What is this gunk?

[DR3W]

Found this lately where my oil cam is and inside the walls of the extension from the head..

Even after a new oil change it continued.. Any ideas? Thanks!





Almost like foamy/gunky crap after u brush your teeth with toothpaste..

 

[trdragons44]

I'm going to say water in your oil. Is your coolant getting low. If not then do you do alot of short drives?

 

[toms89]

Yep it looks like the oil/water milkshake.

Short drives that do not get oil up to temps can increase moisture in the block as it does not get a chance to evaporate as it would if you drove it more. But the photos make it look excessive. So my guess is a head gasket let go.

No other symptoms?!

 

[DR3W]

Could it be burning oil and thats some residue or something?

Not really, like 15 min for school week days and hour drives few times a week. ANd local weekend stuff.

I have a slow coolant leak behind battery kinda above right shock but level is fine.

Engine runs like a champ, nothing out of the ordinary

So is head gasket going bad?

 

[dougmcp]

Looks like ordinary condensation from the engine not getting warm enough for long enough to evaporate the moisture.
If your oil dipstick has ordinary colored oil on it without the milkshake look you have nothing to worry about.

 

[toms89]

Could it be burning oil and thats some residue or something?

Not really, like 15 min for school week days and hour drives few times a week. ANd local weekend stuff.

I have a slow coolant leak behind battery kinda above right shock but level is fine.

Engine runs like a champ, nothing out of the ordinary

So is head gasket going bad?

Hmmm.. there would typically be other symptoms with head gasket. Maybe water is entering the block in some other way?! Did you wash motor recently? Go off roading? Has it always looked like this or did this just start?

If you have hour drives a few times a week that should be enough to evaporate any moisture building up.

 

[DR3W]

Been doing it slightly for almost a year, worse over last few months. No, nothing crazy and no engine wash since spring.

Only milkshake on oil cap and filler tube, none on dipstick.

Been garaged every night for 11 years so its never outside in super cold weather when i leave.

 

[DR3W]

By the way thanks alot guys!

 

[toms89]

Looks like ordinary condensation from the engine not getting warm enough for long enough to evaporate the moisture.
If your oil dipstick has ordinary colored oil on it without the milkshake look you have nothing to worry about.

I have never had residue like that in any of my vehicles but I rarely drive short trips for any period of time. So I would concede that it is quite possible.

Now I have blown headgaskets...but usually you will have other symptoms too. If it is a bad head gasket it will get worse eventually and leave no doubt.

 

[BakerEdition]

How many miles on this engine? Have you ever changed your PCV valve? its located on the passenger side of the engine...I would try changing that first....cheap only like 4.00 if it continues and your not loosing coolant and you have high miles, you may be dealing with a situation called "Blow-Bys" which indicates a a tired engine...I seen my dad take a engine like that and switch a good grade straight wight oil like sae30 or sae 20 and being a heavier oil stopped this condition.

 

[dougmcp]

Been doing it slightly for almost a year, worse over last few months. No, nothing crazy and no engine wash since spring.

Only milkshake on oil cap and filler tube, none on dipstick.

Been garaged every night for 11 years so its never outside in super cold weather when i leave.

It's likely just condensation a 100 mile trip every month will likely keep it away but if you only drive 15 minutes to an hour each time it will probably continue to look like that. This is pretty much normal for vehicles that don't get warmed up and driven for a distance. It doesn't really hurt anything but IMO you should be changing the oil every 6 months regardless of mileage.

The coolant leak is probably a heater hose unless your windows are fogging inside then it is the heater core.

 

[DR3W]

I have 174,000 miles. And no, i haven't replaced the PCL valve.

I run 10w-30 oil and recently replaced heater core but its a foam covered cylander thing that is leaking.. ( What the metal pipe with the 180degree bend in the front left of engine compartment connects to)

Idk what it is!


p.s. Im in So Cal so its usually always warm and my engine is never really cold..

 

[dougmcp]

p.s. Im in So Cal so its usually always warm and my engine is never really cold..

Doesn't really matter where you live, unless it's 200 degrees, your engine is considered cold.

 

[JUST4FUN]

thats normal for short trips,its all good

 

[DR3W]

And most days i try to keep rpms under 1500-2000 when i just cruise places to save gas.

Could that also be why it doesn't get hot enough?

 

[2000eb]

my expy is used only on the weekends and its only really normally used for short trips(car gets amazing mpgs) and my cap has never looked like that and its colder where i am in az. i have owned alot of vehicles and never seen anything like that unless the oil looked like that also

 

[JUST4FUN]

And most days i try to keep rpms under 1500-2000 when i just cruise places to save gas.

Could that also be why it doesn't get hot enough?

mabey the Tstat is going bad

 

[DR3W]

My recent mid december oil change showed nothing in it.

Just perfectly (milkshake free) old oil. And not a trace in the dipstick either.

Only in the fill tube & cap...

 

[dougmcp]

If it's only inside the cap and fill tube it's just normal condensation from short trips. You see it in a lot of short run vehicles and especially in inboard or inboard/outboard boat motors.
It will probably disappear in the summer time when you're sitting on a freeway cooking off the condensation with high underhood temps.

 

[masterhacker]

mine was doing the exact same thing-turns out my pcv valve popped out, could be a intake manifold gasket too, or a head gasket.. to see if its a head gasket they make a chemical test kit, it detects carbon dioxide in the antifreeze, its the best way Ive found to track them down