Club 80-90 Forums

Hi

just a quick question that, as a newbie, I can't seem to find a simple answer for.. What does an oily / white creamy jelly gunk under the rocker cover denote? I'm installing a new fuel pump as our jx 1.6 td '89 has had a sticking revs issue. I took off the rocker cover and found the jelly inside and in the 'mushroom' air cap on the top. I think this is water mixed in with the oil but am really not sure. We do have an issue with the coolant being used up at a rate of 1litre / 60km. Is this one possibility where the water is going? Can't figure out how coolant will get there.

My brain hurts trying to get my head around this van!

It could be a head gasket leakage problem or the oil cooler may have become porous allowing the coolent to mix with the oil.

camper wrote:It could be a head gasket leakage problem or the oil cooler may have become porous allowing the coolent to mix with the oil.

The oil cooler? how is the oil cooled? Isn't the engine block cooled via the coolant passing through it in it's own network of channels and hence the oil?

Where the oil filter is screwed on above it is the oil cooler.There are flow&return pipes for the engine coolent to pass through the oil cooler & remove heat from the oil .The flow&return for the coolent is separate from the oil chamber in the cooler and in good condition the oil&coolent dont mix.If the internals of the oil cooler become porous due to corrosion or other its effect are noticed as loosing coolent and oil in the expansion tank.it needs to be considered .If you look at the oil filter you should see two elbow hoses connected to a aluminise square can thats the oil cooler.

Ah, makes sense to me now, had new oil filter 4 months ago so will check the cooler.. it's minus 3 here in south France at the mo so will check it tomorrow

As for the head gasket, if it is, it will have to be seen to in the new year when we take the engine out and re-con it.

Thanks Camper

There are lots of joins where coolant can leak from too...

Also in cool weather and only short drives the condensation will not be driven off from inside the engine, the rocker cover and breather is the coolest place so will condense there... change the oil more often if only doing short trips..

Have to agree on frequent oil changes and made my feelings known on spending money on expensive oils many times. Dropped into LIDL today for my £9.99 oil. Owned VWs for almost 25 years and never spent more than £10 on oil but I do swap it out regularly - at least 3 times a year, sometimes 4.

Seen the jelly build up even in Aircooled beetles and its usually down to short runs and insufficient oil changes. The v-dubs do like to be driven.

point taken on the oil change. It's not been changed since since june so it is now so overdue. We have only been doing short trips due to the coolant leak so our milage has been low. Come to think of it we have a higher viscosity oil in the engine due to the much higher temperatures experienced during the summer months in Spain and France. Tonight we are due snow so the visocity must be completly wrong. I will do an oil change once I have sorted out the timing for the fuel pump. £10 for oil to save the engine is simple common sense.

thanks guys

Make sure the engine is running at the correct temperature. A duff thermostat could run it too cool and this will generate that white creamy deposit. And of course I agree on the short run diagnosis.
Cheers Wolfie

Incidentally, reading the back of the can for LIDL W5 £9.99 oil it corresponds with VW 505.00 and can be mixed with any mineral oil (its a HD mineral oil with synthetic additives) so at under a tenner would seem a snip. Also compatible with turbo-charged engines so presumably an oil that will withstand some thrashing.

Bought another can before oil goes up another 50m squid.....