Is this normal?

[Chevy305]

So today I took off the breather on my valve cover and I found that it had this really gross yellowish sludge caked up in it. And had some moisture that dripped out. But check out the pics I took:







I wiped it all out with a paper towel and put it back on the engine.

But what do you think is that normal or is that something I should be concerned about?

 

[iwaxmyjimmy]

Yes, Alot of Fords do that. Its just oil foamation, if that aint a word it atleast sounded good,but thats what it is.

 

[pauly383]

Well normally one would think head gasket or coolant leak .

I was thinking , and its just a wild guess , that based on where you live , and the fact that the breather is open to the atmosphere , and not in a closed circuit like the factory style , that it could be condensation mixed with light vapors of oil .

Whats the oil fill cover/plug look like ?

 

[iwaxmyjimmy]

Whats the oil fill cover/plug look like ?

Ive seen it plenty of times under the fill cap. Its wear the constant high and low tempatures you form condensation within the valve covers( oil pretty much keeps it from rusting), and also on a stock motor the PCV will get gunked up with that stuff. I freaked out the first time I saw it while I was working at a Ford dealership and thats how one of the senior techs explained it too me. He could be a dumbass, but I know its not harmful. If the head gasket or if the head was cracked he would see drainage through the exhaust, and/or a hydrolocked motor, or a dark green liquid coating the oil on the dipstick, coolant and oil make a gross looking combo. I could be wrong though( still a noob).

 

[85mudbogger]

not harmful, takes awhile to get that much build up though, how many miles you got on that thing, i had about 250,000 on my camaro before that started showing.

 

[bigjimmy82]

I think that short trips cause excess moisture build-up in the oil too, like less then 10-15 mins of engine run time, as the oil temp never gets hot enough for it to boil(?) off...

my .02

 

[Chevy305]

Now that I was thinking about it, you guys are propably right. Oil foam + condensation = weird goo.

I just replaced that breather in December though... So between then and now I should only have like 600-700 miles on it. Is it a bad sign for it to build up that quickly? I have no idea the milage on the engine, all I know is that its quite a lot.

 

[76zimmer]

I think that short trips cause excess moisture build-up in the oil too, like less then 10-15 mins of engine run time, as the oil temp never gets hot enough for it to boil(?) off...

my .02

a likely contributing factor. I think any time you have water in your oil, you got a problem, pull a valve cover and see what they look like. The engine needs to be heated up and driven a while to get rid of the condensation, and venting to atmosphere allows the engine to draw in moisture in the air when it cools down.

 

[Chevy305]

Well I hope this isn't an indication that I need to rebuild...

But ya most of my trips are shorter and usually span from 5-20 mins. I will probably pull the valve covers this weekend, because I've been meaning to double check the valve lash too.

Also I only use the breather on 1 valve cover, the passenger side one to be exact and I use a pcv valve on the driverside one hooked to the appropriate port on the carb. I took a look at the pcv valve and same goo was there too, but not quite as much.

 

[Chevy305]

Well yesterday I replaced the beather and PCV valve and I'll check them today to see how fast that goo starts to form.

Maybe an oil change would help too...

 

[bigjimmy82]

an oil change would def. help, short trips are considered severe conditions just like towing etc...