Club 80-90 Forums

Hey guys,

While I’m in the questions mood..

Any ideas what could be causing a pinky deposit around the spark plug??




Thanks

Is it coolant deposits? If so could be the head gasket. Hopefully not.

My bet is the head nut beside the spark plug is worn or not at full torque and leaking coolant.
I can't see any pink deposits on that spark plug? But the white colour is showing a lean mixture, even on LPG, to my mind's eye.

I would rather go for option 2.. loose nut.. can I replace? What torque should it be??

Thanks

Tighten in two stages. 10nm. Then wait a few minutes and increase to 50nm. Hold at 50nm for 10 second to prevent nut springing back and loosening again.

However, the nut face and mating cylinder head face both need clean dry surfaces with yellow sealant to seal correctly. Taking the nut off will start a coolant leak. So you need to drain down the system until no coolant comes past the head stud. You could park camper at angle to help move coolant to opposite side of engine.

Put a non clicky type, bar torque (l use a brilliant digital torque wrench that beeps) wrench on the nut and push it to 35-40nm to see if it the nut moves. Mark edge of nut and head with a felt tipfirst. This will show whether nut is staying put or slowly springing back.

I had a similar problem and used blue Hylomar sealant instead of the proper vw yellow sealant. Put the torque wrench on it to 50nm and locked it in place with some straps and left it until sealant had set. It worked.

maxstu wrote: ↑26 Apr 2025, 20:21 Tighten in two stages. 10nm. Then wait a few minutes and increase to 50nm. Hold at 50nm for 10 second to prevent nut springing back and loosening again.

However, the nut face and mating cylinder head face both need clean dry surfaces with yellow sealant to seal correctly. Taking the nut off will start a coolant leak. So you need to drain down the system until no coolant comes past the head stud. You could park camper at angle to help move coolant to opposite side of engine.

Put a non clicky type, bar torque (l use a brilliant digital torque wrench that beeps) wrench on the nut and push it to 35-40nm to see if it the nut moves. Mark edge of nut and head with a felt tipfirst. This will show whether nut is staying put or slowly springing back.

I had a similar problem and used blue Hylomar sealant instead of the proper vw yellow sealant. Put the torque wrench on it to 50nm and locked it in place with some straps and left it until sealant had set. It worked.

Thats brilliant, thanks..