moisture in the air - don't know if any of that contributes.

 

But, I am inclined to think it is the head gasket.

[Meeky Moose]

so ya going to fix it if it is a headgasket?

[northguy]

Is your oil that whipped mousse consistency, of a kind of heavily creamed-up coffee? If so, you're probably correct in your assumption. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. Good news is that now you get to practice your mechanic skills.

[riverrat]

I had the same problem with riverrat1.It apeared right after I severly overheated it.My experiance told me that I probably had coolant in the engine oil.Had a suby mechanic diag it to keep me from wasting mony as a shade tree wanabe.He told me to replace the radiator with 240,000 miles on it and to quit using cheap as4 oil in my oil changes.Quit using the walmart special and problem went away.

 

I noticed the other day that riverrat2 has the same white sludge on the bottom of the oil cap.

 

I would change the oil and check crankcase venelation before I got too carried away.

[edalexandr]

my car did this one time and i found out the pvc was cloged

[GeneralDisorder]

Check your oil level - if it's too high, the crank can whip the oil and turn it foamy like that. White color means it's got moisture somehow - change your PCV as sugested, drain a refill - make sure you don't have too much oil - it's better to be too low (by a bit) than too high.

 

GD

[92LoyaleSW]

You can get white junk under the cap if you run short trips all of the time. I get this on my Loyale, 4 mins. to work and 4 mins. back. A good indicator is the actual condition of the oil. The oil in the Loyale looks normal, even with the white stuff. If your oil looks "like a milkshake", you are having a problem. You also indicated that you are loosing coolant. Where is it going, on the ground, or into the engine somewhere?