Hi everybody
iv noticed on the past few mornings on start up that my oil has white stuff in it when i take the dip stick out to check level,seems to congregate on the end,only noticed when 1st started.Could it be the cold weather creating moisture in the engine on 1st start up?not used any water as yet,and keeps normal running temp when she up there.
Could this be early signs of head gasket failure?is there any simple tests i could do to check this problem?
hope you can help
thanks all

 

I wouldn't be suspecting a head gasket problem on that basis.
When you say only from cold, do you mean that when you dip the oil from hot, you don't see any contamination?
Invariably, oil / water mixing doesn't occur with these engines when a head gasket fails, they just tend to blow into a waterway, then lift the cap and push the water out.

 

i would suspect just condensation from cold weather.

 

snap!

 

thanks for reply
the white stuff is always on cold sart up 1st thing in morn,where i think johnnyroper hit nail on head with the condensation,but there is one thing about water pushing the cap up,this happened this morn when i took the cap off to see if it had water in,water pushed out through cap and all over engine (silly me),but the car was running at the time but no pressure had built up because she was still cold.
hope this helps, thanks

 

i think water pushing out when removing cap with engine running is normal.
if memory serves me correctly mine does that aswell.
if you are not losing any coolant (apart from when removing cap) i would still say it is condensation from short journeys in cold weather.
try giving it a good motorway run every week or 2 and see if that makes a difference.