head gasket??

[r8tdi]

hi i have noticed a small amount of white in my filler cap but my my dipstick seems fine and i have no loss of power, i have lost a small amount of water but my cooling fans have packed up so my car did get hot so this may have caused me to lose some. i have been told that the 406 engines do suffer from condensation in the tank is this the cause of my white substance or is the head gone which is the easiest way to tell

many thanks

[jasper5]

Sounds like condensation to me.

[plod]

If the oil on the dipstick looks fine, there is little water loss, and after warm up, there is little vapour coming out of the exhaust (i.e. when all the condensation naturally in there has gone), then i'd say it's not a head gasket gone.

[teamster1975]

Condensation as jasper says.
I had loads of gunk around the filler cap and the strainer, cleaned it all up when I did the last oil change and haven't seen it since.

[TRAVIS BICKLE]

It does sound like a case of condensation, cars that do short trips and not many miles tend to suffer with this more. keep your eye on the coolant and oil levels just in case. the head gaskets on these can be fickle, and be seemingly okay for a good while. i did overs 3K miles with a headgasket problem on my 2.1TD when i stripped the head off and found the gasket had been changed not long before i got the car (cheapo non gen gasket and sealant everywhere) and the fans had been bodged up at some point too.