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Oil and water Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: creamy substance in PCV line, steveC, Sun, 18 Apr 2004 13:16:22 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
That creamy substance is oil mixed with water. Totally normal. The water is coming from the combustion process in your engine, just like you'll see water dripping from a tail pipe. Also, when an engine is shut off, as it cools it pulls in air from the outside - if it's humid, that air has water in it. When the engine is cold, the water condenses on the first cool thing it finds, typically the valve cover. That moisture mixes with the oil vapor and makes for that goop.
As the engine warms up, the oil heats up, and the water is driven out of the oil. That's why short trips (15-20 minutes) are hard on engines - the oil doesn't get hot enough for long enough to drive out the water, and that can lead to corrosion over time. But if the car gets driven for a while (30 minutes say, less in hot weather), the water boils off. If this is done once or twice a week, no problems.
A little creamy good out of the valve cover is normal. It may take a few decent drives to drive out all the moisture in the oil, especially in cooler, more humid climates.
Of course, if there is a coolant leak, that can add moisture to the oil - but you haven't seen a coolant level change. The other thing to check is the thermostat - is the temp gauge getting up to normal (around 9:00 on the gauge)? If the thermostat is stuck open, and the temp gauge doesn't get much up off the peg, then the engine is running much cooler, and it'll be that much harder to boil off moisture.
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