What is wrong with my bird!!!all help and advice needed
#1
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Bought my trans am like a month ago and previous owner said he'd done the oil change like 1 &1/2 month ago so I checked it and It was pretty dark so i got the oil changed by my personal mechanic and he showed me the cap and it had some creamy colored stuff on it told me I might have a blown head gasket!!! But he said he'd know when he drained the oil pan if it comes out pure oil ...dark it's ok ..but if it has a bunch of that creamy colored stuff then it's a bad head gasket .it came out all black .but it's been scratching at the back of my head ... what are the symptoms of a bad head gasket???? And how much to repair ???? What does it do to it performance wise ??
#2
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If the oil was black and not milky then it doesn't have coolant in it and the head gaskets are fine. The milky look of the oil fill cap isn't uncommon. It's caused by water vapor that's a byproduct of combustion. You can check the PCV valve and hoses to make sure it working correctly, It's job is to pull moisture out of the crankcase to keep that from happening but as engines wear they may produce more vapor than the PCV is able to handle. It can also happen if the car is started often and driven short distances and not always fully warmed up. It's not an issue.
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Samuel Torres (10-01-2019)
#3
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Nailed it. Condensation is all it is. Only thing you need to do with your bird is gape nerds with it.
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#4
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Doesnt mean much. Cars that sit get moisture in the oil, if they are not driven and reach operating temps long enough to get rid of the moisture you end up with what you have.
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99Silver6.0 (10-01-2019)
#5
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Both my LS1 and 408 do this. I run open breathers with no pcv and the inside of the neck will look like it’s covered in white lithium grease. I wouldn’t think anything of it.
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Samuel Torres (10-01-2019)
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Samuel Torres (10-01-2019)
#7
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Thanks to everybody that took time to respond. I had nightmares last night dreaming that I was gonna have to replace the head gasket and drop 1k into the car :/ woke up and read all the responses and my day got happy again !!! Bless everyone !!! Have a good day
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#8
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Learn how to do things yourself and find yourself another mechanic.
#9
#10
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We all have kids and find time to learn, don't use that excuse. By the way most of us work on our cars with our kids to build relationships with them and learn together, again don't say you don't have time because you have kids and shoot yourself in the foot. You are learning by asking questions here though.
The mechanic... he wasn't necessarily wrong. If he isn't familiar with LS1 oil caps having that milky look that isn't really a bad thing. I'm a mechanic, I don't even see one LS1 car a year and you never see milky look under the cap on pretty much anything else so he was right to be concerned.