Miltary Grey Mayonaise ???

S3 AKR

livin' the dream!!!
Jun 30, 2004
1,453
1
Colchester, Essex
Strange one this..... I have noticed that the inside of the oil cap is glooped up with thick, creamy, grey stuff. Its not a dry paste texture, there is no brown or caramel colouring in it either. It is a "battleship grey" colour.

The water in the expansion bottle is not reducing, nor is it oily or dirty.

The dipstick oil is pitch black but free of any such gunge, bubbles or water marks.

Its only 4k since the last service.

My car only does a short daily journey nowadays and just gets to 90 on the temp gauge about 2 mins before I park it up for the day. Similar story on the way home.

Obvously I'm worried about what might have caused it, what I should do about it, and what damage might occur if I just leave it for the next service.
 
Feb 20, 2005
3,476
0
Telford ay it...
Probably nothing to worry about, I would say its the short journeys in the cold damp weather. Take it for a run and let it warm up properly and it should disapear.
 

matt_s

4 8 15 16 23 42
Dec 23, 2004
651
16
It's probably grey because it's a diesel. if the oil is black the sludge will take that on. the oil in my 20vt id always fairly clean so any sludge is creamy.
 

B3LSY

Guest
i have been having this a little bit its due to the cold weather thats what shaun told me at AmD
 

S3 AKR

livin' the dream!!!
Jun 30, 2004
1,453
1
Colchester, Essex
Thanks guys. I'll be taking it on a 90 mile round trip on Tuesday so should be able to see if it gunks up again now that I've cleaned the cap.

Hopefully, all will be well!
 

ChrisGTL

'Awesome' LCR225
Nov 17, 2007
2,459
2
Huddersfield
Strange one this..... I have noticed that the inside of the oil cap is glooped up with thick, creamy, grey stuff. Its not a dry paste texture, there is no brown or caramel colouring in it either. It is a "battleship grey" colour.

The water in the expansion bottle is not reducing, nor is it oily or dirty.

The dipstick oil is pitch black but free of any such gunge, bubbles or water marks.

Its only 4k since the last service.

My car only does a short daily journey nowadays and just gets to 90 on the temp gauge about 2 mins before I park it up for the day. Similar story on the way home.

Obvously I'm worried about what might have caused it, what I should do about it, and what damage might occur if I just leave it for the next service.

Just water building up on the top of your engine, I get exactly the same when I do my short journey to work - I just tend to wipe it off the oil filler cap every now and again and do a good long run once a week to burn off any remaining water in the oil.
 

TornadoRed

Full Member
Aug 22, 2004
184
0
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
My car only does a short daily journey nowadays and just gets to 90 on the temp gauge about 2 mins before I park it up for the day. Similar story on the way home.

Obvously I'm worried about what might have caused it, what I should do about it, and what damage might occur if I just leave it for the next service.

I can see how this would be worrisome if you didn't know what was causing it.

It is the result of all those short trips during the winter. Moisture is condensing . The solution is a longer drive where the engine gets nice and hot. The moisture will all boil off. A drive of 30 miles or so every two weeks should get rid of this condensation.
 
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