condensation not headgasket...

[Vince70]

I wonder if anyone could put my mind at rest....

 

Today I changed the oil and filter on my old A4 and used my pela pump which took more than a few pumps to drain the old oil out of it.

 

Also I forgot to take of the oil filler cap off while I was using the pump to suck the old oil out and when I took the filler cap off eventually to put the new oil in it was covered in mayonnaise which normally my car never suffers from although it only does a round trip of 7 miles to work and back each day and that's only through the winter months..

 

The thing is the expansion tank is still nice and clean but the breather hose on the rocker cover was also full of mayonnaise could I have the first signs of a knackered head gasket or have I maybe dislodged something using my pela pump or am I just worrying over nothing...

 

Cheers Vince

[wackywacerwill]

I guess time will tell, keep an eye on the vitals and good luck.

[Station]

Don't forget to spend the next three weeks obsessively observing the temp gauge, especially in traffic.

 

Winter always does this, there's nothing really to worry about if it's not overheating.

[Vince70]

Thanks for the replies...

The old girl never over heats but I have to admit that she never gets the chance to warm up these days as by the time I'm at work the gauge has only moved about a mm..

 

But when she has finally heated up on the odd longer drive the gauge doesn't budge from 90..

 

Also the heater is put on these days soon as I'm in the car and heats up very quickly and can honestly say its the best heater I've ever had in a motor so I guess by taking the heat away from the engine doesn't help with the old girl warming up hence why it could be condensation..

 

But if it does go bang at least I can look on the bright side and use that as an excuse to splash out and buy a rover 75

[Station]

My dad used to drive his Serena into work and back for months. I borrowed it and found the heater was blowing cold - I checked the water bottle, there was nothing in it, so put some water in which had plumes come out of the exhaust. He had been driving it without ANY water in it! He was only doing about 20 - 30 miles a week though, very short driving spurts.

I wouldn't how far you could drive a car without any water (ie with a blown head gasket). I know it took 10 - 15 minutes for my MGF to overheat and start boiling the water, and another 10 or 15 minutes to boil off at least half the water (when I drove it to and from an MOT).

[Split_Pin]

I think you've answered your own question. 7 mile journeys, colder weather and normal behaviour from the engine point to condensation.Some cars do it, others dont. My Vectra was driven only 8 miles a day and never had any condensation but my Corsa gets a lot of it in the winter months and has done for years. As long as the oil in the dipstick looks ok and the car behaves normally I certainly wouldn't worry about it.

[red5]

Condensation as prev mentioned. What is a pela pump ?

[Lacquer Peel]

What engine is in your Audi? It sounds like the thermostat might be bust. My commute is only 4 miles but the engine is at running temp before I get there.

[Vince70]

Thanks I just noticed tonight that the car was nearly up to operating temperature by the time I got to work tonight as it was around 80 after my 3.5 mile journey to work.

 

Normally the heater goes on from the word go when I start up just to clear any condensation. Tonight I gave it a couple of minutes before using the heater. .

 

The engine in the old girl is a 1.6 and a couple of years ago I lobbed in a coolant sensor and a thermostat as the the car wouldn't heat up and all was well.

[Vince70]

Condensation as prev mentioned. What is a pela pump ?

I pela pump is used to drain oil out the car via the dipstick tube..

It builds up a vacuum in the same way as if you were syphoning petrol with a hose..

It saves taking off the under tray so you don't have to get under the car.

 

In theory you can do an oil change without getting a speck of oil on you and sit around eating hobnobs and drinking tea while the oil is being drained out.

But in practice you still get covered in oil and you spend 20 minutes trying to get the hose untangled from the crank because you've pushed the hose in too far and your forever pumping up the pump to get pressure..

[Cavcraft]

Condensation.

 

I had a 405 that did it, on similar length journeys to you, too. I seem to recall the Peugeot garage I talked to said to give the car a bit of a pasting as often as possible, so weekends were spent hammering it about everywhere.

[dollywobbler]

Even if the coolant is just about getting up to temperature, the oil won't be getting warm enough to drive off any moisture, hence the mayo. My BX 16v was the only car I've owned with an oil temp gauge. Very interesting to see just how long it takes the oil to warm up, especially in the winter.

[Vince70]

Cheers for all the help.

I've just drove 2 miles down to the beach to take the dog for a walk and while I was at it and parked on the level I thought I would check the oil again and now there's no sign of the condensation I had in the oil yesterday.

 

So all is well, thanks for all the help..

 

Also it worked out very cheap to service this year as I shopped about for the parts.

The fully synthetic 5/40 505 vag oil was £13 for 4 litres and the oil filter was £3.50 and I bought a new old stock set of Lucas plugs for £2.80 and I reused the pollen and air filter as they were still like new.

 

So a full service cost me less than £20 which can't be bad.. But I do have to throw some new pads on the back sometime next year so that's going to push the price up by £9

[DVee8]

An Italian tune will do the job