creamy oil part 2

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chriscarterstevens
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creamy oil part 2

Post by chriscarterstevens »

hi, would appreciate any suggestions on this, on my 14 tge, when i checked the levels this morning, i noticed yellowish cream on the oil cap and around the rim, none anywhere else as far as i can see. coolant looks ok ish but again is grubby, will change it in due course, the car uses about 200ml water every fortnight or so but its used as an everyday runner so thats fine with me.

no sign at all of any overheating or anything untoward but just am a little concerned. also, when i check the oil, the one side of the dipstick says its about a centimetre or so above the minimum but if i turn the dipstick over it has oil quite a way above the max mark. was a little bit wary of putting oil in just in case i over filled it. opinions would be greatfully received.

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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

Again, classic BX foibles. You think that's bad? You ought to see my 2.0 Ulysse - (it's a virtually the same as the engine in an 8v GTi BX) - over the winter, with lots of short trips the condensation does build up and the oil filler cap and tube get well thick with mayonnaise. A 350 mile round trip this weekend showed nothing to worry about (I was even concerned about the amount of steam in the exhaust earlier!). It will go with the improvement in over-night temperatures, I'm sure.
If not, I'll do an oil and coolant change and see what happens! :lol:

As for coolant loss. Don't know, I've had that in previous BXs mostly with no apparent issues. Last one needed a new rad cap. One before that had a weeping botton hose (slightly more serious :) ).

Dipstick: Again it's the same on the Fiat, BX GTi sticks seem to read OK, but I suspect you should be taking an average of the two sides to be safe!
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chriscarterstevens
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creamy oil part 2

Post by chriscarterstevens »

thaks again phil the advice on this forum is brilliant and invaluable!
at present im thinking as its just bout 1cm above the min i shouldnt worry too much, i mean it doesnt sound bad (like a cvh engine ford orion or indeed a duratec ka) LOL :lol: though i hope it never would.

ford means crap!

im going to see doc shortly, so will ask nicely if he can have a quick nosey.

other than that, the beast runs lovely, no problems at all

thanks

chris
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DavidRutherford
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Re: creamy oil part 2

Post by DavidRutherford »

chriscarterstevens wrote:when i check the oil, the one side of the dipstick says its about a centimetre or so above the minimum but if i turn the dipstick over it has oil quite a way above the max mark.
Dip it 3 or 4 times to check, but I think the higher oil level is probably where oil is getting onto the dipstick as you withdraw it. Your oil level has to be the lower one, as if it were higher, that side of the dipstick could not be dry.

Try dipping the oil first thing in the morning, as that will have ensured that all oil has drained back to the sump, including the oil in the dipstick tube.
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what a dipstick i am

Post by chriscarterstevens »

hi david,

didnt think of it that way, though i shall make sure that if i do put more oil in it i dont overfill it. also, is it as bad to have too much oil as it is to have too little?

many thanks for the advice

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Post by MULLEY »

Too much is a sure fire way to damage the car. If you did overfill it, dont panic, but make sure you dont run the car, give it a few hours for the oil to settle. Take a dipstick reading, if its over the max, then you'll have to let some out & start again. I'm presuming you know how to do this?
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Post by DavidRutherford »

You can actually go remarkably over the max mark before theres any likelyhood of doing real damage. After all, this is a petrol engine, so there's no chance of it dieseling on it's own oil.

All that might happen is that the engine will vent oil mist like an absolute bastard until the level goes down a bit. That, and the crank will be running in oil, so you'll have more pumping losses than normal. I wouldn't even begin to worry until you were several inches above the max mark on your dipstick. Certainly going up to an inch over will do nothing more than cost you the excess oil that you didn't need to put in.
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Post by MULLEY »

Is that just a bx trait David? I've always been told that too much oil is worse than too little.
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Post by DavidRutherford »

MULLEY wrote:Is that just a bx trait David? I've always been told that too much oil is worse than too little.
Then I'm afraid you've been mis-informed. An oil level too low runs the risk of overheating the oil (and hence bearing damage) and in extreme cases, starving the oil pump in heavy cornering*, which can lead to a very knackered engine.

An over-full level, as I mentioned, means you're likely to have oil and oil mist oozing from every orifice, and you will have lots of pumping losses, but the likelyhood of actual damage is very low. Only on a diesel engine is there the risk of the engine running on it's own oil, and for that to happen really does need a lot of oil in it.

I've run XUD's with about 1" of excess oil over the max, and you wouldn't even notice the difference.

*Just ask Kitch about this. He's managed to starve a 16v engine of oil through hard cornering even with the level correct. As the oil level lowers, this risk increases.
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Post by MULLEY »

learn something new everyday on here, cheers for the info. I dont tend to run my cars low or high, but was curious.
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1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

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Post by Way2go »

DavidRutherford wrote:.

An over-full level, as I mentioned, means you're likely to have oil and oil mist oozing from every orifice, and you will have lots of pumping losses, but the likelyhood of actual damage is very low.
Mmmh.............this is perhaps true in terms of metal mechanics but there is a serious risk of oil seal failures. Overfilling the gearbox and auto transmissions will also cause failures of their oil seals probably even quicker.
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Post by DavidRutherford »

How so? I can't think of a single oil seal used in an engine that could care less if it was working under oil, or not under oil.

Granted, if you had a shaft seal that was just about barely not really sealing, then having the engine over full of oil will mean that the leak rate is increased, but if it's got to that point, the seal ought to be changed anyway.

Bear in mind that some camshaft seals have a fair wallop of oil pressure behind them, and that will always be massively more than could be generated by an extra few inches of oil in an engine.
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