White gunk on oil dipstick

trixxi

I have a y reg Saab 95. 6 months ago i was advised by garage they had put an oil thickener in engine to eliminate tapping noise (tapping noise is still there). After checking dipstick a week later i noticed there was white residue on dipstick. Have since had oil changed 3 times, last being friday past, when they did engine flush and new oil. Just checked oil today and there is still white residue gloop on end of dipstick.

There is no oil in the water or water in the oil.

Not sure what to do now, as garage keeps giving me different explanations for this.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
thanks.

angeltreats

I'd be worrying about head gasket failure.

Are you losing any coolant?

vaio

The white gunk is normally water mixed with the oil, cold weather and/or short trips will not heat the oil up enough evaporate the water so the gunk builds up.

Keep an eye on the coolant level, as long as you are not losing coolant you have nothing to worry about.

Paranoid

I too would be worried about head gasket failure.

BUT

I had a Vauxhall Omega with this problem. THE AA and a V dealer said head gasket. More research revealed that failed head gasket was rare on this engine, but failed oil cooler much more likely, which proved to be the case.

Are you sure about no water in the oil? It seems to emulsify, not looking like water.

Head gasket failure can be checked by a very simple test called a "sniff test". This detects exhaust gas in the cooling system and can be simply carried out by an AA Patrol at the roadside. The V dealer tried to rip me off for over £70 for the test.

verityboo

vaio wrote: »

The white gunk is normally water mixed with the oil, cold weather and/or short trips will not heat the oil up enough evaporate the water so the gunk builds up.

Keep an eye on the coolant level, as long as you are not losing coolant you have nothing to worry about.

Sound Advice

A few years ago my then girlfriend was told by 4 different garages the Head Gasket had failed in her car when there was nothing wrong with it.

vaio

:beer:

.................

ariba10

If you are doing a lot of short trips, the engine will not reach a very high temperature and that has been known to cause those symptoms.

onejontwo

Give the car a good "burn out" down the motorway, this should do it a world of good. (But make sure you take a breakdown number with you just in case the head gasket is faulty!!)

Mankysteve

You need to find someone with an emissions tester and put it in the water expansion tank. If the head gasket gone they'll be exhaust fumes in the water.

Thunderbird_2

Does your engine temperature indicator in the dashboard reaches the middle of the dial or does it stay low or in the lower third? If it doesn't, then probably it is the coolant valve that needs replacing. Cheap and easy to fix.

If not, and (as vaio has suggested) you do short trips, then the engine is not getting a chance to warm up.

Only time will tell as it is getting warmer these days, you should notice less "white gunk", if not, it might be a weak head gasket.

Good luck

gordikin

It's called head gasket mayo....unfortunately!