Water in the oil?

Now that I seem to have solved the strange misfire I have noticed a bit of 'mayonnaise' in the dry sump tank. How worried should I be about this and what should I check first
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Hope I’m wrong but Seems like blown head gasket.

 

Could just be condensation on the sides. What does the coolant in the tank look like? Suck out some with a turkey baster.

 

Does it smell of coolant?

 

Thats what I was thinking (not hoping)

 

I will check to see if I can work out what it is but it looks like the usual water in oil symptom

 

If it's really bad, the dipstick will have some mayo on it. Have you looked?

 

No may on dipstick, just on cap and around the tank neck

 

Stop driving, have the oil out ( check mayonaise amount ) and if too relevant have the cylinder head out. Likely ( unfortunately ) one of the plugs which are needed to close the draining holes in the head casting process are corroded and leaking coolant in the oil circuit. If you have driven for too long/hard the car prior of noticing the problem, it will be a full maintenance job on the engine involving main bearings and reman of the cylinder head. An opportunity for a major ( cam seals, blearings a.s.o)

 

You need to update your Profile .

 

Do you normally drive short distances and shut car off

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You could have water going into the oil system and no oil going into the water system or vise versa.

 

How about we all calm down. Check the dipstick - if it's just got oil on it, take the car for a long drive and get it good and hot. Then have another look.

 

Agree likely just condensation


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Normal. Prevented by heating car up to running oil temp to burn off condensate. ;Then the oil used to prep bread

 

Or if you’re worried change the oil and filter , clean off the mayo and go for a long drive. Or just clean the mayo off and go for the same drive!
If much of your testing for the previous issue needed short (cold) drives in the weather we’ve had lately….

 

Bit late to this party
It’s just condensation .I had a Testarossa before current GT 4 , it had a dry sump .
As said by others short ish runs in U.K. damp / cold , never really warmed it .

That’s a tiny amount and totally normal .As others have said take it out and give it some beans , plenty of 4000 upwards up hill runs once all the T + P s are correct .

This happens in modern cars it’s not been dialled out with tech ……just with modern cars you don’t notice it because they aren’t dry sump .I did notice it a bit on a 360 I had the dip stick was on the oil air separator high up on the engine …..so condensation would rise and sit under the cap just your pic as well as the Testarossa.

That’s why informed opinion says change the oil annually regardless of the mileage, often low in F cars and AVOID short trips in the damp U.K. winters .

Also if carb d as well as water condensation you get fuel dilution of the oil at cold starts .

Ideally when you return from a looooong run you want to hear the fans running while parking up .Then you know it hot .

 

huh?

 

Completely the opposite - mostly do hour long hard drives.

 

Dipstick only has oil, the mayo is just on cap and around the tank neck

 

Yep as said before I don't do short runs and always get to temp and the fans come on, so no issue with it getting warm enough

 

Just that a "1981 308GTB" is a rather unusual combination (but not inaccurate if first sold in 1981 and that's what your gov't paperwork is based on). Have had some "1980 308 GTB/S carb" euro versions show up here before, but can't recall a 1981. Would be better if you clarified the Profile description to be:

"1981 308GTB carb dry sump GB/RHD version" or "1981 308GTB carb dry sump UK Car" IMO.

Couple/few questions:

Does it have a 17-digit VIN or just the 5-digit SN and some sort of made-up VIN on the gov't paperwork?

What was the date of manufacture? Was there a long delay between manufacture and first sale?

 

Ah OK - it was registered in the UK on 8th Jan 81 and is a full GB RHD carbed dry sump GTB with 14" wheels, deep spoiler and single exit exhaust. It was actually built in Oct 1979. Five digit SN - 29875

 

I agree with most here, clean it up/wipe it off and drive the car and enjoy.

That's just condensation man, nothing to worry about.

 

I own SN 19333 which is a dry sump 1976 vetroresina but my engine is very similar. The dry sump cars seem to show that when they are not run for long enough to boil all the water out of the oil. My 1976 308 GTB will show that if I do a few drives and they are less than 30 minutes or so. I think it is just condensation due to the volume of the oil and the relative humidity in your area. I live in Houston and this situation seems to show more often when it is super humid/foggy. I would not worry about it if there is no oil in the coolant.