Mayonnaise Rocker Cover

[Mini_Lund]

Hi guys,

Sorry to have to post another thread! Just inspected my rocker cover and noticed this:

[pacman1]

That'll be a head gasket fail then.
The joys of motoring eh...

[Mini_Lund]

pacman1 said:

That'll be a head gasket fail then.
The joys of motoring eh...

Or short winter journeys? I think it could be left over from when the cyl head was seeping. I have torqued it since and it seems to have done the trick. Just done the anti-freeze, what a bd job that was. My wrists look like a self harmer, and there must be an air leak as the heaters blowing clap cold.

[AndrewW-G]

If you havent had the car up to temp for long enough, it may well simply be a case of the oil not getting hot enough to boil the water off . . . . . hopefully, compression and leakdown test may tell you a little more.

Take it for a drive, keeping an eye on the water temp gauge.

Good luck

Edited by AndrewW-G on Saturday 6th November 14:52

[Cooperman]

I had that long ago after a rebuild and took the head off again and changed the gasket. Just the same with the new gasket and it was just moisture in the oil. I had used Duckhams 20w50 and that seemed to have a high moisture content. I then did a long journey with the engine at correct temp for a few hours. Took off the rocker cover and it had just a small amount of emulsified oil in it. Cleaned it off with 'brake & clutch cleaner', re-fitted it and all was fine thereafter.
Check the dipstick to see if there is any 'milkiness' on it. If not, then clean out the cover and do a long run with the temp high - blank off the rad grill a bit if necessary, but get it really nice and wearm for a long time.
My gusee is excess moisture in the oil.

[Noisy]

Moisture inside the alloy rocker cover is quite comment, had it on one of my cars, seems more of a issue with alloy covers than metal ones, but not sure why, take the car for a good long run and see how it looks after that.

[pacman1]

Mini_Lund said:

pacman1 said:

That'll be a head gasket fail then.
The joys of motoring eh...

Or short winter journeys? I think it could be left over from when the cyl head was seeping. I have torqued it since and it seems to have done the trick. Just done the anti-freeze, what a bd job that was. My wrists look like a self harmer, and there must be an air leak as the heaters blowing clap cold.

Well, if you're happy with the engine perhaps a long run followed by an oil change is the way forward.
Of course, if the head gasket is on the way out, it won't survive the long run - are you in the AA?!

[Cooperman]

To add anti-freeze, just disconnect one end of a heater hose and run the engine from cold until it has pumped out about 2 pints. Do up the hose and fill the rad with anti-freeze.It will mix itself and be fine.

[Mini_Lund]

Cooperman said:

To add anti-freeze, just disconnect one end of a heater hose and run the engine from cold until it has pumped out about 2 pints. Do up the hose and fill the rad with anti-freeze.It will mix itself and be fine.

You should've said sooner! I've had the fan, radiator, hoses all off this morning! Ideally I'd like to drain the full system, flush it all through and then add water/anti freeze, but this will have to do for now.

Also purchased myself some H4 Osram Xenonon Night breakers to replace my halogens up front. Classic car magazine featured an article on Xenon bulbs.

[Cooperman]

White Xenon seem to be excellent. However, I tried some of he ones with the slightly blue tinge and when I did a rally in Wales in the snow I found it hard to obtain any proper definition between road and snow banks!

[Mini_Lund]

Cooperman said:

White Xenon seem to be excellent. However, I tried some of he ones with the slightly blue tinge and when I did a rally in Wales in the snow I found it hard to obtain any proper definition between road and snow banks!