Justy oil contamination?
 

I checked the oil in the Justy last night, since I hadn't in awhile, and of course it was really low. The Justy leaks oil like you wouldn't believe. It's mostly out of the valve cover gasket.

Anyway, I noticed that there was a distinct milky substance o nthe inside of the oil cap. It was dark, so I don't know whether it was in the valve cover as well, but I would bet it is. I've never noticed oil in the coolant, but is this still a sign of a bad head gasket?

Re: Justy oil contamination?
 

If it were a bad head gasket or bad head, you'd probably be getting temp spikes.

One of my co-workers just had this same dilemma with his old Rambler station wagon. After he began descibing the problem to me, we think we narrowed it down to a vacuum leak drawing in moisture, then, the moisture condensing on the inside of the valve covers and the oil filler cap. He's since plugged the lines to the vacuum operated windshield wipers. He hasn't reported the results.

It's possible that the car is overheating. The water temp gauge has never worked well (meaning, it rarely registered anything), but lately it's been getting into the low-normal range consistently.

Hmmmm. Let's hope it's just a vac leak, although I can't imagine a head gasket being that difficult to change, on a Justy.

No, it shouldn't be that hard at all. I may do it just for grins, since I have so many other seals to replace anyway...I was thinking about rebuilding the engine, just for the hell of it, because there was an EFI Justy head for sale on eBay for $100.

I was quoted almost CAD$100 for the Justy head gasket all on its own!

Does your Justy use the same 1.2 litre 3-cylinder as ours?

We had a similar problem and I never did solve it - even after replacing the head gasket. Our Justy had so many mechanical problems it is difficult to tell what was causing the chocolate-milkshake effect.

Could it be the seal on the water pump letting coolant into the sump? If this seal is leaking, you should notice a trickle of water from a drain hole underneath the water pump.

I can't say for sure, but I will say probably. What differences there are, I don't know.

The Justy, as you're probably aware, is no longer on sale here in the US as it is in the UK. Our last Justys were the real ones, not the rebadged Suzukis.

My Justy has been a very faithful little car for the two years I've had it. I beat the stuffing out of that car on a daily basis, so that's probably why it's starting to complain now. Of course, it had the oil leaks well before me...