Oil Filler Cap "Neck" Loose. Moisture in Engine?

[S3Imola_Alex]

Hi Everyone!

This is my first post. I've been reading this forum for a while and now is the first time I've had to start a new thread. I have looked but can't find one which answers my questions. I hope you can help?

I recently bought a 2002 Audi S3 8L (BAM engine). It's done 160000 miles, drives well, turbo works fine all is good...

Now on viewing the car all seemed fine, however when I returned to collect it i noticed that it wasn't getting up to the correct temperature on the motorway. I had this problem before on my A3 and plan on replacing the thermostat this weekend. No issue there.

However today I was doing a little engine check and realised a small amount of the dreaded "mayo" on the dipstick. I opened up the oil filler cap and surprise surprise a thin spreading of mayo on there too!

Now one problem that I noticed when I viewed the car was that the oil filler cap "neck" was loose. This meant that there isn't an airtight seal to the engine.

What I want to know is, could moisture be getting in around the gap between the neck and the engine causing the milky deposits? And as the thermostat is fully open all the time the engine isn't getting up to a high enough temperature to burn it off.

I feel this could be the case, rather than jumping the conclusion of head gasket failure. (Coolant levels are still ok)

Now I have read that on some VWs you can remove the "neck" and screw the filler cap straight into the engine. Has anyone tried this? I don't want to break the neck off and find the cap doesn't fit.

Do you think it would be ok to still drive the car on the gamble that it's not the head gasket that's gone but a combination of the things mentioned above?

Sorry for the long post, just trying to be thorough!


Alex


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[<tuffty/>]

Replacement extension that comes with a rubber seal is around a fiver from a dealer (or ASN parts request of course)... its there to raise the cap up to the level of the engine cover...

If you don't have the cover or want to just remove it then thats fine... cap will fit straight on to the cam cover but if you still have the engine cover it does make it a little trikier to get at...

Just be careful rotating it off... they are normally quite brittle

<tuffty/>

 

[Stuart B]

mine doesn't have a neck the cap fits as tuffty stated straight on the cam cover - but I don't have an engine cover fitted.

I hope you are right rather than clasping at straws regarding the source of the moisture - they do create a bit of moisture when first starting this time of year. but I have a build up of yellow in the dipstick since it was run too low on oil due to a leak - but I am also getting a lot of blow by gas now too. if you remove the dip stick are you getting smoke coming out the tube?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Low mileage trips and cold weather contribute... My S3 has gained a little mayo from being mostly off the road for nearly two months

<tuffty/>

 

[S3Imola_Alex]

Thanks for the input, its good to hear that others have mayo without head gasket issues...

Removed the neck carefully today at work and fitted the cap straight to the cam cover. Will replace the thermostat tomorrow, find some good B roads and see if I can burn off the moisture!

 

[badger5]

its condensation, and natural..

why do folks always jump to the "headgasket gone" scenario??!?!

you should see tfsi's, you'd think they were fcuked

 

[S3Imola_Alex]

The good news is i think its just a bit of condensation as mentioned.

The bad news is that whilst replacing the thermostat the bottom bolt fell into that abyss underneath the thermostat housing. Looks like I'm going to be attempting to strip the alternator off and anything else thats in the way until I find it. Couldn't really have chosen a worse weekend weather wise to be outside underneath the car. Seeing as i live in the middle of nowhere and the fact that the S3 is my only meanly means of transport, a lot rests on the outcome of my search...

Wish me luck!

 

[Stuart B]

are they no just M8 Cap Heads? go to Halfords and pick some up for 89 pence

 

[S3Imola_Alex]

That would have been the easy and my preferred option Stuart! Unfortunately the only drivable car is the S3 as ive been abandoned for the weekend and the nearest halfords is a 3 hour walk!

I went ahead with the strip down and got the drive belt tensioner off and was removing the belt itself when i saw the end of something lurking in the grease. A very delicate extraction using a couple of magnets taped to some copper wire and i have the £@$%*&^ thing out of there!!

Just gotta try and reassemble it all without dropping anything else and hope the snow stays away until I'm done!

Then i will finally be able to see whether running the car to the correct temp burns off what is hopefully just condensation!