Bad head gasket? (Honda)

I changed my oil today, and when I took the cap off, there was a thick light beige substance on the bottom of the cap. It was also around the cap where it sits on the valve cover. I looked in and saw a little bit of it in a few places where the old oil didn’t get out. I didn’t look at the oil before I drained it, but it looks normal in the pan. I haven’t had any issues with the car. The car is an '83 Accord, 64K, 1.8 carbed. This probably occurred because I touted the fact that nothing has gone wrong in this car in the year I’ve owned it, in a post this afternoon.:frowning: Fuck!

I should add that 2 weeks ago when I topped off the oil, everything was fine.

does all of your oil look like chocolate milk?

The problem is I dumped all of the oil out before I could look- I discovered this while re-filling. I went and looked in my pan, and the oil I dumped out looked a tiny bit cloudy, but it could have just been my eyes.

if it didnt look exactly like chocolate milk you should be fine keep an eye on it the frof could have happened from slap in the top of the motor its very tough to say… but once again if it looks just like the milk then you got problems

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v191/jettagli1991/chocolatemilk.jpg?t=1174542253

Heres the cap. Now I really want to know what the oil looked like before I dumped it. If a head gasket is bad and causes that, will it rise to the top, or does all of the oil look that light in color?

it looks like you might has a small leak going on. but also might has gotten wet from something ex. washing the car spilled coolent washer fluid. pull some oil out of the top of the motor and look to see if its similar. if it is the case of a bad head gasket and you need a price on a gasket set let me know ill get you a good price. i work 4-9 tomorrow if need be

Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep watching it closely every day. I hope to god it isn’t a headgasket. I’ve just never seen anything like this. I have 3 other cars to put my time into this month, I need this one to be working. Thats why I bought a Honda!

Well, I put about 10 miles on it, and it’s back with a vengeance! It is still pretty much limited to the cap and the surrounding area. So I’m guessing the consensus is headgasket?

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Well, I put about 10 miles on it, and it’s back with a vengeance! It is still pretty much limited to the cap and the surrounding area. So I’m guessing the consensus is headgasket?

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sak look and see if there is oil in the coolant overflow

it could just be condinsation. I woulnt worry about it unless the oil that reads on the dipstick looks like chocolate milk.

take it some where? maybe one of the vendors that does auto repair and have them do a leak down and comp check. $60 of insurance.