Condensation in the engine?

[Brett Dikeman]

At 12:14 PM -0800 3/11/02, Darek Jarski wrote:
>I am a rookie Audi owner facing a possible problem. Recently I purchased a
>1989 Audi 200tq with the later engine (MC). The car has about 185K on it and
>is in fairly good shape. However, I recently started to see a bit of while
>stuff on the oil cap and high on the dip stick (about where the dip stick
>guide meets the crank case). It is not chucky just a bit of white haze on
>the dip stick and somewhat thicker stuff on the oil cap. The car has not
>been driven much in the last few months and I live in a cold climate (its
>been below freezing the last few weeks so condensation is likely to form).

<snip>

>  All seems normal and the shops seem to be right
>but just to calm my nerves I would like to ask this question. Has any one
>else encountered this (white stuff)? Is this normal for these engines if not
>driven much and in cold climate?

Yep.  I found it on my 200q20v a week or two ago, after having run it
a few times for less than a few minutes the previous few days, and it
has been used very little in the past few months.

You need to drive the car enough for the engine to fully warm up to
have this stuff disappear; just needs to get burned off.  If you
want, let it idle when you get to your destination until the radiator
fan comes on.

You might want to double-check the condition of the crankcase
breather hose to make sure it is working ok.  It should not be
squishy, nor collapsed looking.  If it is either, replace it as soon
as is practical.


Brett
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