My next door neighbour has the new Beetle 2.0 and there is an unpleasant yellow/brown gunk on the underside of the oil filler cap.

Any thoughts?

IIRC this normally means there is water in the oil. possible Head gasket failure. :confused:

Had the same symptoms on my old Mk.1 Escort. In my case, it was definitely a head gasket failure, meaning water had got into the oil.

Bagpuss.

Just a trace or a thickish coating of the stuff? I wouldn't worry if it's the former but would be seriously concerned if the latter. If the head gasket has gone there may be discoloration of the coolant in the header tank, or an increase of oil level in the sump and/or discoloration of the oil which is noticeable when the engine is hot - depending on whether the leak is into coolant or oil galleries. My neighbour had both types of leak following head gasket failure then repair with a faulty gasket.

Agree with the others.

If it's a heavy deposit, then it's likely to be the head gasket...

Another possibility, and one i don't want to think about is a porous head, as used to happen frequently on the Vauxhall 2.0 16v (Pre Ecotec) engine.

Vauxhall refused to acknowledge this as a problem, thereby leaving owners with a

Jeez, I think I'd better nip next door :eek:

The coating looked pretty thick to me, not watery.

Cheers all.

Rich,

The usual description is "mayonnaise"

If it looks like Helmans, you know what the problem is.

In days gone by headgasket failure was pretty common, seems fairly (thankfully) rare these days.

I remember travelling along the M6 near Tebay services one wet Saturday afternoon may years ago. Friend who was driving said mmm we seem to be loosing power, I looked out the back window to see a massive ploom of steam/smoke, that Ford Granada didnt travel much further under its own steam (excuse the pun) Plenty of Hellmans like emusion in the radiator, sump, expansion tank infact every part of the engine :(

Rich' date='

The usual description is "mayonnaise"

If it looks like Helmans, you know what the problem is.[/quote']

Looked like it to me (and him). Apparently his coolant warning light came on driving on the motorway the other night. All seems to tie up. A bit of a Friday car unfortunately, he's on his second gearbox too.

Apparently his coolant warning light came on driving on the motorway the other night.

Ooops. Nuff said. I hope the car is still under warranty. :(

Bring on the next problem for group advice, please...............

PS Just spotted this is in the wrong forum. Good luck finding it again.

Ooops. Nuff said. I hope the car is still under warranty.

Err... no.

Sorry about the forum thing, forgot about the 'other' section

Some cars accumulate mayonnaise through poor breathing. My wife's last Fiesta was a case in point. Definitely NOT head gasket failure in that case, just a case of a poorly designed crankcase breathing system, and a lot of short journeys. What use does your neighbour's car get?

Short journeys most days (3-4 miles if that) but certainly longer trips at the weekends as they follow Spurs and Sheffield Wednesday, plus all their relatives are outside Sheffield.

It is a VW don't forget.

Sounds like to condensation to me, my octy did this as well and never lost coolant or had oil in the water.

IIRC, the 2.0 in the Beetle is essentially a bored-out version of the 1.6 from the Octy. My oil cap looks like this:

and I haven't had any problems with head gasket/coolant problems...

Rob.

short journeys, i betcha

And the coolant warning light ?

I do a lot of short trips in mine ie 2-3 miles , and mine doesn't have any gunk .........sounds like head gasket to me .

Whatever it turns out to be, I reckon there are enough warning signs to make it worth checking out.

It just seems too unlikely that you would see a coolant problem, and the lovely gunk in the oil filler, and there not be a problem of some kind.

Bagpuss.

We have now successfully scared my neighbour to death.

Cheers for everyone's input

And the coolant warning light ?

That pic was taken about 20k miles before the warning light came on, and the fault code does seem to indicate a problem with the (tempremental) temperature sender.

Also doesn't seem to be anything up with the coolant.

Still, if it does turn out to be more than just a bit of condensation, I shall be most miffed as it's only done 50k miles, and most of those are at least trips of 30 miles...

Rob.

Rob, i was referring to the warning light on Rich's neighbour's car

Short journeys most days (3-4 miles if that) but certainly longer trips at the weekends as they follow Spurs and Sheffield Wednesday' date=' plus all their relatives are outside Sheffield.

It is a VW don't forget.[/quote']

Meaning? VW have a monopoly on good design? Or the reverse ....? :confused:

Meaning it's not just a shopping trip car, it gets long runs fairly regularly.

And I think Nick that I may have been implying the reverse