Hello,
I have a B230K carbed engine and checked the oil and water and noticed the coolant had gone down by about a quarter of an inch and checked the oil filler cap and there was a white liquidy substance on the underside of the oil filler cap. The water is clear of any oil and the oil seems the same/clear.
Does this sound like the head gasket has gone? Thanks KYLE123.

Pressue test the cooling system. Also, run the engine with the guage on the resevoir and without pumping it up. Watch what happens to the pressure, if it goes above 8 psi, you've got compression loss into the cooling system.

On my 240 '89 with 250K kilometers last year I had the same problem.
Whitish mayo under the fill cap. Occasional loss of coolant.
A dump of the oil always had swirls of chocolate in it.

I redid the head gasket, got elring kit from fcp. Took a steady job of 5 ish hours in my garage. Problem solved, no more issues.

Note my oil fill cap on both my 240 and 940 16v always stay clean of mayo, despite the cold montreal weather...

Sounds like your head gasket is leaking... you can pay to get it tested which MIGHT prove something, or get the kit at 40ish dollars and just replace it and while you're at it flush and redo the t-stat and maybe even water pump if due....

Greg Mustang
Montreal
Canada

Cold weather in combination with short trips will often result in mayonnaise under the filler cap. Not a problem, just take her for a longer trip and the condensation will disappear. Change the oil when spring comes.

But when you also report a coolant loss, I'd be more wary. Does she bellow white exhaust, also when thoroughly warm? If so, bad sign. Do you see bubbles in the coolant expansion tank? Not good if you do.

Before you pull the head, do a few tests. Check compression, if two cylinders next to eachother are low, that is an indication. A more definite test is checking the HC level in the expansion tank.

Good luck,
Erling.
(Also B230K)
--
My 240 Page

Hello,
Thanks Erling and Ivan for your posts.

The car does at the moment do short journeys and it has been freezing at night and cold the last few days including today, so certainly does look like the case.
I replaced the oil and filter about 2 weeks ago with Castrol GTX magnatek 10/w40. What weight oil would you recomend for city driving/Summer/Winter?

I took it for a longer drive and the white is dissapearing. I also looked at the expansion cap and bottle and the cap looks defective as I can see green trails down the sides of the expansion tank. Probably slops over when going round corners, I will get a new one.
The water pump is about 15 months old and looks good with no leaks. I will be replacing the radiator and heater valve shortly and some of the hoses that look a bit old.
The car does run great with no bellowing white exhaust smoke/vapour and there is no bubbles in the coolant tank. Many thanks KYLE123.

Are you having performance problems ?
If the car runs well, you are probably OK.
As for the coolant loss, check water pump area,
especially the top rubber seal between the pump
and engine head.