Lots of milky condensation in oil cap and filler neck

I'm a mechanic, clean that stuff out and dont worry about it. It is completely natural if you take ANY short trips. It is just fine. I see it all the time on all different types of vehicles. Again, simply wipe it off, I know it's gross, and finish the oil change. If youre worried about it, clean it more often.

 

after the first couple oil changes, when the engine ideally should be broken in and all typical excessive break-in wear has finished, you can do one oil change analysis to dictate how you treat the engine for the rest of the time you have the car UNLESS there is still break-in wear occuring. but that is not very common after, say, three factory interval changes, when you'd then get the first report. no need to do multiple analyses. i just want to clear that up.

i am glad to see you do extended intervals, as that is not as common as it should be. it is crazy that people still observe silly 3k intervals over the factory recommendations, and even crazier that people don't consider that synthetics can go above and beyond all of that combined.

 

Its compleatly fine. I had the same prob taking short trips in cold weather. Just try and take a longer drive once a week like a half hour trip or warm up your truck more before you leave.

 

So Toyota's next commercial will show this picture and say its NORMAL! [/QUOTE]

I get it on my VW bug, and that has no water.. Its about the only car I've had that had it that bad, but you can have that. Probably more a case of where the filler hole is. You will get oil vapor and water vapor in a crank case always. I'm not sure of what makes that stuff happen, but like I said... see it on air cooled, so.. not always if ever a sign of water infiltration at the head.

Live and learn, just be cautious. If its under warranty for a while and running fine, at worse bring it in. If they say its normal, it probably is. They see a lot more trucks than most anyone on this site does.

That being said.. mine doesn't have that. But I haven't seen the botom side of 60 degrees in over a decade.

 

X2 and how. Many cars have all kinds of sensors telling the computer what the oil quality is. I think toyota just does a countdown though... anyone?

 

my wife's si has a pretty cool system that takes into account a ton of factors/variables over the course of time to determine the interval. many cars probably have it but her's is the first i've owned. driving habits using things like load, rpm, engine time, idle time, intake air temp, etc. the matrix is pretty neat. my wife drives the car about as normally as a car can be driven, and her intervals are pretty damn long with just regular dino oil. i can't recall how long, exactly, on average, but i know that the dealer puts a mileage and/or something like 15% on the sticker, and the mileage when she's ready to get it changed is WAY more than the mileage they indicate on the sticker.

(yes, i let the dealer change her oil. it's $25 and i know the service staff very well over there.)

 

Yup... some manage to tell pH and all kinds of things through conductivity readings and such. Its not just a "this hot for this long" type thing. Don't let grandpa tell you how to change your oil. Its not the same world as when he was draining it into the local stream every 500 miles.

 

I had a tough time trusting the maintenance minder on my Accord. It's cheap piece of mind to just change the oil at 5k miles. The problem with the maintenance minder is it just takes into account driving habits. It doesn't actually analyze the oil nor does it check filtration.

 

I don't think there are any cars with sensors that do any kind of direct analysis to determine oil quality.

Many cars do have logic in the computer that looks at miles driven, average oil temperature, average speed, average trip duration and/or other things to determine how much 'abuse' the oil has seen and infer it's condition. BMW and VW have this system and use it in Europe when an owner chooses a condition-based service interval under their warranties. I think BMW does the same thing in the US and VW may have started it when they started offering routine maintenance as part of purchase price.

Using the right oil owners can get over 15k before the service light illuminates.

Our 'reminder' is just like you said...a miles based countdown with no logic.

 

Fear not. I posted this a few weeks ago.

 

Bought a new Tacoma a few days ago. Immediately drove 1100 miles in 2 legs. Opened cap and thought I had a leaky head gasket. I did not look in the cap until 1150 miles. Could've been full of condensation at dealer for all I know. Disconcerting. I wonder where else in the head moisture is accumulating. What is the answer? Isopropyl in the crankcase? !!!

 

First oil change I did on the Tacoma I found it just like the above picture. I was so nervous but the oil drained super clean. Took off the neck and cleaned both of them off and it's been fine since.

 

Also worth noting my commute to work is 5 miles city. So I do lots of small trips.

 

Unless I missed it somewhere nobody has suggested replacing the PCV valve.On a 06 it could be stuck.Air needs to circulate to dry the normal condensation from short trips.I agree with you guys that say it is normal. If there is a engine problem the oil will be overfilled and very milky.Check the PCV and take a long day trip.

 

Long drives that heats up the engine and 'cooks' the moisture out is the answer.

Because they are so tightly sealed this is pretty normal on many engines now-a-days. But on this V6 it's even more common because of the extended fill tube that cools the vapors so that moisture condenses out on the inner surface.

 

thank goodness for this thread: just changed oil at 13K and noticed this. got a little nervous also. looked at oil after draining, and it looked OK. glad to hear it's fairly common.

 

I am unconvinced that driving it for long distances will cook out the moisture. Here is why:

Day 1 bought with 30 miles on odometer. Drove 500 miles.
Day 2 drove 150 miles.
Day 3 no miles.
Day 4 450 miles.
Day 5 discovered condensation.

As you can see, no short commutes on a new engine.

 

^

Still normal and nothing to worry about.

Obviously you didn't even read this 11 month old thread.

 

If the location where the engine mayonnaise is located remains cool, such as in the oil filler neck, it's likely to remain engine mayonnaise until warm/hot weather.

Relax, as the moisture (and some other contaminants) in your circulating oil is vaporized out when the engine is operated for longer periods of time.