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Thread: Creamy/oily sludge build up on radiator cap

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    Default Creamy/oily sludge build up on radiator cap

    I have noticed this for awhile.Dont seem to be using any water or oil.Motor seems to be running fine,although heater seems to take awhile to heat up.Any clues?

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    Paiste402's Avatar
    Paiste402 is offline My workin on the car face
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    How much is in there? cause if its like a yogurt lid then i would be concerned that its a head gasket. Unless some goober has put oil in ur cooling system.
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    hako is offline Donating Member
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    If the previous owner followed the proper guidelines on coolant he would have added a number of "tablets" - supplied only by Holden with his last coolant change. These "tablets" are supposed to lubricate the water pump among other things and will leave a brown oily deposit on the radiator cap. Also a lot of mechanics will use grease or oil as a gasket/sealant when assembling engine components - this then finds it's way into the cooling system and as oil is lighter than water it floats to the highest point - the radiator cap.
    Good Luck.

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    Not a shitload ,just enough to cause concern.Been like it for about 12 months.

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    hako is offline Donating Member
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    I wouldn't worry too much - like I said before it's normal if the car has been serviced according to the factory guidelines. The heater on Commodores is fairly slow to warm as the heads are cast iron - takes at least 2km to start giving heat...you could change your thermostat which may be jammed open - also check the heater tap....make sure it fully opens when you turn the dial to hot.

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    DannyboyDS is offline Just hand me the pliers.
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    azkwazere is offline Ahhh Yes, Ahhh Yes....
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    Yeah, check your oil next change... if its really bad (milky) its gonna be either your intake manifold gasket or your heads.... id go IM first as they tend to go more often than the heads do... either way it has to come off should something be wrong!

    aZk.

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    Just changed the oil,nothing seemed to be suspicious.Do you know the correct capacity?

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    hako is offline Donating Member
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    vs-6 is offline Raptorcharged VS
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    is the 4.3 for an ecotec ey coz my dipstick is ***ed out so i just been putting 4.5 in but if ur sure its 4.3 than i shall only use 4.3 next time

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    Quote Originally Posted by maldotcom2 View Post
    My ecotec takes the whole 5L to read full on the dipstick...
    lol... Well clearly you must have one of those super-rare-elf-made ecotecs! Only a limited amount of them came out with 5L Capacities!
    Quote Originally Posted by Shooter03 View Post
    Washed it and now the wife's gonna take it out and get it dirty.
    Quote Originally Posted by QldKev View Post
    You are talking about the car?

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    Haha, that emoticon obviously wasn't worried-looking enough. My point is i have no idea why i can pour around 5L in (definitely more than 4.3L, anyway).

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    it all depends on how much oil u get out 2 how much goes in.most v6 motors are about 4.5l

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    Quote Originally Posted by maldotcom2 View Post
    Haha, that emoticon obviously wasn't worried-looking enough. My point is i have no idea why i can pour around 5L in (definitely more than 4.3L, anyway).
    you could pour 10 litres in if you really wanted to

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    Mine takes 5.4 Litres, it's a vy ecotec, even the book states so. Surely the vs ecotecs and the vy ecotecs didn't change their sump capacity by 1.1 litre?
    'Ah well, I suppose it had to come to this.'

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    Quote Originally Posted by VYMAD View Post
    Surely the vs ecotecs and the vy ecotecs didn't change their sump capacity by 1.1 litre?
    thats pretty much exactly what they did

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    As others have said it sounds like oil, but with 12 months of hassle free driving i wouldnt be worried about it, if your that worried about it speak to your mechanic about a leak down test

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    Quote Originally Posted by rocco555 View Post
    thats pretty much exactly what they did
    Aaaaah...... interesting, learn something new each day.
    'Ah well, I suppose it had to come to this.'

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