White gunk on oil dipstick

vaio

Trixxi
There is a whole heap of scaremongering nonsense being posted on here.

The bottom line is that whilst the white gunk is water mixed with oil unless the coolant level is going down it’s not caused by a leaking head gasket. So don’t waste any money on tests.

The tapping is maybe of more concern, there was an issue with these cars with oil sludge which resulted in the makers introducing an 8 year engine warranty.

Yours will be outside this now but I’d suggest getting a Saab specialist to identify the problem and advise what, if anything, can be done. It might be something that’s worth fixing or might be something you’ll have to live with. In the meantime stay away from additives and just make sure its filled with the correct fully synthetic oil & OEM filter.

cyclonebri1

vaio wrote: »

Trixxi
There is a whole heap of scaremongering nonsense being posted on here.

The bottom line is that whilst the white gunk is water mixed with oil unless the coolant level is going down it’s not caused by a leaking head gasket. So don’t waste any money on tests.

The tapping is maybe of more concern, there was an issue with these cars with oil sludge which resulted in the makers introducing an 8 year engine warranty.

Yours will be outside this now but I’d suggest getting a Saab specialist to identify the problem and advise what, if anything, can be done. It might be something that’s worth fixing or might be something you’ll have to live with. In the meantime stay away from additives and just make sure its filled with the correct fully synthetic oil & OEM filter.

But at least the op is getting the scope of possibilities, good engines do not rattle or need chemical "plugging"

It's not scaremongering, it's called facing the possibilities

vaio

Nah, without coolant loss HGF is much more of an impossibility than a possibility.

It’s a 10 year old high miler, if they are going to focus on anything it should be the tapping, get someone who knows the engines to have a listen & as you said, lose the additives

cyclonebri1

vaio wrote: »

Nah, without coolant loss HGF is much more of an impossibility than a possibility.

It’s a 10 year old high miler, if they are going to focus on anything it should be the tapping, get someone who knows the engines to have a listen & as you said, lose the additives

Couldn't agree more, but from experience a little bit of water can create an awfull lot of gunge. It may be the residue from water before the car changed hands or the chemical sludge they poured in to try and cure it.

Paradigm

As has been said, I wouldn't worry too much about the little bit of mayo on the dipstick if everything else is ok, no coolant loss etc.

The tapping noise is a little more worrying.

You don't say where the noise is coming from??

Depending on where the noise is I'd guess at a sticky tappet possibly caused by restricted oil flow or a stuck timing chain tensioner.

These engines are very sensitive to Oil & Oil change frequencies...ordinary mineral oil will kill them, semi synth is a bit better but the Saab recommended oil change interval of 12,000 miles is way too long... 6000 tops if using semi synth!

To echo other posters, the wrong type of oil &/or not enough oil changes will cause sludge which then blocks the strainer in the sump & restricts oil flow. I'd be tempted to drop the sump & have a good nosey.

Find an independent Saab specialist, not the garage who added oil thickeners & proved they know nothing about these engines

Paradigm

Not a pretty sight!

cyclonebri1

Paradigm wrote: »

Not a pretty sight!

Seen worse but not by far, once the oils gets burnt like that the good days are gone. Period.

onejontwo

I would be tempted to give it a good engine flush (making sure the instructions on the tin are followed) with new oil and filter of the correst spec.

Paradigm

onejontwo wrote: »

I would be tempted to give it a good engine flush (making sure the instructions on the tin are followed) with new oil and filter of the correst spec.

Normally I would agree with you but if there is a lot of sludge it could make matters worse.

Thing is there could be no sludge at all but it needs checking as these engines are (in)famous for it!!

trixxi

The tapping noise is noisiest after the car has been driven and is not there at start up, the tapping is intermittent.

The garage added an additive to try and help with tapping noise and it has made no difference.

The car had an engine flush last friday and the mayo is still present.

How do we know if there is alot of sludge??


Paradigm ..... the garage changed the tensioners/pulleys on the belt as he advised whinning noise from car was from power steering pump.... tapping noise appeared after this? whinning noise still there especially at start up. Have asked garage about tapping noise and he says nothing to worry about? Just keeps telling us its an old car, have changed oil every 4,000 miles ... sorry for all the questions..... is dropping the sump a difficult job, as really dont want to use this garage again