1996 A6 134k -questions & Help!!!

[tobybul]

Drove the car again today to test. Drives very well except for needing strut replacement. Just one thing I noticed when I was examining engine compartment. Checked oil and unscrewed oil fill cap. Noticed right away that inside part of fill cap had some solidified oil particulates.

This made me look inside the valve cover. Inside was more sludge pasted along the side walls. It was more like semi-dried oil in the inside surfaces.

I can't imagine that this would be normal on any car regardless of mileage. Heck, my 84 300D with 242k does not even have this appearance. If normal, is it due to all the plastic covers on this engine.

So, what could it be??? Is this an indication that car over-heated at one time? Don't know if this is related but the coolant temp gage takes forever to get up to temperature? But the heat is fine. In fact, just about everything in the car is fine except for the stuff I mentioned.

Any help from the experts???