Head Gasket - Any hope?

[Merlot Machine]

Hi all,

I've started getting on with some of the more substantial jobs on my project zed this week, and I'd been bumbling along quite nicely until today. About to take on the vanos with a full rebuild kit from 8XR, I removed the rocker cover only to be greeted by the dreaded milkshake. Now I'm a complete newb, this is my first 'proper' project car after finding I quite enjoyed the process messing of around with an old 7 series I used to have. So I'm wondering whether any of the more experienced of you here would give your opinion on the picture I've attached.

Does anyone think there is any chance that this could just be down to a lot of sitting out in the cold and wet, condensation and the like?

I've never seen what a blown head gasket looks like but this looks like a lot of gunk to me so I'm assuming this project is about to get a lot tougher

Milkshake!

Rocker cover milkshake.jpg (323.22 KiB) Viewed 315 times

[enuff_zed]

At this time of year you will get that 'mayonnaise' appearing after short drives when the engine hasn't had time to dry off the condensation.
So if you let your engine get cold, condensation woiuld have built up and mixed with the oil residue on the cover quite quickly.
That doesn't look out of the ordinary to me tbh.
Definitely clean it all off before the rebuild though, and do a good check of the oilways that you can see to confirm no blockages.

[Merlot Machine]

Thanks for the reply mate. The car hasn't even been on the road for two years (failed last MOTY in Oct/Nov 2021) and I bought it at auction. Has 11 service stamps, and only failed its last MOT on tyres, headlights and the 'trifecta of dash lights'. As it hasn't had a valid MOT for so long, it has only ever been driven for very short periods of time (and it wasn't being used a huge amount prior to that when the last owner had it to be honest). Currently sat in my garage, which isn't heated or insulated.

When I have fired it up, it's sounded good and after fitting new spark plugs and ignition coils it has a lovely smooth idle at 800-1000rpm with no smoke.

I think I'll continue what I was doing anyway, and as you say, check as many of the oil ways I can before considering next steps. Cheers!

[enuff_zed]

Thanks for the reply mate. The car hasn't even been on the road for two years (failed last MOTY in Oct/Nov 2021) and I bought it at auction. Has 11 service stamps, and only failed its last MOT on tyres, headlights and the 'trifecta of dash lights'. As it hasn't had a valid MOT for so long, it has only ever been driven for very short periods of time (and it wasn't being used a huge amount prior to that when the last owner had it to be honest). Currently sat in my garage, which isn't heated or insulated.

When I have fired it up, it's sounded good and after fitting new spark plugs and ignition coils it has a lovely smooth idle at 800-1000rpm with no smoke.

I think I'll continue what I was doing anyway, and as you say, check as many of the oil ways I can before considering next steps. Cheers!

Pretty sure you'll be fine. However, it may be worth changing the CCV and its associated pipes while you're in there, as chances are they'll have the stuff in as well.

[Rockhopper]

Head gasket failure is very rare on those engines, I agree with enuff, that's just standard cold weather running mayo.

[raymond.harper]

I agree with the previous comments. If the head gasket has gone the dipstick will be full of mayonnaise. The six-cylinder needs to have a long run time to stop that stuff from forming

[j3nks79]

My money is on condensation. But do a block test to confirm if you are worried. Kits available at euro car parts for not a lot of money

[Zedebee]

With mayo under the rocker cover like that, the CCV is quite likely to be blocked with the stuff, in which case a long run is unlikely to be enough to shift it. You can check by pulling off the CCV pipe, but it’s quite likely to break, so be prepared for replacing the whole CCV. Not an expensive task, but quite involved.

[Merlot Machine]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate it and some helpful tips!