Low/ No Oil + White stuff on Oil Filler cap?

97B4TDi

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
1997 B4 Passat, 2013 Jetta Sportwagen TDI
Low/ No Oil + White stuff on Oil Filler cap? Any ideas what could have happened and will I be ok? I just noticed this today when I went to check the oil because I noticed the valves knocking. Could it be from hard/cold starting? It has been very cold here is WI and the car has been starting hard? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks:eek:
 

andreigbs

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Location
Walworth Co., Wisconsin
TDI
N/A
are you leaking the oil or are you burning it? been keeping an eye on it? what kind of "white stuff" are you talking about? gooey/dusty/pasty/sticky/etc.? any chance it could've gotten lodged in while driving?
 

40X40

Experienced
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Well first off, you haven't told us very much......

Put the correct oil in it and check it every time you start the engine

until you get a handle on the consumption.

Keep us posted.

Bill
 

97B4TDi

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
1997 B4 Passat, 2013 Jetta Sportwagen TDI
By low/no oil I mean barely reading on the dipstick and the "White Stuff" is gooey/pastey
 

bluesmoker

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Location
Maple Ridge, B.C.
TDI
2004 pd 5 speed tip
Sounds like water or coolant in the oil. Stop driving it and take it to a mechanic, you may have a leaking head gasket or leaking egr cooler.
 

naturist

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2001
Location
Bro Jerry's hometown, Virginia
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 2005 Jeep Libby CRD, 2012 BMW X5 35d
Although leaking head gasket or egr cooler would be my first guesses, too, it is also possible it's just water accumulated from many very short trips, such that the engine never quite reaches operating temperature. That's easy to do in really cold weather with a short commute.

But I agree, the OP hasn't told us much, so we're all just throwing guesses at it.
 

97B4TDi

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
1997 B4 Passat, 2013 Jetta Sportwagen TDI
My commute is 60 minutes one way. The only oil I seem to loose is from the EGR CCV "return" tube leaking, I was only a quart and a half low so im thinking its from not letting it warm up properly combined with the COLD weather. I will be doing an oil change Friday and am going to check the intake piping to see if the turbo is leaking oil.
 

MrMopar

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Location
Bloomington, IL
TDI
none
In both cold weather, and hot, you'll occasionally get some "foam" that accumulates in the oil fill cap. This is coming from experience with many different vehicles over 3 years as a quick oil change tech.

Combustion of fuel creates CO2 and H2O in perfect conditions. That H20 mostly goes out the exhaust in the form of steam, but some gets blown by the piston rings and into the oil sump. When the engine is hot enough, it's boiled and vented back through the intake via the CCV path. Some moisture and oil vapors float around until they find a cold enough spot inside of the engine, and then condense on the surface to form this oil snot that you find. Most often this is under the oil fill cap, or around the top of the dipstick. Some engines have long oil fill tubes, so they are cooled by air passing through the engine compartment - perfect spot for cool enough temps for condensation of this water in the oil.

If all you find is a bit of snot, and the oil at the end of the dipstick is fine, you'll be OK. This bit of oil foam is normal.
 
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