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Model specific boards => Golf mk4 => Topic started by: Stu-1.8T on 22 April 2006, 22:50

Title: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: Stu-1.8T on 22 April 2006, 22:50
My wife's 2.0 has got alot of white gunk around the top of the oil filler neck. I know that sometimes this points to a head gasket failure, but i'm pretty sure it's o.k. The cars a 2001 and has only covered 30k. A fair bit of this has been short journey's, but it does get a long run now and again.

Has anybody else had this problem? and could it be a breather pipe that's not working? the car does smoke a little bit out of the exhaust from cold but otherwise runs fine.

Any comments would be appreciated

Stu
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: Mantamad on 22 April 2006, 23:37
I'm not an expert on Golf's but reading bits here and there, it has been mentioned that the 2 litre can be bad for this. Certain engine designs can be prone to mayo - my previous car, An Astra also had this problem with no head gasket defect. It was always worse in winter.
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: Ivor Mk4 Turbo on 23 April 2006, 09:21
Could possibly be just condensation, or a split hose as said above.  I'd only be thinking H.G. failure if you've got a serious overheating problem.
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: >>Mart<< on 23 April 2006, 11:41
is it loosing any water check the header tank and also look inside the header tank bottle and see if there is a film of oil on the top

it could be woth giving it a oil change and letting the oil settle to see if any water seperates from it



Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: welshgar on 23 April 2006, 14:11
my mate had the exact same problem... 2.0 gti...46k on the clock loads of short journeys.

he took it to vw and they said the oil breather pipe had blocked.

cleaned it, changed the oil and it was ok for another couple of months.

no H.g failure tho'!

hope this helps
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: heywoodgti on 23 April 2006, 14:50
 i had a astra mk4 and the head went on that from the water jacket into the cylinder cost me £ 730

but i dont know much about the golfs so can say much but it sounds like the h.g. gone !!!!
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: GolfGL on 23 April 2006, 17:20
Mine gets like that too but is just condesation. If it was HG was gone there would be the same stuff on dip stick and in the water tank aswell.
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: Stu-1.8T on 23 April 2006, 23:04
Thanks for all your reply's guys.

The car has never overheated and the dipstick is clean. I'll check the water in the header tank tomorrow but I feel more confident that the head gasket is o.k now. :smiley:
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: Agreeable Slick on 18 May 2006, 01:18
Take it for a proper run, and use the full rev range, it will blow everything out of the car and get it running much more nicely. HG is not going to have gone i reckon.
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: welshgar on 18 May 2006, 07:44
i read somewhere that the oil cooler can sometimes degrade causing the coolant a nd water to mix... there is a quick check list/fix for it....i'll try and remember where i saw it.

i still dont think its the HG tho m8y  :undecided:
Title: Re: 'Mayo' in the oil filler cap
Post by: welshgar on 18 May 2006, 19:44
ahhhh found it, dont know if it helps  :undecided: hope it does.

"Oil Cooler. The Oil cooler on these cars uses a plate and plate heat exchanger. Oil on one side, coolant on the other side. Often the brazing on the cooler can fail and oil and coolant mix together. This is often misdiagnosed as a bad head gasket. To test this remove the coolant hoses and apply air pressure to the oil cooler and watch for leaks. Oil cooler is located above the oil filter."

dont know about the location of it??!! above the oil filter???  :huh: