blown gasket or not??

[toonraider]

When i was doing my winter check-up, and after taking off the oil filler cap what do i find........yep, sludge.f**k !!!  but the water in the res. is still at the same level so i`m hoping its just condensation as the car had been sitting for three days. Are there any sure fire ways of diagnosing head gasket failure??

[gibby]

Clean the sludge off and see if it comes back, might be condensation. Sure fire way of seeing if gasket has gone is if the temp gauge goes to red very quickly. You could get a pressure test to be sure, also, gasket could go and there not actually be water in the oil it's not a fault that is always obvious 

[Len]

Unless u are using a lot of water then i would say yer head gasket is fine mate.

[toonraider]

water levels ar fine and the temp gauge is working fine.......for now.
cheers fellas.

[starsky]

i found the same thing in my expansion tank the other day. i thought the worst with a head gasket failure. But i had no temperature increase or water use or unusual running problems, just loads of sludge.

However one run down to my local vw magician specialist and its sorted. Oil cooler burst and let oil into expansion tank. Its now sorted, just need to clean the water system out a few times!