Rust colour sludge under oil filler cap

[Dino D]

I have a 2002 E46 330i with 54k on the clock.

Have had the car for a month and when topping up the oil I noticed a rust coloured sludge under the filler cap which wiped off pretty easliy.

The car has full service history and was fully serviced when I got it a month ago at 50k miles. I have covered 4k miles and it required a 1l top up which I believe is not extraordinary, especially if the car is driven hard (which it is).

Is this 'sludge' anything to worry about??
Does any of your e46's have this too?

[G-Rich]

Check the header tank also, make sure there is no brown sludge in there.

Classic symptoms of a dodgy head gasket.

Cheers
G-Rich

[Dino D]

G-Rich said:

Check the header tank also, make sure there is no brown sludge in there.

Classic symptoms of a dodgy head gasket.

Cheers
G-Rich

I take it by 'header tank' you mean the part where I pour the oil in?
It appears to have the same sludge colour in there.
The car doesn't use water, run hot or show any other sysmptoms...I think I will have a mechani look at it though.

[bullitt rich]

Header tank is the cooling system expansion bottle, mounted either on the side of the radiator or near it.

[Dino D]

bullitt rich said:

Header tank is the cooling system expansion bottle, mounted either on the side of the radiator or near it.

Cheers mate-I only knew its 'expansion bottle' or 'water bottle'.
I'm not a complete numpty-promise!!

[m3john]

To me mate and i'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong, but thats the first signs of head gasket trouble !.....oil and water starting to mix a little.

Edited by m3john on Wednesday 28th June 18:51

[Dino D]

m3john said:

To me mate and i'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong, but thats the first signs of head gasket trouble !.....oil and water starting to mix a little.

Edited by m3john on Wednesday 28th June 18:51

Hi Mate.

What other signs are there of head gasket trouble?

My car is in getting an lpg conversion this week. I spoke to the mechanic there and he reckons it's just oil build up under the cap. I will check out the water bottle when I pick it up Friday.

PS: It was great fun hearing your car the other night.

Edited by Dino D on Wednesday 28th June 19:44

[sleep envy]

Before everyone jumps to the failed head gasket end of the stick this *might* just be water collecting in the oil and boiling off when the engine heats up from lots of short journeys where the oil doesn't fully get up to temp.

Hope this is the case for you.

[turbo tim]

sleep envy said:

Before everyone jumps to the failed head gasket end of the stick this *might* just be water collecting in the oil and boiling off when the engine heats up from lots of short journeys where the oil doesn't fully get up to temp.

Hope this is the case for you.

^^^^what he said.

Had the same panic after jumping to the obvious 'head gasket' conclusion. Quick chat with the mechanic at the local dealership put my fears to rest (I was doing a number of short journeys at the time).

That was two years ago. Done 15k since then. Mostly longer (30 mins+) journeys nowadays. Problem hasn't occurred since.

Hope you're in the same boat

[m3john]

Dino D said:

Hi Mate.

What other signs are there of head gasket trouble?

My car is in getting an lpg conversion this week. I spoke to the mechanic there and he reckons it's just oil build up under the cap. I will check out the water bottle when I pick it up Friday.

PS: It was great fun hearing your car the other night.

Some other signs are possably a loss in water and as previously mentioned a brown, rusty colured sludge / water.

How did the car sound from where you were sitting because when your in the thing its so quite in there that you cant really here it too well. For my liking its probably a little on the quiet side.

[Dino D]

m3john said:

How did the car sound from where you were sitting because when your in the thing its so quite in there that you cant really here it too well. For my liking its probably a little on the quiet side.

It sounded lovely mate-like a smoth jet turbine with a 6 cylinder wail overlaid.
I actually think that it sounded very similair to mnine but then I haven't heard mine from outside.

I think both our cars a little to quite for the company we keep! I have been looking at exhausts and came accross the Remus powersound that has a valve to adjust sound that you adjust with a spanner (the adjuster sits on the side of the box.)....I can't have a loud exhaust all the time but to have the ability to turn it up for weekend is appealing.

I also found this: Saw it advertised in the BMW Car magazine (july 200 p17).
Its available fom AET Turbos for £307.50 plus vat.
You can adjust the exhaust note at the flick of a switch within the car!
When my exhaust needs replacing (or as soon as I have the spare cash I'm going seriously look into this but with this you still have to get a performance exhaust over and above this..)

www.hyperflow.com.au/techaes.html

Edited by Dino D on Thursday 29th June 09:20

Edited by Dino D on Thursday 29th June 09:24

[Dino D]

sleep envy said:

Before everyone jumps to the failed head gasket end of the stick this *might* just be water collecting in the oil and boiling off when the engine heats up from lots of short journeys where the oil doesn't fully get up to temp.

Hope this is the case for you.

TBH it more than likely is the case as the car shows no other symptoms. I'll have it checked over again at the dealer I bought from as it has to go back for rear parking sensors to be replaced.

Thanks guys.