confirm my worst fears....

[Taff]

while topping up the engine oil on the 235 motor in my chevy, I noticed that the inside of the oil filler cap was covered in mayonnaise.... there's none showing on the dipstick, none in the rad, but the cars does seem a little down on grunt (no jokes abouts in-line six's there, please!)

am I right in thinking head gasket?

[thisYup]

you can just get mayonnaise on the cap from normal condensation thru the breather... clean it up, check under the rocker covers for any signs and keep an eye on it...

[Brizey]

Continual short journey use can have the same effect, where it`s not getting hot enough to burn off condensation in the motor...

[kapri]

Duckhams is notorious for doing that and I think a lot of the Yank oils are prone to it as well. Don't worry unless you are also losing water somewhere. Quickest way to check if you think it is head gasket is to get a garage to do a dye test, it'll show up any CO2 in the system.

[tootall]

and while youre messing about with dye, you could sort out that little ginger problem you have!

[Taff]

and while youre messing about with dye, you could sort out that little ginger problem you have!

need an awful lot of dye for that mate!

At the risk of sounding lazy, I must confess that the oil (and filter) are the same one's that were there when I collected the motor off Wayne's Streams garage floor last christmas....

I shall pull the rocker box, clean it up, oil and filter change and keep you informed.

It does lose water, but mostly from the huge crack that runs the full length of the engine.......

[kapri]

Drain the block , dry it out with a hair dryer , grind away the rusty bits with a Dremel NOT a 4 inch grinding disc(!!!!) and shove some 2 pack epoxy into the crack, like Supersteel, Milliput or Devcon.

[Mart]

Might be a good idea to make sure you have a thermostat in there, to make the engine get up to temp. If the block is cracked the thermostat may have been left out.
Mart.

[Taff]

Hi Mart

the tempreture is fine, it sat in traffic for two hours getting into wheels day last year without a hitch! These blocks crack in this place when people don't use enough coolant in them. Quite common on the Stevbolt forum.

It's just a stand in engine while I re-build the other 235 for it, but I was concerned when I found the mush in the filler cap. I'll change the oil and filter and keep an eye on it.