WHITE-GREASED LIGHTNING

I recently (3000 miles ago) had a major engine overhaul on my 01 S3 which involved conrods, rings, bearing etc (very expensive). I noticed that the oil level window in the crankcase has "misted" over making it harder to check the oil level and that the filler plug has got some "white grease" forming on it which would suggest to me that water is mixing with the oil. The bike shop reckon it could be that the oil has "over-heated" at some stage - hardly likely as I have been taking it gently since the overhaul. Prior to that I had no problems checking the oil level and the bike worked really really hard.

Has anyone had a similar problem? If it is a head gasket is there a test that would pick it up? The bike runs 100% and it does not appear to be losing water? :hammer:

[milqster]

I would recommend a leak down test for certain, if you're losing any combustion chamber pressure you should be able to track it down that way.

I don't know the local climate there, but here it is very humid. If you do a lot of short trips which never allow the bike to warm up fully, condensed moisture will never fully burn off. I mention this because you said you had been taking it easy since the rebuild. I doubt this is the case, but thought I'd throw it out. I imagine the leakdown test will reveal the problem.

Thanks bud. I guess I'll have to send it back and have them do a compression test. Yes it is humid here in Durban (right on the coast) but we're in winter at present so humidity is not a factor. Besides when I first got the bike I "putted" around and never had this problem!

Hey Produc, it's probably the grease that was used when rebuilding your engine. I build many VW engines and I put in break-in grease on all metal to metal parts so that there isn't excessive wear. But I know that you need piece on mind so why do you go back and ask the person that rebuilt your engine if he used break-in grease? Just a thought, I hope everything works out well for you.

[JW69ers]

The mayonaise as i call it is mostly caused by short trip as milqster allready said.
Take it out for a long hard spin and maybe cover your engine cooler (if you have one). That should take care of it.

[bluesjeans]

yep, condensation build up in the oil from taking short trips with a cold engine. Both my VW Baja Bug and Dune Buggy had that problem. The motors stuck out back in the cool air and never had a chance to warm up on short trips.

Hi JW69ers

"Take it out for a long hard spin and maybe cover your engine cooler (if you have one). That should take care of it."

Hi, not sure what you are saying here... cover the radiator while riding? Is this not going to cause overheating?

If I want to "clean" the inspection window am I going to have to remove the side cover... or am I missing the point?

Am I right in thinking that it may not be a cylinder head gasket problem, as a couple of you have had this problem as explained in some of the posts here?

Thanks. :razz: