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Should there be sludge in my oil filler?!

Biglad

Biglad

Messages
52
Location
Cumbria
Vehicle
T6 Ocean 204 4Motion
IMG_8396.JPG I have a 2016 T6 204 DSG Cali with only 6000 miles on the clock. I've just checked my oil level and for the first time in needed a small top up. I removed the oil filler cap to be confronted with this. A lot of sludge!. There is none on the dipstick. I've had a look on on T6 forums and apparently it is quite common due to condensation in the long filler neck. Is this true? I'm going to contact the dealer in the morning but I wondered if anyone on here has had the same issue.
 
perhaps it is lack of miles, it is after all a commercial vehicle used to being loads of miles, i average about 15000 miles pa
 
Yes, condensation in the engine. I've not seen this in my Cali but have seen it in other vehicles.

Has it been used for only short journeys recently?
 
Pineweasel said:
Yes, condensation in the engine. I've not seen this in my Cali but have seen it in other vehicles.

Has it been used for only short journeys recently?
Click to expand...
Yes, it gets used on quite a few short journeys
 
Loz said:
Normal, due to the lower running temperatures. See the attached TSB
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, it answers my question. Still don't like the idea of the sludge being normal though
 
I wonder if you could put some Pipe lagging around the Oil Filler tube to insulate it from the air flow coming in from the radiator etc: to maybe reduce the cooling effect. That grey pipe lagging foam stuff could work.
 
Agreed, sludge completely normal if engine not getting up to full operating temp regularly.
 
I checked the oil before a long journey on Saturday and for the first time I needed to add about ½ a litre of oil. I took off the filler cap, also for the first time, and found the same sludge as posted above.
The vehicle has now been just over 2500 miles. It has only been used on long runs, mainly to Snowdonia and back which is 4 hours so the oil should get up to operating temperature. The oil temp settled at 104C on my last trip but the air temp was quite low.
I can see that the filler pipe is quite long and exposed, are we saying that this sludge will disappear when the air temperature is higher? The oil on the dipstick is, as always, perfectly clean.
I am pleased to read that it is normal & harmless, but I have never seen it on an engine before, unless there was something wrong. Should it be removed with a cloth, being very careful obviously, or just left?
 
MattBW said:
The real worry is if you have that sludge in your coolant...
Click to expand...

That looks totally clear. Just never seen sludge like that in a healthy engine before. Normally it indicates head gasket or other coolant problems.
 
I had sludge in mine when I topped it up back in July. It wasn't like old engine gooey gunge so didn't get worried.
At least I now know why. Thanks LOZ
 
having read this on other forums I have checked our van over the last year/15k and have not found sludge also no oil top up needed
 
Oil in Coolant Header Tank
An update on the sludge issue on our Cali. A MY18 T6 collected on 20th of September.
I checked our Cali this morning and there was a bit more sludge on the neck of the oil filler pipe which I wiped off, I then checked the dipstick & all fine, nice smooth oil on that. Radiator coolant header tank was a little low so I took off the lid and right on the point where it is hard to see what is in there from the outside, was ¼" of what looked like oil.

I rang VW recovery who sent out an AA technician. He confirmed it was engine oil and on a Forum group that they all belong to, he checked if other people had seen this phenomenon on a T6 at 3700miles. Quite a number had and it could apparently be either be a faulty seal in the intercooler on top of the engine or in the oil cooler which is around the oil filter.

He has arranged recovery to VW Heritage in Bristol, they do not want it driven any further and will organise a hire car to replace it.

I'll update you with how it works out.

There were no driving indications that anything was wrong at all. No warning lights or anything different with the drive of the vehicle.
My advice would be to check the radiator coolant header tank by unscrewing the top and just checking there is only coolant in there, it was not very visible from outside of the bottle.
Simon
 
Last edited:
SimonB said:
An update on the sludge issue on our Cali. A MY18 T6 collected on 20th of September.
I checked our Cali this morning and there was a bit more sludge on the neck of the oil filler pipe which I wiped off, I then checked the dipstick & all fine, nice smooth oil on that. Radiator coolant header tank was a little low so I took off the lid and right on the point where it is hard to see what is in there from the outside, was ¼" of what looked like oil.
I rang VW recovery who sent out an AA technician. He confirmed it was engine oil and on a Forum group that they all belong to, he checked if other people had seen this phenomenon on a T6 at 3700miles. Quite a number had and it could apparently be either be a faulty seal in the intercooler on top of the engine or in the oil cooler which is around the oil filter.
He has arranged recovery to VW Heritage in Bristol, they do not want it driven any further and will organise a hire car to replace it.
I'll update you with how it works out.

There were no driving indications that anything was wrong at all. No warning lights or anything different with the drive of the vehicle.
My advice would be to check the radiator coolant header tank by unscrewing the top and just checking there is only coolant in there, it was not very visible from outside of the bottle.
Simon
Click to expand...

As per our call Simon. Hopefully a replacement seal. Clean up of coolant system and an oil change will have it sorted.


Mike
 
Well the Cali is now back. Reasonably smooth recovery, with a few hiccups due to it being New Years Eve, etc. The Cali disappeared off to Heritage Bristol on the back of a transporter on Tuesday lunchtime.
The Golf that VW had hired in for me was ready. It had ACC and other extras, so just like the Cali, but smaller and a manual gearbox.
The information about the problem wasn't completely passed on to Heritage so I explained on the phone what I'd seen and what the VW Assist technician had said.
I called in to Heritage around mid-day today to ask what the procedure was and an estimate of how long it would be and was informed it was ready. The mechanic who fixed it explained to me what he'd found and what he'd done to repair it. It was a seal on the oil cooler and took 5 hours to fix which I think included flushing it through a couple of times, replacing the header tank, etc. I need to take it back in 500 miles to have it flushed though again.
A warranty job, so no charge but wouldn't have been under a 4 figure sum.
A good experience with VW.
 
Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me? My T6 150 DSG cali has now done about 14000 miles, but a few thousand miles ago I checked the oil and found it to be a bit low so went to top it up. When I opened the oil filler cap, there was a small amount of grey gunge around the top of the oil filler nozzle. I cleaned it out, topped top the oil, and everything seemed fine.

Anyway, I went to check the oil again tonight, and the grey gungy stuff has reappeared (photo attached).... Any ideas what this could be, and has anyone else come across this? I've never had this with any other vehicle I have owned before. The oil itself on the dip stick seems OK (black).

Thanks in advance for your help. :)
:help

IMG_3082.JPG
 
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