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I thought for the longest time I had coolant in my oil, and now I'm not so sure. I told everyone a while back that when I was changing my oil I looked inside the engine and saw what looked like butterscotch/mayo coating the block, but it wasnt in the oil at all. When I drained the oil, it was fine. One of my friends told me there is a good chance that is a lot of condensation from the car sitting for a while. I checked my oil again today to double check and it looks really clean, no milkiness in it whatsoever. Do you think that the mayo/butterscotch looking stuff coating the engine is really harmful to the engine bearings and such? I still plan on changing the LIM asap, and I'm not going to drive it, but I think my engine is much safer based on these facts. Am I right whatsoever? Thanks for any input or advice guys, wouldn't even be able to keep my w-body if it wasn't for this forum.
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I've seen coolant-in-the-oil situations many a time where the oil itself (in the pan and on the dipstick) will look ok, but the coolant/oil sludge will be stuck on the bottom of the valve cover. Not sure what you're seeing, but if THIS sounds like your case... then you still have problems. I've seen very slight condensation before on engines that were regularly run for very short trips in cool weather (a couple miles at most), but it should only be a slight buildup.
Here comes my favorite advice for these engines- Imagine "dueling banjos" (theme song for deliverence):
If you have any doubts about that sludge... taste it. If the slimy stuff is nasty sweet/bitter, then it's got antifreeze in it. If there's no taste... then MAYBE it's condensation. -
If your oil is free of coolant but you notice some mayo on the oil fill cap/etc then yes you can have a coolant leak. It's in the early stages and isn't severe.
This is how I caught mine both times. Changing the oil you don't notice it but under the oil fill cap you do. Sure enough each time the gasket was screwed and you could see it was seeping some coolant.
Not enough to fill the bottom of the pan and trash the bearings, but defiantly a problem of coolant leaking into the oil...sigpic
New 2010 project (click image)
1994 3100 BERETTA. 200,000+ miles
16.0 1/4 mile when stock. Now ???
Original L82 Longblock with LA1, LX9, LX5 parts
Manifold-back 2.5" SS Mandrel Exhaust. Hardware is SS too.
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So would my engine be safe to drive the 20-ish mile drive to where it needs to get fixed?Comment
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