Yellow muck under oil cap 2000 X reg clio [Advice]

[Izi]

Looking to buy my girlfriend a cheap car to learn to drive in. I went to see a 2000 reg Clio 1.2 8v. It has 12 months MOT, most of its service and only 63k miles on it. Its £700...

All in all it drove fine, started first time from cold, clutch had good bite and seemed OK. The only thing which put me off was the above. It looks like it might just be condensation rather than the gasket blowing? I couldn't see any water in the oil when I took the dipstick out. Thoughts?

 

[egnshane]

That looks like oil in the water, maybe the first signs of the head gasket on its way out. Im not familiar with the car so might be something less serious than that mind.

 

[Tom_ed1987]

Very rarely is this anything other than condensation. Assume the coolant level was ok?

 

[rodenal]

Can also be condensation, though in my experience this is more likely in higher capacity engines. Only way you'd know would be to run it decent journeys for a week, find another one imo

 

[Izi]

Coolant seemed OK, oil level was fine.

If the worst came to the worst, a new gasket/skim would be about £250/£300 right?

 

[leigh_boy]

you would do the water pump and cambelt too if you had the head off.

a picture of the expansion tank would have been good. not sure on the weather where you are but its been hot here for say 5 6 weeks with no rain so i would say thats more HG then condensation.

or say you will buy it but you want the system pressure tested so that you know for sure, thats £30

 

[Scania]

If the oil looked like that in the cap them walk away, if not, as said, it looks like regular condensation to me, 63k miles in it's lifetime? I'm surprised it's not worse!

 

[lflowers]

I'd walk away, there are many other Clio's to go and look at.

 

[Lopéz]

Oil colour on the dipstick is a far better indicator than the inside of the oil cap, it doesn't take a great deal for condensation to form on the underside of the cam cover and oil cap.

 

[Amos91]

That is very common with a Clio engine (particularly the D4F). The plastic filler neck traps all the moisture - If the coolant is fine and no signs of oil mix plus no steam out the exhaust then there is nothing to worry about (head gasket failure is pretty rare on these).

 

[wesley]

Plenty of clios out there. Walk away if any doubt

 

[unrealrocks]

Plenty of clios out there. Walk away if any doubt

This.

Not a rare or hard to come by car - should easily be able to find another similar one without any risk.

 

[GeX]

This is very common a 1.2 16v Clios. I expect the 8v too. Most of them will be used for short trips, and due to the way the cam cover is baffled it will easily collect gunk there.

I'd only worry if the coolant looks like this

and the oil cap like this

 

[troops]

The missus Corsa is used on shorts runs and gets it.
A good long run now and again clears it up.

 

[MatteH Oxford]

If the issue is confined to the cap then as stated earlier in the thread, it's highly unlikely that there is an engine issue.

Good old Ford CVH and Valencia-HCS engines where notorious for a bit of condensation mayo, it was a mixture of sub five mile journeys and a lack of maintenance on the crankcase filter/seperator that caused it.

I expect this is the case on the Renault.

 

[Lopéz]

I'd walk away, there are many other Clio's to go and look at.

Plenty of clios out there. Walk away if any doubt

This.

Not a rare or hard to come by car - should easily be able to find another similar one without any risk.

You're going to walk away from an awful lot of £700 cars if this sort of thing is going to put you off.

 

[Dr Who]

When an engine sits overnight cool air can condense inside. When the car starts on the choke more water is produced from combustion and mixes with the oil, usually as a mild acid. As you drive the engine gets hot and on a good run all the water/acid is burned off, however if it is a short journey some of the oil can get whipped up into a mayo like you see there on the oil cap.

This is typical of a school run car or a car used for a short daily commute.

If in doubt, have a sniffer test done to check the head gasket and if clear get the oil changed. If not clear walk away.

 

[Dr Who]

Argh annoying double post sorry