Help me....Brown Sludge????

hey everyone.

well my engine temp light has been flashing for a week now,

so i went to change my radiator coolant only to find a light brown sludge in the water resevoir!

WTF's happened????

please help

thanks

Ben

Sounds like a headgasket to me !

Have you checked under the oil cap for the dreaded mayonaise ?

Out of interest - why did you let it flash for a week ? Engine temp high ?

80% its the oil cooler as head gaskets seem to go the other way on those engines.

that is unless the engine is missing/smoking or steaming

got a cooler here if you need one to try, change the cooler fill your rad with non bio washin powder drive fpr about 10 miles then change the coolant again and see if you have any mixing

it`l be flashing because the switch in the tank is gunged up, i had it on a gtd a long time ago, by passed the switch!

"Out of interest - why did you let it flash for a week ? Engine temp high ?"

because it flashes now and again since i put new clocks in.

well i cleaned the water out and the light has stopped flashing. but the gunge is starting to form again!

i may try flushing the radiator out, the oil level was very low the other day almost empty so i topped it up, (burning oil????)

i'll go see a mechie today see what he thinks

but thanks for your comments and i'll get in touch Ant about that oil cooler thanks

personally id not bother with the hg until id tried the cooler, cos as i said the 8v engine mixes water to oil usually when the gasket goes... just sharing my wealth of knowledge.

if need be ben i can slap this part in the post mate if you are carless

ben when you say oil level was low "almost empty" do you mean nearly on minimum or not on the dipstick?

Ah - I didnt realise the Mk2 had a level sensor, I thought you meant the water temp light had been flashing for a week lol

Sounds like Ant might have the answer

yeah depending on the year the level sensor is either integrated into the bottle or screwed into the top, its just two probes that short out in water IIRC

8v`s always use a bit of water unless superbly maintained as they have dodgy plastic flanges and the expansion bottle cap seal on the newer cars are turd - so dont worry about the coolant loss.

and the oil loss really isn`t a huge issue as vw sate about 500km/litre - so unless it fails on emmisions or smokes like a trooper ignore and consumption

ok.....well it's a 1989 model G reg, flushed the system out proper this afternoon...with a hose pipe had it running for 10 minutes and the gunge hasn't come back, i still have the heater working and the engine doesn't overheat???

keep an eye on it ben, any oil contam will point to cooler.

dont buy one i have a vertically brand spanker ive been keeping

Thank you Sir.....

well the mech i went to see yeasterday wasn't there his dad was though and he said it looks llike a HG! told him nit to be silly.....and that the heater's still working etc....he just scratched his head so i'll see the mech again.

how much would you want for the cooler?

I cant see any reason why your heaters wouldnt work even if the head gasget was gone. As long as there is coolant in the system, regardless of whats in the coolant, and that coolant is circulating the system, then your heaters will work- head gasget gone or not.

there are bypass valves fitted to mk2s when the pressure builds up it cuts the heater matrix off (if they are still fitted) could this be the reasoning behind you saying the heaters are still working?

different cars/failures do different things a h/g failure may emulsify the coolant, pressurise the coolant, mix the water into the oil or mix either water or oil into combusion chamber.

but if the cars not over heating, building up excessive pressure in the coolant system or missing you know what my money is on