Is this stuff normal?

-
cruiser

cruiser

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
912
Reaction score
1,092
Location
Bloomington, MN
Hi All: I just noticed this white gooey stuff on the underside of the oil cap on the newly rebuilt slant six in my 1974 Duster. Have you seen this before, and is this normal? I live in a cold environment up here in Minnesota. Not sure if this has anything to do with it. Thanks.

IMG_5636.jpg
 
It's normal to have "a little" if you don't drive it often. I'd call that more than a little and investigate further. Look at the dipstick and maybe even pull the valve cover. That's not a good sign.
 
cruiser said:
Hi All: I just noticed this white gooey stuff on the underside of the oil cap on the newly rebuilt slant six in my 1974 Duster. Have you seen this before, and is this normal? I live in a cold environment up here in Minnesota. Not sure if this has anything to do with it. Thanks.

View attachment 1716377062
Click to expand...
Usually caused by coolant in the oil.
 
Running Quaker State?.. what their old crap did in the 70's and 80's.

Otherwise I'm with Mike, coolant or you have been running it for a few minutes at a time and filling the engine with condensation.
 
Drain it, because if it is coolant is will break down the oil and kill the bearings. Refill with fresh oil and drive it. Get the engine up to operating temp and keep it there a while. Then check again.
 
Chk oil level on dipstick to verify if coolant or not. I have seen that before on my vehicles way back when driven in winter/short stints.
 
I live in minnesota and have seen some of this when I run the engine till it’s warmed up then shut it down and it’s really cold, some condensation. If you have coolant in the oil it should show on the dip stick.
 
If your oil level is higher than it was you got a coolant leak.

I second draining the oil and watch for what comes out.

Oil is lighter than water so if it's water/coolant that will drain out first. Then oil will come out.

 
Last edited:
Does it get warmed up?
What temp thermostat?
Do you drive it or let it take sit and idle in the driveway?
 
that's nothing
RustyRatRod said:
It's normal to have "a little" if you don't drive it often. I'd call that more than a little and investigate further. Look at the dipstick and maybe even pull the valve cover. That's not a good sign.
Click to expand...
, I had a 2002 dodge 4 door p/up , that had the oil filter container up top , it always had way/way more than that from day 1 , traded it at 168,000 just because I was tired of it ...
 
famous bob said:
that's nothing

, I had a 2002 dodge 4 door p/up , that had the oil filter container up top , it always had way/way more than that from day 1 , traded it at 168,000 just because I was tired of it ...
Click to expand...
It had a problem somewhere.
 
Your oil is corrupted by water or cooling liquid.
Internal engine condensation or a faulty head gasket
It would be a good thing to take your cylinders compression ratio to be sure it's not a faulty head gasket.
My old slant-six doesn't start very often, but I don't have this kind of trouble... not at all.
 
drive it till its nice and hot a good hour long drive

check again.....

You live in a very cold place..... if the engine never gets hot enough to boil off condensation that collects on the inside of the block you get this. park it up and I bet its practically raining inside the block on a damp winters day.

whilst it is usually a head gasket problem that causes it, it isn't necessarily always the case

you do see it on VW bug engines as well, which of course are air cooled.

coolant into oil doesn't necessarily mean any gasket seal problems around a combustion chamber so you may not see a varnished plug or white smoke out the tail pipe.....
how are the rockers fed on a slant? up the pushrods or via a dedicated feed?

if its a pressurized feed from block to head up a pedestal and into the rocker shaft that would be my guess, a gasket breach between the oil feed and a coolant or casting sand removal hole in the head and gasket.

did you check the dowel height when you bolted on the head?

check to see if your oil level is increasing i.e do you have a split in the diaphragm of the fuel pump, letting ethanol infused hygroscopic petrol leak into the sump.... does the oil stink of fuel

Dave
 
Last edited:
Seen that too many times from "starting the car to circulate fluids" during month(s) of not driving it. My 2 cents if you're going to start it, you should put miles on it. Remember being behind vehicles with moisture running out of the tailpipe? They aren't fully warmed up.
 
413 said:
Does it get warmed up?
What temp thermostat?
Do you drive it or let it take sit and idle in the driveway?
Click to expand...
Yes, I warm it up every third day or so, by running it on high idle until the engine temp comes up to full operating temp. 195 degree thermostat which is operating normally.
 
Just got back from a five hour drive in Dusty, and here's what the underside of the oil cap looked like after shutdown. Outside air temp was 35 degrees. Car ran excellent all the way. Coolant level doesn't seem to be diminishing. Oil on the dipstick looks like honey and appears uncontaminated. Maybe this is just normal for this engine in our cool environment, and the fact that it's not a daily driver. I don't suspect that it's a blown head gasket, as it was just replaced in the engine rebuild. I'll keep an eye on it. The engine itself runs very well, as I mentioned. I'm probably just overthinking it. Thanks to all who weighed in!

IMG_5637.jpg
 
id just leave it myself provided the antifreeze is fresh i don't think it particularly needs that
granted the coldest it gets round here is about -7* centigrade and only for a few days living in the colder north things may be different.

id be inclined to drive it whenever until a problem becomes obvious....probably never :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top