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A little milk on my oil cap.


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So, putting in a quart last night, I see I have some moisture in my crank case. :eek: I am hoping it has just come from the snow and being bogged out couple weeks ago. I hope it is not coolant leaking in. That would suck. It doesn't smell much like coolant- I'll have to check it out better today. I guess an oil change either way, huh?

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That is very very very normal in cold weather to have the milky oil cap...its not milky on the dip stick is it? I think we have all fallen victim to that scare...its like the parking light switch on the top of the steering column:grin:

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That is just condensation in your oil, I'm willing to bet. Does your car heat up fine, or do you not make long trips? Sometimes it can be attributed to a car that does not heat up enough to evaporate the water from the oil. My brother's Camaro did the same thing when he worked 1 mile from his work, everday in the cold, the needle wouldn't even move.

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Subaru's make us paranoid about headgaskets, that's for sure.... It's probably normal, mine gets like that when it's cold out. That filler tube sticks way out from the heat of the engine.... It's only natural that water would condense there.

 

-Doug

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It's normal, especially on a filler neck that sits on top of a pipe. Warm moist air gets traped in that pipe, thats why you get that.

Now if your oil was that color on the dipstick, then i would be worried.

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Yeah, I've done that too. A long time ago, when I had my XT sitting apart for a while, I got it going again, and when I changed the oil, it looked really milky and I freaked out. But I now know it was just condensation from the engine sitting open for a while.

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problem is...that milky stuff is the result of petroleum oil reacting with water, which...creates acids which can attack bearing surfaces. i repaired a ford truck engine running on propane (cold) which had giant deep pits eaten into the bearings from this acid. synthetic oil doesn't react with the water and create these acids.

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