Chaps,
My much-loved S2 is less than a thousand miles from the magical 200,000 mark. It had a new (rebuilt) cylinder head and gasket last summer (less than 5,000 miles ago) and runs like a swiss watch. It's serviced regularly and kept in very good mechanical order. Having done a couple of hundred miles in it last weekend I can happily report that it is running as well as ever. (A gentlemanly tussle on a fast A-road surprised me by how little a new M4 has over it. Judging from the - glorious! - noise then I think the driver of the M4 was most certainly trying but he didn't seem to know much about balance and corners; in the right hands that car should be a whole lot quicker.)
The bad news is mayonnaise on the dipstick. It appeared before the long trip but I had wiped the dipstick clean to see whether it would re-appear, and it did. There's not a lot; it all gathers on the 'bobble' half way down the dipstick when you pull it out and there is no sign of the stuff in the oil fill tower or under the oil fill cap. However it's making me uneasy. I don't know whether it is using coolant as it always spits the stuff out until way below the 'Min' level (as as has been discussed on here before).
So, in short, what other than head gasket problems can cause mild mayonnaise-ing (is there such a word?) on the dipstick and should I be worried? Is it likely to get worse and should I re-christen the car 'Hellmans'? Is it significant that it only seems to form on the dipstick (and fairly high up the tube at that, as it all appears on the dipstick bobble and not below the bobble).
Obvious next step would be to take the cam cover off and have a look in there but it's cold outside and I don't have a garage.
Thanks,
Oli.
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