White stuff on oil cap- Is my head gasket going?

[BPY]

Been paranoid since a mate's head gasket went costing him around £1500 to fix. Checked the oil and found this clear sign. However this is the only symptom I've come across, no overheating or fluid loss (to my knowledge). Do you think it's going?
It's on 95000 miles.
Anyone shed any insight into what to do?
I'm currently thinking of park exchanging to get it off my hands
Thanks!

 

[Amos91]

Thought this was a standard feature of the 1.2 because of its filler neck. Just clean it off. If you're not losing coolant then don't worry.

 

[aucky]

As above, common on a 1.2 16v apparently. Do you do lots of short journeys?

 

[Thrill]

My 1.2 16v was nowhere near as bad as that, looks wrong.

 

[JT172]

D4F engines are shite for oil breathing, pretty common for this to happen but that's a lot of gunk! Change your coolant and oil and give the inlet manifold a clean and the throttle body and you should be fine, check for oil residue and build ups around the block etc

 

[Martin.]

£1500 for a head gasket change, wtf!!

 

[BPY]

D4F engines are s**te for oil breathing, pretty common for this to happen but that's a lot of gunk! Change your coolant and oil and give the inlet manifold a clean and the throttle body and you should be fine, check for oil residue and build ups around the block etc

Do you think there's a problem? Also, I've done very little mechanically, that sounds like a lot of work, I think I'll just sell it privately. If those things aren't done, what would be the worst to happen? I don't want the next owner to get done over

 

[JT172]

My friend had the same car, normally if the head gaskets gone the coolant water is brown, and there's a horrendous tapping, good 2 hours to change the fluids and clean the manifold out, easy as chips a monkey could do it ;-)

 

[BPY]

£1500 for a head gasket change, wtf!!

Well he's getting it scrapped now, it was a Corsa, he had a coolant leak and for some reason didn't bother topping it up. It erupted in great fashion.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Drive it for an hour quite hard if its still there its broken otherwise its just a feature of the 1.2.

 

[BPY]

8 mile either way journeys to school and back each day. Do shorter journeys cause this?

 

[Jack!]

Yes, shorter journeys cause it, but 8 miles either way isn't exactly short... Not long by any means, but it's not a quick trip to the local shops either.

 

[BPY]

Oops I meant 5 miles
In your opinion would you sell it with it like this? Can it cause any damage?

 

[BPY]

My friend had the same car, normally if the head gaskets gone the coolant water is brown, and there's a horrendous tapping, good 2 hours to change the fluids and clean the manifold out, easy as chips a monkey could do it ;-)

I just went out to check the coolant, of which has now filled me with dread.
What do you make of this?

 

[JT172]

I just went out to check the coolant, of which has now filled me with dread.
What do you make of this?

How long has it been since you had the coolant changed? Did you also check for oil build up etc around the engine block etc more dominantly round the back by the exhaust manifold

 

[guysy]

There is a coolant that is that colour, the coolant looks clear and not like its got any oil contamination in my opinion.

"Mayo" in the oil cap is common because of the oil breathing system on the 1.2's I believe. Wipe it off and keep an eye on it.

Its most probably fine. If the oil's not been changed in a while it might be an idea to do that.

Failing that if you really think its a head gasket failure you could always have it "sniff" tested.

 

[BPY]

There is a coolant that is that colour, the coolant looks clear and not like its got any oil contamination in my opinion.

"Mayo" in the oil cap is common because of the oil breathing system on the 1.2's I believe. Wipe it off and keep an eye on it.

Its most probably fine. If the oil's not been changed in a while it might be an idea to do that.

Failing that if you really think its a head gasket failure you could always have it "sniff" tested.

What is this sniff test you speak of?

 

[guysy]

They suck some of the coolant out the header tank and add a liquid to see if it changes colour, one colour means its fine, another would show if gasses have leaked into your coolant I believe which would indicate a head gasket failure or similar.

The mayo is common I really wouldn't worry about it.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7495594_test-head-gasket-leak.html

 

[M26]

There no need to go selling the car.

Even if the head gasket has went, which it probably hasn't, its cheapish fix on these cars anyway.

As said, give the car an oil and coolant change and you'll be fine

 

[BPY]

There no need to go selling the car.

Even if the head gasket has went, which it probably hasn't, its cheapish fix on these cars anyway.

As said, give the car an oil and coolant change and you'll be fine

Mehh if I can get another clio at lower miles I will
I had this full service 4 months ago, do you think they've already changed the oil and coolant? Here's the invoice

 

[JT172]

Oil would of been changed, sure coolant will too

 

[Jordanb29]

If i was you id get the headgasket changed to be on the safe side..my clio didnt have anywhere near as much(mayo) in the cap and it showed no sign of headgasket problems until one day it went and ended up costing me £500 to get sorted(cambelt was changed at same time).

Some garages will change for about 150 so its not the most expensive job and better to be safe than sorry

 

[Alastair.]

Standard, ive worked for Renault for nearly 10 years, see it nearly everyday. Btw you have the wrong coolant in your engine, should be green, type D.

 

[Mr R.]

Oil would of been changed, sure coolant will too

Coolant change is not part of a service.

 

[JT172]

Coolant change is not part of a service.

Thought so, was a bit unsure on that one

 

[-J-]

As (the sensible people) above have said its normal.

I've a 1.2 clio in the family which we have had from new in 2005, only got 12k miles on the clock and it does exactly as pictured above. All you need to do is scrape off the sludge and put the cap back on

Just make sure you change the oil regularly and you won't have any issues, you're panicking over nothing.

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

My old 1.2 16v did this, it's common. Take it out for a good 15 mile drive, let the engine stand/cool then check it

 

[Dan...]

My mk3 is exactly the same...

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?717434-Is-this-normal