Catch can worries
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Catch can worries
ok. car has been sitting outside for couple days (not a daily driver) so I decided to move it into the garage and wipe clean engine bay and found milky or coffe with cream looking **** in the catch can (home depot style). I immediately check dipstick and radiator. all is fine there. Just wondering if this is normal or maybee head gasket,havent checked plugs yet but wanted anyone who may know more or had this happen to them to post up. oil is changed regularly m-1 synth.mods are stock 243s with comp 224/230 114. bolt ons. thx for any input
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Its pretty common in a catch can. There is no heat to boil the water out of the oil and your catch can will (hopefully) separate fluids out of your PCV air supply, this includes water vapor.
Shane
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Thanks for the info. Ive had the cc on for a few months and never had the can residue look like this, possibly the cooler weather latley just drove again a few min ago and all good. Ill clean the lines out tomorrow.
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I cant tell from the pic... is there any on the dip stick? The peanut butter in the engine is water in the oil. (conversely Peanut butter in the radiator is oil in the water).
If you have a little tiny bit..., it might be condensation...
If you have a lot of either, they both come down to probably a crack in the head somewhere or bad head gasket. Maybe condensation, but it would have to be a shitload of condensation. Also, the peanut butter doesnt come from having moisture in a container (cc) where theres oil sitting. It comes from lots of heat, moisture, pressure, agitation and contaminants in the oil alltogether. Meaning it originated inside the engine.
-Take the car for a drive and get it hot. Then look under the oil fller cap. Do you see a lot of condensation?
-Take your filler neck off the valve cover and run your finder around inside... do you pull out more peanut butter looking stuff?
-Have you ever overheated the car? Or got it really hot without having bled the air out of the cooling system?
-Run a swab through the catch can lines. Is it in there too?
I have had this happen on some other vehcles in both cases, once it was a crack in the head, in a water jacket (Audi). The other it was bad seals in a water-to-oil oil cooler (Toyota). Good luck. Keep us posted.
If you have a little tiny bit..., it might be condensation...
If you have a lot of either, they both come down to probably a crack in the head somewhere or bad head gasket. Maybe condensation, but it would have to be a shitload of condensation. Also, the peanut butter doesnt come from having moisture in a container (cc) where theres oil sitting. It comes from lots of heat, moisture, pressure, agitation and contaminants in the oil alltogether. Meaning it originated inside the engine.
-Take the car for a drive and get it hot. Then look under the oil fller cap. Do you see a lot of condensation?
-Take your filler neck off the valve cover and run your finder around inside... do you pull out more peanut butter looking stuff?
-Have you ever overheated the car? Or got it really hot without having bled the air out of the cooling system?
-Run a swab through the catch can lines. Is it in there too?
I have had this happen on some other vehcles in both cases, once it was a crack in the head, in a water jacket (Audi). The other it was bad seals in a water-to-oil oil cooler (Toyota). Good luck. Keep us posted.
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I cant tell from the pic... is there any on the dip stick? The peanut butter in the engine is water in the oil. (conversely Peanut butter in the radiator is oil in the water).
If you have a little tiny bit..., it might be condensation...
If you have a lot of either, they both come down to probably a crack in the head somewhere or bad head gasket. Maybe condensation, but it would have to be a shitload of condensation. Also, the peanut butter doesnt come from having moisture in a container (cc) where theres oil sitting. It comes from lots of heat, moisture, pressure, agitation and contaminants in the oil alltogether. Meaning it originated inside the engine.
-Take the car for a drive and get it hot. Then look under the oil fller cap. Do you see a lot of condensation?
-Take your filler neck off the valve cover and run your finder around inside... do you pull out more peanut butter looking stuff?
-Have you ever overheated the car? Or got it really hot without having bled the air out of the cooling system?
-Run a swab through the catch can lines. Is it in there too?
I have had this happen on some other vehcles in both cases, once it was a crack in the head, in a water jacket (Audi). The other it was bad seals in a water-to-oil oil cooler (Toyota). Good luck. Keep us posted.
If you have a little tiny bit..., it might be condensation...
If you have a lot of either, they both come down to probably a crack in the head somewhere or bad head gasket. Maybe condensation, but it would have to be a shitload of condensation. Also, the peanut butter doesnt come from having moisture in a container (cc) where theres oil sitting. It comes from lots of heat, moisture, pressure, agitation and contaminants in the oil alltogether. Meaning it originated inside the engine.
-Take the car for a drive and get it hot. Then look under the oil fller cap. Do you see a lot of condensation?
-Take your filler neck off the valve cover and run your finder around inside... do you pull out more peanut butter looking stuff?
-Have you ever overheated the car? Or got it really hot without having bled the air out of the cooling system?
-Run a swab through the catch can lines. Is it in there too?
I have had this happen on some other vehcles in both cases, once it was a crack in the head, in a water jacket (Audi). The other it was bad seals in a water-to-oil oil cooler (Toyota). Good luck. Keep us posted.
1st time for me. I wonder if the high humidity here might play role on top of being cool then warm constantly.thx
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Hmm. Well then I would say it is a 50/50 chance nothing is wrong. You might also look in the overflow bottle. I had a the same problem on a Porsche 944S track car I had, and the peanut butter would boil/bubble up to the overflow tank after the car was hot and then cooled down. The bottom of the overflow had a 1/2" thick layer in the bottom of it. Turned out it was a crack in the water jacket in the head caused by an air bubble in the coolant system that ended up in the head and then it expanded and cracked it.
Clean everything out and watch it. Drive it like you usually do and see if you ever get more of it. If not, then awesome. Drive it like you stole it. Good luck.
Clean everything out and watch it. Drive it like you usually do and see if you ever get more of it. If not, then awesome. Drive it like you stole it. Good luck.
#9
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It is a common issue here in LA where the humidity is measured with a dipstick. I see it all the time under valve covers and in catch cans when a vehicle hasn't been driven enough to boil the contaminants out of the oil. Keep in mind, when it is very cold outside it could take as long as 30 minutes to get the oil temp up to 212*+
Shane
Shane
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It is a common issue here in LA where the humidity is measured with a dipstick. I see it all the time under valve covers and in catch cans when a vehicle hasn't been driven enough to boil the contaminants out of the oil. Keep in mind, when it is very cold outside it could take as long as 30 minutes to get the oil temp up to 212*+
Shane
Shane