Another thing to note for those of you that run oil filters that have anti drain back valves in them is that your oil will read a little lower. I used to wonder why my truck would consume the exact same amount of oil the first time I checked it after an oil change... Whoops.

 

jbrew is right-you get the goop in the summer and you have a major problem

I once fixed a 4.3l S10 blazer that had blown the intake gasket at the coolant crossover ports between the heads and intake. drained out about a 1/2 gallon of water from the pan, then tan syrup came out- it took a whole day to drain the pan. i scraped the goop out of the oil filter base attached to the block. it was the consistency of pudding. replaced the gaskets and bought a case of cheap detergent oil and cheap filters. changed oil 3 time in ther first 100 miles.

the owner never had another engine problem with that vehicle

 

Now I'm living in a cold climate, I know I have to expect some differences in behaviour of engines, liquids etc, but when I lived in Australia, I learned that that creamy appearance usually suggested coolant was getting into the oil. By all means check the coolant level, but it doesn't take much. Do look out for the white smoke etc, but the best way of checking what's going on is to do a compression test on all cylinders. A large difference in values in one or more cylinders suggests a problem.

 

I hope you are atleast changing your filter at 5k

 

Nah, that motors clean - so's the cooler..The pickup screen didn't even have a freckle on it. I lose the filter at 15 as well.

 

Okay , it does burn a little at 7200 , it's a little down from half - I' guessing .25 of a quart, just under the half way point on the stick.. Crap !! I didn't think it burned any.. I guess that's not to bad for 207,000 miles..6 quarts puts me in the middle between the hash marx on the stick and it's just under. I couldn't tell 400 miles ago ? I park in the same spot - I think I'll change it at 10,000 now..

BTW - no white stuff under the filler cap at all..Long trips tho, so I didn't expect any..

 

Back to the tan stuff on the oil fill cap, will changing the PCV help to eliminate this?

I also noticed this tan stuff this winter (first time in 7-8 years) but also recently switched from penzoil to havolin. Do you think it could be something to do with the switch in brands?

thanks

ihilani

 

If you have condensation in your oil, you might want to take it seriously and check it out. I've never had that problem in any engine. But I do live in south Georgia. Don't freak out about it though. If you can't find a cause, then don't worry about it. You might try changing brands of oil.

 

I am just curious about your reply. What do you consider white smoke out of the tailpipe? Now here where I live it is in the single digit for the temperature. Now when you start up my truck it does blow white smoke but that is because it is cold? And I do have the white milky look to my oil cap and I am not using any water or overheating.

 

He means a continuous white smoke. That would br from water and coolant getting into the system from a leaking head gasket. You would usually see moisture dripping out all the time, not just the condensation at start up.