Mayonaise, oil breathers and oil cooler thermostats?????
Discussion
Right - just checked the oil level and found mayo pretty much the length of the dip stick. I initially thought the worst and head gasket but back tracking a bit I've been trying to think what could cause the mayo.
Blocked breather? Does the ajp have a part load breather and/or full load breather? Been told part load breathers are difficult to do on throttle port lumps like the AJP.
Also does the oil cooler have a thermostat? If it doesn't then maybe as it's so cold the oil is not getting up to temp and emulsification is much more likely.
What I can't figure is why the mayo was all the way up the stick unless it's being pressurised and blowing the stick out maybe?
I will do a compression test to see if that reveals anything but appreciate any thoughts?
Blocked breather? Does the ajp have a part load breather and/or full load breather? Been told part load breathers are difficult to do on throttle port lumps like the AJP.
Also does the oil cooler have a thermostat? If it doesn't then maybe as it's so cold the oil is not getting up to temp and emulsification is much more likely.
What I can't figure is why the mayo was all the way up the stick unless it's being pressurised and blowing the stick out maybe?
I will do a compression test to see if that reveals anything but appreciate any thoughts?
I would be very worried if I had a lot of Mayo.
If you're in any doubt keep a VERY close eye on levels.
There's no way for coolant to get to the oil on the AJP8 apart from vai the head gaskets (or failed block casting, very unlikely). The oil cooler is air to oil. Tuscans used a Bowman type heat exchanger for oil cooling which could cause the symptoms.
Can you get pic of the underside of the cap and dipstick to gauge how bad it is.
If you're in any doubt keep a VERY close eye on levels.
There's no way for coolant to get to the oil on the AJP8 apart from vai the head gaskets (or failed block casting, very unlikely). The oil cooler is air to oil. Tuscans used a Bowman type heat exchanger for oil cooling which could cause the symptoms.
Can you get pic of the underside of the cap and dipstick to gauge how bad it is.
ridds said:
There's no way for coolant to get to the oil on the AJP8 apart from vai the head gaskets (or failed block casting, very unlikely).
Crank cases are filled with combustion gases which contains a lot of water vapour and this condenses as water when the engine cools. Because of this it's perfectly normal to get water under the rocker covers and in cold weather if the engine never gets really hot this can accumulate lots and lots of water. So seeing mayo under the rocker covers or on the dipstick is a reason to be cautious but not to assume the worst. If you have HGF allowing water into an oil way you may also have oil in the cooling system leading to mayo and scum in the header tank. This is a much stronger clue that there's a problem because there's no way that oil can get into the cooling system unless something has failed.What happens when you clean the dipstick off and try and read the level? If it comes out completely covered it could be that you're pulling it through a blob of mayo. Can you run the engine up to temp? As has been said, given the cold weather the inside of the engine can pick up a lot of condensation, and it may just be this. It might be worth changing the oil and seeing what happens.
I had mayo on the dipstick at the begining of jan, after checking the water and oil cap and finding none there, I just made sure I took it on a long drive and I haven't seen any since. I think that as the dipstick is quite a tight fit, then you are probably pulling the mayo along it when taking it out to check the level.
GreenV8S said:
ridds said:
There's no way for coolant to get to the oil on the AJP8 apart from vai the head gaskets (or failed block casting, very unlikely).
Crank cases are filled with combustion gases which contains a lot of water vapour and this condenses as water when the engine cools. Because of this it's perfectly normal to get water under the rocker covers and in cold weather if the engine never gets really hot this can accumulate lots and lots of water. So seeing mayo under the rocker covers or on the dipstick is a reason to be cautious but not to assume the worst. If you have HGF allowing water into an oil way you may also have oil in the cooling system leading to mayo and scum in the header tank. This is a much stronger clue that there's a problem because there's no way that oil can get into the cooling system unless something has failed.What was described was a lot of mayo up the dipstick. On all the engines where I have seen mayo due to condensation it tends to reveal itself as a small amount on or around the filler cap or in cam covers as you describe and or a small amount on the dipstick.
I would be wary of ANY considerable amount of mayo. Pumping water around your lubrication system, even a tiny amount will easily lead to premature failure of bearings.
I was merely suggesting that the owner be careful and check things a little more closely as I'm sure he'd be a bit pissed if it spun a big end in a couple of weeks because it was suggested on hear that everything is fine.
Funny thing is I hated it, I mean really hated it . . . . until that drive back from APM last week when it was just so on the button and I finally got "it". Huge smile on my face as I went hooning past the Mrs on the M25! Can't say I'm not miffed having spent over £1400 already but to be fair, £700 of that could've been avoided by going straight to APM.
ridds said:
There's no way for coolant to get to the oil on the AJP8 apart from vai the head gaskets (or failed block casting, very unlikely).
Unless the seal between the water & oil pumps on the auxillary drive shaft is failing 
Always wondered on the wisdom of locating the water pump inbetween the PAS & Oil pumps on the auxillary drive shaft & relying on a rubber seal worth a few pence to stop cross contamination
Bodders
...although tended to show as contamination in the coolant before showing any mayo on the dipstick on the particular car....the rubber seal was found to be perishing & weeping oil....absolute barsteward to find at the time 
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