So I just straightened out my charging problem for good by replacing the old 4ga. cable with a new one, and I dialed up my new adjustable voltage regulator to 14.2V. Since I was on a roll, I decided to change the oil. Well, when I popped off the oil filler cap, I was greeted by what looked like Hollandaise sauce on the inside of the cap. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The oil I drained out looked fine, and the coolant overflow tank was nice & green - no brown stuff in sight, but I fear the diagnosis is grim - broken head gasket. Can someone please confirm this for me.

What really bites is that I have a spare head and intake manifold sitting here, waiting to be ported, polished and installed THIS SPRING! ARRRGHH! I feel like Charlie Brown after another attempt at punting the football...

OR - I just thought of this - could it be that since my car has basically sat since the week before Christmas, that I was seeing condensation in the upper end of the oil system? It was only 29deg F when I was working on the car, and I only let it idle for about 10min to get the oil warmed up. I hope it's not the head gasket...
--
Speed Racer, '83 240 R, '74 164 E, '93 940 OL1 (Manchester, CT)

Greetings,

Have had that sinking feeling myself, esp. after doing a rad. job on a Toyota. Ladyfriend had run it into the red.... tightened leaky hose clamp, thought prob. solved till I saw how rotted the rad was.

Coolant level kept dropping after rad. replacement for a month or so, then things stabilized. Must have had air in system.

Now back to Volvo. Pulled the dipstick on the '83 245 once last winter and saw the hollandaise coating upper part of the thing. OH SHIT, says I.

But it turned out the dipstick had been pushed off its seat by excessive crankcase pressure from clogged flame trap that hadn't been touched in ages.
Hollandaise was simply h20 condensation that had "crept" in past unseated oil dipstick. Again, we're talking top of engine and cold weather, like other guys say.

My old 74 142 would get that kind of gunk at oil filler cap, too. Car prior to that was '72 142 (2 carbs), never any hollandaise in cap on that one. It saw less cold weather, was in VA at that time, not tundra of OH.

J C Mellencamp says "I fear the worst but hope for the best"--think he drives a 240 Volvo?

Frank R.

--
83 245, 81 244

Certain oil for some reason does that really quickly. I'd look for further signs of a head gasket issue. Oil in coolant (run with the coolant cap loose to see if oil turns up in the cooling system).

Also a pressure test to see what's going on. Otherwise wipe that junk off the filler cap and run the car around for a while. See if it comes back.

Also note that you can mix oil and coolant together in the pan without getting that goopy look. I drained the crankcase on a Ford Exploder one time, and got at least 10 quarts. It just kept dumping more and more "oil" into the pan. The thing that got me was that the oil was steaming like mad... I knew right away. But there wasn't any curdled goop on either the dipstick, the filler cap, or in the oil.

Then, on cars that have no head gasket leak, you can have the whitish deposits on the oil cap. I wouldn't condemn it until you know more.

Now... if you beat it silly or have overheated it... that would be more reason to suspect it.
--
Chris Herbst, in Wisconsin.

"..the oil was steaming like mad... I knew right away..."

Look on the bright side. That oil would NOT freeze.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

This sounds totally normal to me. The cap is the coldest
part of the motor -- where water vapor is going to condense
and stay the longest. I once got a whole lot of such crap
in my car when it was raining all week and I was only
driving to work and back (1 mile). You get 1 gallon of
water for every gallon of gasoline you put through the motor.
Lots of that stuff hangs out in the crank, especially if
the motor never gets warm or stays warm.

You didn't blow a head gasket...
chris

Naahhh.... Sounds like ordinary condensation to me. The crankcase vents a surprising amount of water vapor (a LARGE byproduct of combustion), and in the cold weather it tends to condense on cold surfaces before it's vented out.

It's even worse on these artic cold morning we sometimes have.

Drive your car normally, but try to allow it to warm up -- that is, avoid the 1/2 mile trips 20 times a day, particluarly during the winter. The next time you go to Dunkin Donuts, go by way of Hartford. Or, in your case, New London.

Watch your coolant level carefully for the next month. It will probably remain rock solid and clean.

Remember ------- Old Volvos never die, they just look that way.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

Nope: the hollandaise is normal on colder parts of the engine when it is run for short periods in cold weather. Give it a good run on the freeway while well warmed and the sauce should disappear. If you are losing coolant, then start looking at gasket.