`97 Jetta, coolant in the overflow looks like butter

[mautkeller]

Hi,
I have a `97 Jetta (79,000 miles), which jumps into gear when I first start it or drive for a short distance. It gets better when the engine gets warmer, and it almost drives normal. I checked the fluids (as much as I know how to check them), the oil is ok, the coolant in the overflow? ( the white ball like kind of thing) looks very strange though. It is a white/yellow/very light brown color (depending on the temperature), and when the engine is cold, it almost looks like butter, it is hardly liquid anymore. It feels oily, but it doesn`t smell like anything in particular. It gets liquid when the engine heats up. Is it just old coolant or dirt that somehow got in there, and can I just get it cleaned/ flushed out? Or is it a more serious problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ctuagent117]

let me tell you what i *think* you did, you mixed glythel (the blue coolant) with the red coolant, now your engines giving you trouble. i made the same mistake im getting it flushd on saturday, but if you did do this then i'm a hundred perecent sure this is the root to your problems. is it worse when the heat is on? i dont really know how to fix it you can start by changing the coolant

[veedubmechanic]

sounds like either your head gasket or head is cracked.

[mars-red]

There are a couple of things that normally cause what you're describing: either mixing incompatible types of coolant together, or mixing engine oil with the coolant.

Accidentally using the wrong type of coolant to top-up your fluids is a common mistake, and hopefully that's all it is in your case.

On these engines, there only a few things that can allow the engine oil and the coolant to mix: bad head gasket, cracked cylinder head, warped cylinder head, cracked engine block.

With only 79,000 miles, it's probably not the headgasket (although there's always a chance).

The only cracked Volkswagen cylinder head I've ever seen was only cracked because it got dropped onto a hard surface while it was removed from the vehicle.

I have never seen a cracked VW engine block.

If the car has overheated recently, then it's quite possible that the cylinder head is warped.

My suggestion is that you take it in to have the coolant system completely flushed and refilled. Continue using the car as normal, but keep an eye on the coolant in the overflow bottle like you have been doing. If that peanut-buttery stuff starts to build up again, then you have a fairly expensive problem. Best case would be just the head gasket, slightly worse would be needing to have the head shaved (milled), or even worse still would be that the cylinder head needs to be replaced altogether. Unless the car has been *severely* overheated, though, the cylinder head itself should be just fine.