Dipstick Gunge

[Way2go]

Not sure whether it's because of the ambient temperature hovering cold for so long but seem to have the yellow waxy gunge on the dipstick now for sometime! I know this is normal in the filler cap.

Never noticed it with Castrol but wondered if it was anything to do with using Duckhams on the last Oil Change 1800 miles ago? Dipstick needs wiping along its length a few times before seeing the oil colour.

Oil pressure guage is reading good. 7-8 when cold, never less than 6 when hot.

Any thoughts on this guys?

[jeremy]

I don't get these problems with my 2 diesels running on Morris Oil.

That's a lot of use you say - but there is a point. Diesel oil has loads of detergents in it to keep the engine clean and stop the carbon being deposited and causing problems.

It sounds as though for some reason your oil is forming a varnish which coats the dipstick - and obviously everything else. I cannot see how this could be good news and I'd suggest you get the current oil out as soon as possible and refil it with something else and use a new filter.

The next question is will something as simple as that cause any other problems. My concern is that if loads of muck is dissolved by a new oil is where will it go - in which case it may be that the best thing to do would be to put a diesel oil in as a solvent and run it for say 250 miles and then drain, change the filter and re-fill with ordinary oil.

I welcome views and experiences from other contributors on this point. It may be the view is just to ignore it but I'd have thought a filter change after a few hundred miles at the very least would be a wise precaution.

The point being that you like this car and would like to keep it running well. As you mention it has an oil pressure gauge I presume its a GTi of some description.

jeremy

[Ian_Fearn]

Without meaning to be a profit of doom..... but is this gunge likely to be caused by emulsification?

Is there any gunge under the oil filler cap?

[Way2go]

Yes Jeremy, it is a MK2 GTi 8 valve. It isn't a varnish but the same stuff as you get under the filler cap. My journey lengths have only been short over recent times (5 & 14 miles max) so this possibly makes the breather system work overtime this damp weather?

Without meaning to be a profit of doom..... but is this gunge likely to be caused by emulsification?

Is there any gunge under the oil filler cap?

Thanks Ian, but I have been previously told by Citroen mechanics that gunge under the oil filler cap is normal & to be expected as this forms part of the crankcase breather system, something to live with in the citroen design.

I don't think it's emulsification as a result of cooling water leak as my rad level is holding steady.

As conjecture this gunge may be floating on the surface of the oil at the dipstick location because it obviously rises up the dipstick tube (but not over the top) and takes a few dips & wipes of the stick to remove it.

For further info, a new filter was fitted with this last oil change & flushing oil had been used 2 oil changes ago with a new filter each time.

Does anyone else get this gunge on the dipstick or is it totally unusual? If so I think maybe I have to flush out the breather system but have no idea how to go about this. Any suggestions? Unless this Duckhams oil is dodgy I cant see that an oil change will eliminate the cause.

[Stewart (oily!)]

Sounds like the product of short runs and cold weather, perhaps you should attend a BXclub meet a good disatance away and let the engine get really warm to evaporate the moisture away.
Stewart

[Way2go]

Thanks Stewart, engine used to get hotter quicker before the cooling system flush to eliminate the discrepancy between temp guage and red light. I used to be at 90 degrees within a mile but now take 5 miles to achieve that. This means that its about 5 miles of straight driving before the engine thermostat opens. That Wynn's stuff really cleared out it's "sinuses"!

I suppose this cooler running means that I don't clear the water vapour in the crankcase as fast as I used to.

[jeremy]

I asume the thermostat is sound. If so you could always try the old trick of blanking off about 1/2 the radiator with cardboard for your work runs - and remember to remove it before you take it for a long fast run!

When I've had to resort to this I've found that I've had to blank off literally half the radiator.

jeremy

[DavidRutherford]

To try and improve the warm up time on a car equipped with a water valve heater, you can also set the heater to "cold" until the engine has warmed up. This prevents circulation of the coolant through the heater matrix, and will shorten the warm up time.

My old X1/9 used to suffer from this. After 3 miles from home with the heater valve closed, the engine would be at 90deg. With the heater valve open it would barely be above 60.

And it does sound like a new thermostat might be in order... 5 miles for warm-up is about 3 miles too far.

[Way2go]

Thermostats OK as it doesn't open until 90 on the guage (verified by feeling the Rad & top pipe) then when driving I know when it opens cos the temp guage dips 3 degrees and then warms back up to 90.

Being a GTi with aircon it also has the larger Rad fitted but basically the warm up time is due to the engine alone as the Rad is bypassed until the thermostat opens and this happens as soon as it heats to 90 on the guage.

I also have the twin fans cut in and out on low speed now since this flush so temperature is maintained nicely.

[jeremy]

So it used to be ok with ablocked radiator and would warm up to 90 degrees within about 1 mile. Now with a clear radiator and the same efficient thermostat it takes 5 miles to warm up.

If the thermostat works no water goes through the rad till its warmed up fully - yet it warmed up quicker when the rad was blocked.

jeremy

[Way2go]

No, I don't think that the Rad was blocked IMHO the blockage was in a waterway in the engine because when the temperature guage was showing temperature OK at 90 degrees, a little later I was getting the red light on showing over temperature and no action from the fans. I nearly bought new sensor and fan switch as a result of these anomalies but decided that these devices were telling the truth despite the fact it did not seem to make sense. I think that there was a slowdown of flow beween the sensor and guage pick up as they are in different places on my Mk2 to what Haynes tells me. This red light stayed on once triggered at hot despitre temperature guage continuing to measure at 90 degrees so I had to abandon driving for a week while I investigated. Fans ran if you grounded them but not normally so I believe that what was flowing through the Rad when engine was hot was therefore adequately cooled by the Rad. Therefore the restriction was between the temperature guage and the red over temperature light. It took a few heat cycles of the flush to clear the red light problems and achieve normal fan operation.

My cooling problem I decided was in the restriction of flow while in the bypass route which the clear radiator was not able to help (otherwise the cooling fans would have operated as there was no functional problem with these or the engine thermostat).

Out of interest I know the temperature guage can read higher because on the flushing heat cycles it momentariliy read higher by 5 or 6 degrees along with a red light indication.