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[alanfp]

Hi

I am beginning to suspect that oil/water mixing (H/Gasket, or oil cooler, or other) is a weak point of some VX engines.

I am looking for a new car at present, and saw a Zafira (I need the luggage capacity ) which had a milky deposit on the filler cap. I wiped it while ou ton the test drive, and checked again a mile later, back at the garage - slight milky dep. again.  Car had done 16k miles (and that looked genuine by both the serv. hist. and the condition of the steering wheel/interior etc).

My query is:
Is this definitely a sign of impending doom, or can this happen if the car hasn't been on a long run recently - I thought I read that somewhere?(I'm assuming it's been doing 50 yard runs from one side of the car lot to the other for a month or so).

Any advice would be much appreciated, before I either buy a pup (dog?) or turn down a good value family car.  :-/

[Entwood]

Slight "mayo" on the filler cap ONLY is usually just condensation that will burn off on a long run when the oil/engine gets thoroughly warm. If there is any mayo anywhere else then its time to worry.

If its a decent garage tell them your concern and get them to let you do a 50 mile test drive that includes 20-30 miles motorway/dualcarrigeway where you can sit at a decent rpm and really warmm the beast through ..

[VXL V6]

Not usually a headgasket failure on a V6 Omega, infact very rarely on the Vauxhall V6, it'll go if the engine is fully up to temperature on a decent run (ie a lot more than a mile).

As for other VX's, the X wifes 1.6 Meriva does the same but she only does short journeys in it. My old 2.0 Vectra never did it on any length journey.

As I say, down to getting the engine up to a proper running temp and some people say VX's own brand oil seems to lessen the issue.

[Kevin Wood]

I certainly saw a few relatively low mileage Omegas with mayo evident in the used car lots when I was looking, and others have mentioned that short trips and certain oils can cause this. :-/

Oil cooler failure is, afaik, unique to the V6 and contaminates the coolant more than the oil.

Kevin

[Golfbuddy]

See Chopsdad's saga reference his wife's Zafira. He's having a right old palaver with his local Vx dealer over his.  

[Kevin Wood]

True. Might be worth treading a bit more carefully in the light of this... :-/

Kevin

[Markjay]

As said, Mayo on filler cap is normal, frequent oil changed using quality oil (Vx own is best) will minimise the problem but not eliminate it.

Mayo on dipstick is bad news, almost def head gasket.

Oil in cooling system on V6 is almost def oil cooler.

When head gasket is suspected, a proper test must be conducted before any remedial action taken. These include compression testing, checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant header tank, etc. Taking off the heads without definite proof that the problem is indeed the head gasket is not a good idea!

[alanfp]

Thanks, yet again  , for your invaluable advice.  I think that 'tread carefully' is the order of the day for me.

[Paul]

Had similiar problem with my Astra.. Wiped it up, and never happend again..

[Chopsdad]

See Chopsdad's saga reference his wife's Zafira. He's having a right old palaver with his local Vx dealer over his.  

My saga is with a 1.4 Meriva. Been in Vx 3 times now and they still don't thing it's HG related.  Current musings include, thermostat not running engine hot enought, a heavy breathing engine or they missed a breather that's blocked.

My independant bloke says the small amount of mayo on the dipstick probably came from the tube when it was pulled out for inspection.

Vx want it back in 4 weeks to try again............

TBH if the garge want to sell it ask them to change the oil, clean the breathers and loan it to you for the weekend.  If it's back, then be cautious.

[Markjay]

The problem is that the yellow muck that you see on the filler cap in the picture above, is also filling the engine breathers...

I tried several oils including Mobil-S and Mobil-1 (both are full-synth), I am now using Vauxhall's own-brand 10W-40 semi-synth and it seems that it generates the least amount of mayo....

[Auto Addict]

The problem is that the yellow muck that you see on the filler cap in the picture above, is also filling the engine breathers...

I tried several oils including Mobil-S and Mobil-1 (both are full-synth), I am now using Vauxhall's own-brand 10W-40 semi-synth and it seems that it generates the least amount of mayo....

Agreed, Mrs AA's clit only does short runs and generates lots of mayo, but it's been a lot better on Vx semi-synth 10/40.